Implications

 I can see more negative implications for the use of social media sights than I can positive.  First, how often does the teacher need to be monitoring the conversation?  Will free use of the computer give students the opportunity to go off task?  And, would the use of twitter and other backchannel sights allow some students to be bullied?  I suppose a class would have to be given on cyber "etiquette".  The most important negative implication seems to be the lack of face time these backchannels give (or don't give) to students.  Are we creating a world in which we don't even have to show up?  If students don't have to orally participate in class, what are we telling them?  Shouldn't we be challenging our students to do things that might make them uncomfortable?  A classroom should be a safe environment where students feel comfortable to talk aloud and voice their opinions.  The use of backchannels veers away from a face-to-face community, and drops student's into the nameless cyber universe.

Backchannel

This is an example of what a "backchannel" looks like...

Today's Meet:

http://todaysmeet.com/RelationshipTechniques

Summary of Article

The article, "Speaking Up in Class, Silently, Using Social Media" is an interesting article chronicling the use of social media in the classroom.  Various teachers around the nation are using social media, such as Twitter and Today’s Meet, to have class discussions.  The rationale is that shy students, or students who do not talk much in class, will have an outlet to articulate their thoughts without having to do so orally.  One teacher states, “…social media, once kept outside the school door, can entice students who rarely raise a hand to express themselves via a medium they find as natural as breathing.”  The article goes on to voice the opinion of other students who enjoy this type of discussion.  One student states that the social media in the classroom helps her to understand her peers, she says, “It’s made me see my peers as more intelligent, seeing their thought process and begin to understand them on a deeper level.”

 Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/education/13social.html?_r=1&ref=education