Classtweeter is a web platform aimed at making it easier for students and teachers to use Twitter as a backchannel for large, in-person classes. It implements various design decisions to allow for effective conversations and gives teachers/ TAs a means to non-intrusively understand what students are thinking about in a large setting without hampering the flow of the class.

You can read more about the motivation and design decisions of the platform here.

The platform was built as a class project for the Laboratory to Social Machines class by Professor Deb Roy at the MIT Media Lab. We used the platform during the final class presentations as a means to act as a backchannel to have conversations about the projects being presented in class. Snapshot of the platform from use that day: