Resource Name: Google Moderator

URL: http://www.google.com/moderator

Uses: Brainstorm and Organize, Quiz and Assess, Collect Feedback, Write Together, Interact Socially, Respond and Reflect

Description: Google Moderator is a facilitation and debate site where you (or your students) can post a statement for others to agree or disagree with, respond to, or vote up or vote down. Students can respond and provide reasons for their ideas or to further express their opinions. Anyone can view ideas; however, to vote, submit ideas, or leave responses, users must be signed into Google accounts. If your students don't have Google (Gmail) accounts, consider using TodaysMeet instead; it's simpler and log-in free.

Students can create their own debate or discussion and post the link on Edmodo or their PBWorks wiki. As the teacher, you can embed the single Series (question set) you wish students to view into your site by loading or embedding the site URL.

Here's a sample question related to this site.

Another cool site like Moderator (but not nearly as streamlined) that allows for many ideas and options to be shared and voted upon is Tricider, which I also learned about through Nick Peachey's Learning Technology blog. Students must be registered to vote or comment, but this allows them to create their own discussions as well. Here's an example pros and cons of Moodle.

If you're looking for a more fully-featured debate site, try IdeaScale. It allows students to vote up, vote down ideas, and leave comments on the comments of others. Be warned; its interface is much busier and less foolproof. Another site that looks promising is aMap, which allows students to create or respond to simple informal logic arguments.

Sample Applications for the Reading/Language Arts Classroom:

• Post a statement concerning a character in your current novel. Let students voice opinions. We posted on whether Karana from The Island of the Blue Dolphins should have jumped off the departing ship to return to her brother on the island.
  
• Post a headline from a recent current event. After students read the news article, they chime in.
• In preparation for argumentative writing, allow the class to crowdsource ideas. Assign students to post ideas, examples, and evidence for both sides of the issue. Regardless of which side each student chooses to argue in a later writing piece, the ideas from the other list will help them to craft their opposing view statements. (For more on strengthening argumentative writing with opposing viewpoints, see my post called Fightin' Words).
  
• After allowing students to use two competing technologies, have them voice their preferences.
  
• As a group fact-finding exercise, post a controversial topic. Assign students to opposite sides of the issue, and allow them to post their supporting evidence here.
  
• Students agree or disagree with an editorial stand.
• Post a scenario relating to a topic or theme of a novel. When students wondered why neighbors would assist the Nazis is locating Jews, I introduced the idea of citizenship credits. Students soon learned that incentives to report on your fellow citizen can lead to abuses.
  
• Students agree or disagree with a statement connected to a short video (see Sources for Videos at the bottom of the Grockit Answers page).
  

Notes and Caveats:

• See my step-by-step tutorial here, but be prepared to give the site one or two practice runs.

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