Media Coverage
Jennifer Gonzalez
Richard Byrne
American Association of School Librarians
Common Sense Education
If, like me, you were completely devastated when the backchannel tool TodaysMeet shut down last year, you’ll be happy to know that you can have almost the same experience on YoTeach! Just set up a free room, give your students the URL, and everyone can come on in and chat just like they did on TodaysMeet. What’s even better is that you can password protect your room, participants can add pictures and drawings in the chat, and rooms don’t appear to ever expire.
If you have been looking for an alternative to TodaysMeet and haven’t found one you like, give Yo Teach! a try. The option to have students draw on a whiteboard and insert those drawings into a chat is simply fantastic. In a math class you could have students show their work or highlight a portion of a problem on which they need help. You can also insert a drawing to aid an explanation.
YoTeachApp is a great backchannel site to utilize with students and staff. It offers many benefits, including:
- It’s free.
- It’s easy to set up.
- Others can quickly join with a QR code or link.
- It provides a drawing feature with an auto draw feature.
- It features upload functionality.
- It includes an admin feature with the ability to mute students, delete chats, and more.
Teachers lamenting the shutdown of TodaysMeet will want to check out YO Teach! as an alternative. Whether you’re looking for conversation starters, exit tickets, or formative assessment opportunities, this tool has you covered. Ask kids to create and post an original haiku, and have the class vote for their favorites. Let kids teach each other facts they’ve learned about historical figures, scientific discoveries, technological revolutions, or different cultural traditions. Show a film related to your content, and let kids discuss as they watch it, perhaps sparking a lively debate about a real or fictional character’s motivations. Take a poll to see which real or virtual field trip interests kids the most (but be aware that students can vote for all available options).
NEW FUNCTIONS
"RAISING HANDS!" Keep track of your students' UNANSWERED questions by highlighting them in BLUE.
New "SpaceBoard" A new multi-user collaborative whiteboard for active group activities! With better image upload, annotation and resizing functionalities.
"Search" Function Search through chat history .
Simple Polling Make simple polls to engage your students / audience.
Clear Room Clear your room messages.
Easy URLEasy to remember URL links for rooms
Better Drawing UI Type on top of images! Magnify before writing!
Reply Function Reply to specific comments/messages
NEW FUNCTIONS ON YOTEACH! CLOUD
Delete Rooms As an administrator, you can delete your own rooms anytime.
Download Transcripts As an administrator, you can download your room transcripts anytime!
QR Code Generate a unique QR code for students to access your room.
Like Button You can "like" comments or questions in a room. Put top-liked comments on top by switching to "voting room" mode to order messages by the number of likes!
Voting/Chatroom Mode As an administrator, you can choose either to be in the regular "chatroom" mode, or the "voting" room mode (where students can "like" a comment or question).
Additional - Teacher Features
Mute Students and Delete Messages If your students are not using YoTeach! respectfully, you can mute students and/or delete their messages. Our profanity filter helps prevent inappropriate messages too.
Student Participation StatisticsYou can access students' total number of comments and questions on YoTeach! for participation marks.
Annotate on top of imagesYou can click on an image and write on top of it to collaborate more constructively by drawing.
Semi Private Rooms Make your room more private by clicking "Hide from Search Result". Students can access your room by direct link or pin number.
For Teachers
Are you a teacher? Looking for solutions to the following in the classroom?
Large ClassesTeach large classes and can't get your students to ask/answer questions ?
Chat-App Use a chat-app (WeChat, FB messenger, Line, etc..) to keep in touch with your students, but find it difficult to always get their questions, comments and messages all the time?
Science Subjects Tutor a science subject, and want to answer your students questions instantaneously by writing equations and drawing diagrams?
Active Presentation Want to open a back-channel for the audience to communicate with you and with each other during your presentation?
For Students
Are you a student? Looking for solutions to the following in/out of the classroom?
Group Study Want to study with a friend or a group using a collaborative instant messaging and drawing platform?
Anonymous ModeWant to be able to ask your teachers questions anonymously and get feedback instantaneously ?
