Mobile Menu

  • Home
    • About Lindsay
  • Blog
    • English Language Arts
    • Effective Teaching Strategies
    • Technology in the Classroom
    • Self Care for Teachers
  • Free Grading Guide
  • Grading Reset Course
  • Resources
    • Web Store
    • TpT Store
  • Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Lindsey Ann Learning

Raise Rigor, Create Learners, Embrace Creativity

  • Home
    • About Lindsay
  • Blog
    • English Language Arts
    • Effective Teaching Strategies
    • Technology in the Classroom
    • Self Care for Teachers
  • Free Grading Guide
  • Grading Reset Course
  • Resources
    • Web Store
    • TpT Store

7 Free Online Discussion Tools

Home » Blog » English Language Arts » 7 Free Online Discussion Tools
Free Online Discussion Tools for Secondary ELA

September 25, 2017 //  by Lindsay Ann//  4 Comments

Sharing is caring!

  • Share
  • Tweet

When I first started teaching, we had one computer in each office and each classroom, and I remember waiting in line to use it. We scheduled time in the LRC computer labs, but this was not guaranteed. We thought nothing of it. Classroom discussion took place during class, and that was that. Sure, I found ways to make student discussion work better over the years, but there was nothing life-changing.  Then, all of this new technology started to emerge, including some of my favorite online discussion tools and I was like where have you been all my life, you game-changer, you!  

Best Online Discussion Tools

Let’s talk about ways to use online discussion tools to facilitate student discussion.

Remember, the goals for online discussion are still the same:

  1. Clear norms and expectations
  2. Framed and focused
  3. Student-led
  4. Rooted in text(s)

But online discussion tools make it so much easier to engage students in consistent, varied discussion both in and out of the classroom.

Free Online Discussion Tools

1. Poll Everywhere

  • It is easy to create and share a quick poll with your students to frame a discussion or as a ticket in (or out) the door.  This is where I began dabbling in technology-aided discussion.
  • You can use this in the middle of a discussion, too!  If a student asks a question that is truly worthy of a “stop and consider” moment, or if you notice the discussion getting stale, you can “spark” a new discussion by quickly posting that student’s question or asking one of your own.  Stop, have students voteonline-discussion-tools, and use the results to inspire continued dialogue.

2. Today’s Meet (free), Backchannel Chat (paid) 

  • Opening a “back channel,” which is basically an online chat room moderated by the teacher, allows for another discussion stream in the room.  I’ve used this during “fishbowl” discussions as a way for audience members to actively participate in the discussion, sharing their own ideas and questions based on what is said in the fishbowl.  I’ve also used this as a way to quickly gather opinions or questions from students, as a ticket-out-the-door, and as a way for audience members to ask questions during a presentation or debate.
  • Benefits of this format include engaging all students, particularly introverted students who don’t like to be in the spotlight.  If using this, I would suggest keeping the discussion groups small (create multiple channels) – for it to be a true “discussion” vs. train of thought random comments, there cannot be a ton of comments clogging the feed.  This is overwhelming to students.

3. Nearpod

  • There are a lot of great features offered by Nearpod, which is basically like a PowerPoint…except interactive.  You create the content and intersperse multiple choice and open-ended questions, as well as “draw it” opportunities and other bells and whistles and students join the presentation.  Then, the magic happens:  every device has the same screen as you, the teacher, and you decide when to “flip” student screens.  But my favorite feature is the anonymous sharing function which allows the teacher to scroll through student responses, select ones to showcase or use to prompt further discussion, and then click a button to make them appear on all student screens.

4. Padlet

  • This is an online space to which students can post ideas, thoughts, questions for discussion.  It is the digital equivalent of my “graffiti wall” activity.  I used to (and still sometimes do) get a large sheet of paper, cover the entire board with it, and have students fill the paper with words, images, quotes, questions, and connections.  Then, students use this as a springboard for further discussion in partners, small group, and even whole class.

5. Flipgrid

  • This online discussion tool allows a teacher to post a topic for discussion (could be student-generated) to a discussion “grid” which is simply an online space for collaborative thought.  Students then respond to the topic by recording their thoughts in short video clips.  Viola – every voice is heard!  Then, students can watch the videos of their classmates and respond back to them, generating further discussion.  I love that this incorporates multiple modalities, 21st century skills, as well as speaking and listening skills.  I find that it’s helpful to have multiple “tricks” for discussion up my sleeve, because variety is the spice of life and student engagement.  This is a great way to mix up classroom discussion of a specific text, theme, or topic.  Students can share research, ask questions, and have time to think and respond in-depth too each others’ thoughts.

6. Vocaroo or Screencast-O-Matic

  • Quick teaching hack!  If you want a completely free version of the Flipgrid experience, here’s a workaround if you have an LMS platform such as Google Classroom, Edmodo, or even Seesaw that supports student video upload and threaded discussion.
  • Have students record their thoughts in response to a prompt by creating a Vocaroo voice comment or by creating a screencast video.  Your prompt could be a statement, word, question, startling statistic, text/excerpt, quotation, image, video, infographic, personal story…there are a lot of possibilities here!  The mp3 or mp4 file could then be uploaded to your platform of choice where students could watch the videos and respond to each other.
  • By the way, Vocaroo is a great tool for students to practice reading fluency, to record thoughts in response to a teacher-created video in a flipped classroom environment, or to record an audio version of an original piece of writing.

7. G Suite

  • I’m a big fan of Alice Keeler, and she has several awesome templates which you can download for free if you want to:
    • Host a “mock” Twitter chat
    • Run a classroom discussion using Google Sheets (which can then be posted to Google Classroom)
    • Run a classroom discussion using Google Slides

Over and out!  If you find value in these posts, please share your ideas by commenting below.  What online discussion tools do you use?  I’d love to hear from you!online-discussion-tools

Free Online Discussion Tools for the Classroom


Hey, if you loved this post, I want to be sure you’ve had the chance to grab a FREE copy of my guide to streamlined grading. I know how hard it is to do all the things as an English teacher, so I’m over the moon to be able to share with you some of my best strategies for reducing the grading overwhelm. 

Click on the link above or the image below to get started!

grading-papers

Sharing is caring!

  • Share
  • Tweet

Category: Effective Teaching Strategies, English Language Arts, Technology in the ClassroomTag: 1:1, 21st century learning, Classroom Discussion, Google Classroom, technology

About Lindsay Ann

Lindsay has been teaching high school English in the burbs of Chicago for 18 years. She is passionate about helping English teachers find balance in their lives and teaching practice through practical feedback strategies and student-led learning strategies. She also geeks out about literary analysis, inquiry-based learning, and classroom technology integration. When Lindsay is not teaching, she enjoys playing with her two kids, running, and getting lost in a good book.

Related Posts

You may be interested in these posts from the same category.

writing-process

The Writing Process Explained: From Outline to Final Draft

authentic-assessments

What Are Authentic Assessments?

writing-narratives

The Art of Storytelling: Techniques for Writing Engaging Narratives

writing-topics

Writing Topics for Student Writer’s Block

The Art of Argumentation: How to Write a Convincing Argumentative Essay

5 Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension Skills

active-reading

The Importance of Active Reading and How to Do It

presentation-skills

Teaching Effective Presentation Skills in English Language Arts Classrooms

poetic-devices

Understanding Poetic Devices: Personification, Alliteration, and More

top-classic-novels

20 Must-Read Classic Novels for High School Students

round-table-discussions

10 Reasons to Try Round Table Discussions

writing-prompts-for

101 Writing Prompts for all Levels of ELA

Previous Post: «10 Student Led Discussion Strategies for the Whole Class 10 Student Led Discussion Strategies for Whole Class Discussion
Next Post: The Truth About Teaching Introverts Introverts in Classroom Discussion»

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bedava Sohbet et

    April 4, 2019 at 5:57 pm

    Very nice. Thanks..

    Reply
  2. Drew

    March 18, 2020 at 6:52 am

    Hi Lindsay Ann,
    I’m not sure if you’re still getting emails from this site …
    But if so, I’d like to ask for your suggestions/help in making some good choices for ways that our Grief Group can now continue to have helpful/inspiring meetings online during this Coronavirus challenging time.
    We have each lost a loved one (most of us our spouses) to 1 of the many types of cancer.

    Thanks very much for getting back to me …
    And if this is the right channel to reach you on,
    then I will share more about what we hope to achieve and setup for a new means of communication.

    Many thanks for your reply,
    Drew (S. Calif.)

    Reply
    • Learning

      March 18, 2020 at 5:06 pm

      Hi Drew – We are certainly having to be more creative with online meetings during this time. You might consider Zoom, Google Meet, or Google Hangouts for your online meetings. Zoom has a free version that gives 45 minutes of talk time and would be what I would recommend if everyone doesn’t have a Google account.

      I hope this helps!
      Lindsay

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Approaching Teaching: Week of November 18, 2018 | Approaching Teaching @ AISK says:
    December 8, 2018 at 10:16 pm

    […] Discussion Tools. In this article, learn about seven online discussion tools to facilitate student discussion and how to get started […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Join me in the pursuit of engaged, dynamic classroom learning!

I’ve created a FREE guide with 20 of my best strategies for streamlined grading to help English teachers like you have more time to do what you love.

Get the Guide!

Categories

Latest Products

  • Late Work Submission Google Form $3.00
  • Rhetorical Devices Activities for Google Drive & Print $4.00
  • Distance Learning Google Form Student Survey $3.00
  • Creative Writing Prompts Choice Boards $3.00
  • Slam Poetry Condensed Unit for Distance Learning $7.00

Site Footer

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2023 Lindsay Ann Learning English Teacher Blog · Privacy · All Rights Reserved

339 shares