Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ How Students Use Unofficial Online Backchannels for Classes

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

Here's the gist: "Many professors worry that online systems like Discord and GroupMe are used for cheating, but they can also help build community." What's funny is that while Discord is very well known and has about 200 million users, GroupMe isn't, and has only around 10 million users. So why put them both side by side in the story (especially when other services, such as Matrix, have six times as many users)? If I were more cynical, I would say this is marketing. Anyhow, the gist of this article is that "the biggest concern many professors have about these unofficial online platforms is whether students use them to cheat." As usual. But I have to say, if a backchannel can be used to cheat in your course, it's your course, not the backchannel, that is the problem.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Nov 21, 2024 2:47 p.m.

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