Google Moderator: Great Discussion Board Tool

You know I LOVE Edmodo. However, there are actually a few aspects I don’t really like. For example, when my students are taking part in a “discussion board,” I want them to respond directly to another students’ post. On Edmodo, students can’t do this. They can, however, respond to another student within the discussion thread, but must begin their point with “I agree with Student A,” or “Student A believes…while I believe…” This works, but it’s messy and disorganized. I think responding directly to another student is EXTREMELY beneficial and could stimulate even more discussion.

Enter Google Moderator!

With the use of Chromebooks next year in my building, I am looking to use as many Google Apps and products as I can…because it will be easily accessible. Students will only need one username and password to access their course. We ALL know that makes life easier, for everyone!

Here are some basics about Google Moderator:

1. Go to https://www.google.com/moderator/
2. On the right of the screen, you’ll see an area to create your “signature”
• For nickname, I entered what my students call me…Mrs. Petty
3. Click “create series”
• Here, you can name your “series”
4. Once you’ve named your series, you can choose to set specific preferences like…
• a description of your series
• visibility on the web (do you want this to be a public board or private)
• what type of series this will be
• will individuals be submitting questions, suggestions, or ideas?
• will the focus of this series be an event, topic, or meeting?
• holding posts for moderation
• and more!
5. Original topics (the main question if you’re using this as a discussion board) can be 250 characters, which could be a little tricky depending on your content
6. Responses to the main topic can be up to 10,000 characters
• Responses are made DIRECTLY, which is awesome