You may have heard of Socrative for engaging your students in real time while getting a pulse of how the room feels about a topic. It is a great tool which I have benefited from and seen some master teachers use extremely well.

Today I would like you to meet 'TodaysMeet'. This tool does all of the core things that Socrative does. It also allows you to do two things that have kept me from fully embracing Socrative.

Perhaps you have seen the TodaysMeet Logo?

1) TodaysMeet allows teachers and trainers to 'mute' students who are purposely disruptive. Hopefully it does not happen in professional training sessions and it does not happen in school systems as much as some people feel that it might. However, this is a nice option to have and it makes me much more comfortable to use leaving open for comments to people in distant classrooms or for extended hours outside of a controlled environment.

2) Download the transcripts. This option serves as a clear advantage over Socrative. Although the classroom sessions are open for limited times, it is wonderful to have access to download the transcripts. If chosen, this can serve for formative and perhaps even summative assessment. Of course it can also be great for documenting for adapting or integrating into future sessions.

I am a big fan of Google Forms and other Google Apps for Education. I love the ecosystem provided by Google. However, especially in the corporate world or when working with minors, the signup process of using a Google Form can keep people from choosing to participate. Today'sMeet is a no-nonsense, no-barrier, noncommital way to get a quick pulse without needing pesky delays waiting for participants to set up an account. With that said, it works perfectly well for generating contact information while engaging an audience if needed.

For more information on how it can benefit you as a teacher or trainer, here is a quick overview on the main site: https://todaysmeet.com/about/teachertools