While it is only experimental, Purdue is starting to test how to make use of the “back channel” in a lecture in the form of an application called “Hotseat“. The students seem to like it.
“Hotseat is turning out to be a nice innovation. I’m seeing students interact more with the course and ask relevant questions,” Chakravarty [Professor and department head of Purdue’s Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing] says. “The tool allows us to engage students using media they are already familiar with.” …
“The students say pretty much whatever they want,” Chakravarty says. “But this is a valuable tool for enhancing learning. The students are engaged in the discussions and, for the most part, they are asking relevant questions.”
It certainly is going to be interesting to see if this extends beyond the pilot to other courses at Purdue and beyond the single institution. I have some hope for this as many conferences are embracing the back channel, so instructors/profs/researchers are getting used to the idea of back channel from their peers, the challenge will be to see if the same can be said about questions and comments from students.
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