Discord virtual classroom
For a more text-oriented interface than Google Meet, consider Discord in educational settings. A few papers on Discord for education:
- Using Discord to Understand and Moderate Collaboration and Teamwork tracked student efforts with Discord.
- Discord Application: Turning a Voice Chat Application for Gamers into a Virtual Listening Class (2018) notes the highly positive reaction from an audience using mostly the audio functionality for lecturing.
- Abstract (paywall) notes the benefits of moving to Discord vs. Skype.
- Using Discord to Improve Student Communication, Engagement, and Performance
Consider a “private” Discord server, with the link shared on the Blackboard. It’s possible to consider Discord server settings to not require login or verification. This allows pseudonymous group discussion. Our experience has been that if the link isn’t shared widely on the public internet, negative engagement hasn’t been a problem. If this becomes an issue, one can switch to verified email login and ban users.
To reduce chat clutter, consider turning off the greeting messages under Server Settings → New Member Messages Channel: “No New Member Messages”
The level of engagement on Discord has been higher than via Blackboard. Note that this resource is “unofficial” without branding.
Discord differentiators include:
- inherently group-oriented
- audio, text, video, and screen sharing
- as long as the link isn’t shared publicly, discussion can be pseudonymous, encouraging more engagement from those who might be otherwise reluctant to ask a particular question