Live feedback

I am using twitter and SMS in my history course this semester. What I do is tell students to tweet or text their questions at any time, and periodically I break and check what has been written. I also sometimes ask everyone to answer a question (e.g., what was the muddiest point). I tell them a hash tag for their tweets and I use Google Voice for the SMS. I check with my iPhone and do not use the computer connected to the projector. I also send out tweets once in a while with those hash tags in case any of my students are following. I do not require students to do either, and so I would not rely on either for roll or awarding points. There is also an instant messaging tool inside D2L, but I would limit the tools that students use as that reduces the number of places you have to check. It is possible for SMS messages sent to google to be forwarded as emails to any account .