Parlay ideas - The future of classroom discussions

 Sharing with you a fun resource tool which I'm planning to use in my classes next week. Even though we seem to have settled quite a bit with the online learning platform, I cannot deny some of the features that only traditional classrooms can provide. No matter how engaging lessons we plan and make the online content as much easy to understand for our children, yet the virtual class seems to be elusive and invisible. It is challenging for us to recreate the same classroom environment which was once full of rich and productive classroom discussions. Classroom discussions undeniably offer benefits like -  improved concentration in students, development of the capacity for the clear communication of ideas and meaning, helps learners appreciate diverse perspectives and most importantly affirms students as co-creators of knowledge. The instructional tool that I'm about to introduce in today's newsletter allows the facilitator to inspire meaningful, measurable and inclusive discussions even in a virtual classroom environment.

Brief introduction -

                                   

Full Parlay walkthrough - 

"Parlay is a comprehensive discussion platform that allows students to interact with each other and their teacher, both virtually and in person. To begin using the platform, teachers select a RoundTable topic from the Parlay Universe to assign to students. The Parlay Universe includes collections of topics -- supplied by Parlay and by teacher users -- that span both academic and non-academic subject areas. Some examples include Sustainable Development Goals, Topics of the Future, Journalism and Media, and World History. 

Each RoundTable topic within a collection includes an essential discussion question, as well as modifiable content that students must respond to. The content within the RoundTable topic can be multimedia or text-based and can be edited or supplemented however the teacher likes. Almost all existing RoundTables already include some form of multimedia content and discussion questions. Once a RoundTable has been assigned to the class or to individual students, students review and respond to the prompt, engage in peer feedback via comments, and then join a "live" discussion.

Teachers have the option of making students anonymous to each other: The platform includes "secret identity" functionality, where students create characters for themselves, with descriptions and avatars. For Social Studies and History RoundTables, this allows teachers to assign historical figures to students, and to have students create their profiles based on research they do. Their responses also could be from the perspective of that historical figure. When teachers are reviewing student comments and responses, they can toggle back and forth between a student's real name and secret identity.

In the final step, where students have a "live" discussion, they physically sit in a Socratic circle with their devices and use their responses to have a discussion. When students want to speak, they click the Tap In button in the platform and identify what type of comment they want to make ("new idea," "challenge," "build on," or "question"). Their icon then appears in the centre of the circle on the device. When there's a "natural pause" in the discussion, students can begin making their comments. While they wait, a student's icon remains in the circle and the rest of the class knows they are waiting to make their comment. Multiple icons can be in the circle as people wait to speak. Students can vote for people who are waiting to be the next one to speak, or they can "like" what someone said by clicking on the person's icon.

Parlay also includes an exhaustive assessment tool for teachers that allows them to easily track, score, and respond to both student-written responses and their participation in the discussion. Teachers are able to see analytics on both quantity and quality of student participation, and the platform provides suggested feedback based on the type of topic and how other students have responded. The assessment tool also provides robust class analytics so teachers can track how classes grow over time, including visual representations of each discussion that provide insight into how balanced they were and what depth of knowledge they reached."[1]

As school closures ramp up around the world, in its bid to help make the temporary transition to online learning as smooth as possible, ParlayIdeas is offering its services free of charge to schools until May 15th. Let's grab this opportunity to make the most out of this tool. There are a plethora of online tools that are available at your disposal; remember though that the key is to keep it simple.

[1]Web source:- commonsense.org