If you ever wanted your students to speak up more, or if you have ever felt like a few students dominated all classroom discussions, then Parlay might change your classroom for the better. Parlay is an online class discussion tool that assists teachers to create classroom discussions. Classrooms that have used Parlay have reported an 85% increase in participation. This post will go through everything you need to know about Parlay, from why it is beneficial for the classroom, to an overview of the steps you need to follow to start the discussions. 

What’s the big deal with discussion forums in the classroom anyway? When you bring discussions into the classroom, you will more than double a student’s achievement, and teach the students about analytical reasoning and communication. But there is one thing to point out, these benefits are limited to the students who actively participate. A discussion forum in the classroom provides a unique way for every student to participate in discussing a particular topic.

Parlay is a discussion forum for the classroom that provides all the advantages that a traditional discussion can have for the classroom. Parlay has reported that students feel more comfortable participating, and communicating, as well as feeling more respected by their peers. These improvements were all seen in a short period of time (less than 3 months), and with only 8 RoundTable discussions for the classrooms.

Apart from just being a discussion forum for your classroom, Parlay can act like a new classroom management software that gives you ample data on each and every one of your students. This can help you understand what is holding specific students back, and how interactive they are with others.

To understand how Parlay can help you manage your classroom, you need to know how it functions. Let’s go over how Parlay is used in the classroom. 

Firstly, you as the teacher will create or select a discussion prompt. This prompt does not need to be a text, it can be any image, audio, or video. It should ideally be able to get your students bubbling with discussion points. If you cannot think of any good points to discuss in the classroom, you can check out the Parlay Universe.

The Parlay Universe is a library of discussion prompts created by users online. There might just be a discussion prompt that you want to use in your classroom when you are in a pinch.

You will then send the prompt to the students through a link or through Google Classroom. The students will then receive the prompt and respond after thinking about it. This response can be in two different ways, a written response (written RoundTable), or a verbal response (verbal RoundTable). As a side note, the discussions done in the classroom using Parlay are called RoundTable.

Let’s go through the written RoundTable first. The written response has an optional secret identity that allows the students to be anonymous when submitting their views. After they submit their response, they will be able to see each other’s submissions.

The students will then be able to agree or disagree with the views of their peers. They will be guided to respond respectfully to their friends with the help of guided feedback questions.

If you as a teacher chose the verbal RoundTable, the students will get a few minutes to read and take notes on what to speak after you send them the discussion prompt. When the discussion starts, there will be one speaker and students can “Tap In” when they want to participate. When tapping in they can choose to provide a new idea, challenge, build on, or question.

You as a teacher in the verbal RoundTable can take notes, run polls, assess participation, and “nudge” quiet students. You also have the authority to assign “Speakers”, or you can delegate this authority to a student moderator.

Once you have finished conducting the written RoundTable or the verbal RoundTable, you will be provided with the statistics of the classroom. Everything from time spent, and participation summary in verbal RoundTables, to statistics in responses, and average comment length in written RoundTables will be made available to you.

You as a teacher will also get a summary of every student’s response, and you will be able to provide feedback and assess the students based on a default or a custom evaluation criterion.

You will also be able to track the progress of each student throughout the year, and the skills they demonstrate in each RoundTable. You can track the engagement of a particular student, and view all of their past assessments/feedback.

Parlay will make your life that much simpler when managing your classroom. Now if you cannot wait to start utilizing Parlay in your classroom, you have to know about their pricing structure. We recommend you first try out Parlay using their free “Teacher Trial” plan. This plan allows you to have 12 free RoundTables per year and access the Parlay Universe. After you have decided that Parlay is for you, then you can move on to the “Premium License” subscription tier, or a “Site License”.

In conclusion, Parlay is a discussion forum for your classroom. It provides a new way for every student to contribute to a meaningful discussion in the classroom. Studies have shown that discussion in the classroom can help students perform better in the long run. Parlay can also be used as a classroom management tool where the progress of every student is tracked throughout the year. To use Parlay, you have to create a discussion prompt (alternatively, you can pick a premade discussion prompt from the Parlay Universe). Then the students can discuss either verbally or by writing down their points. Then the students can respond to their peers which creates a healthy debate environment in the classroom. Finally, you as a teacher will get access to all the data collected throughout the discussion in the classroom. You can use the data in many meaningful ways, and it will also give you an insight into the minds of your students.