Facebook and Twitter Being Added to Class Participation

Pur­due Uni­ver­sity is explor­ing a home grown pro­gram called Hot­seat that inte­grates Face­book, Twit­ter, and text mes­sag­ing (via a mobile device) so stu­dents can “back chan­nel” dur­ing a class.

Back chan­nel­ing has become pop­u­lar recently at con­fer­ences and pre­sen­ta­tions. Peo­ple use an appli­ca­tion like Twit­ter to ask a ques­tion dur­ing class, and the teacher (or a speaker at a con­fer­ence) can address that ques­tion dur­ing the time of the pre­sen­ta­tion. With Hot­seat, stu­dents can pro­pose ques­tions and oth­ers can vote on the ques­tion to be addressed dur­ing the class. Regard­less of the appli­ca­tion, I think back chan­nel­ing is a great way to use social media to engage your stu­dents and get instant feed­back. To learn more about the pro­gram, view the video below: