This free and easy-to-use classroom management tool allows you to create an online classroom environment where you can manage writing, facilitate discussions and even distribute and mark assignments – all within a secure environment.
Online class discussions are great for ensuring engagement and participation from all students. It gives them time to think about their ideas and responses without some of the social pressures of the traditional classroom, particularly for those who are shy in front of their peers or don’t get a chance to be heard in a busy and large class. There are plenty of forums online for setting up this kind of facility, but ClassChatter stands out among them, probably because it was designed from the start by a classroom teacher, for classroom teachers. It gives you easy and flexible tools, without any need for training or prior expertise in getting your classes online. Its blogging and journal options are invaluable, as is its fully secure internal email facility.
The ClassChatter.com system provides each learner with a ‘Personal Blog,’ which can be used as a journal, a monitored social wall, for cloud-based note-taking, and much more. And as the teacher, you can control the amount of interaction among classmates’ blogs. Then there are ‘Topic Blogs’ which offer a collaborative space for learners and teachers to discuss ideas on a common topic, again controlled by the teacher in terms of how and when students access the forum.
Unlike many other blog platforms, there is also the ‘cMail’ where you can electronically exchange messages and communicate with your students, without the need for email addresses. Again, the teacher is in full control, and all messages are archived permanently for safety, with no place for spam, just a secure communication environment.
Another feature is the management of assignments. You can post assignments for students, and mark them online, offer guidance or comments, or return the assignment to the student for further work. The students can work on assignments over multiple online sessions and then submit them when they are finished.