Dialogic is a web-based tool to support teachers who oversee student-centered discussions. The tool visually tracks student dialogue; collects statistical data; and allows teachers to submit qualitative inputs on student discourse.

Yes, Dialogic is free! Educators are encouraged to use it to see if it might improve their practice and students’ experience in the classroom.

Dialogic can be used on both laptops and tablets. It is encouraged for devices at or greater than 12.9-inches.

Dialogic is best used with laptop and tablet devices that include a keyboard, so that teachers can take notes as well. Dialogic can also be used as a touch-screen web tool.

Teachers are encouraged to use Dialogic for sustained whole-group discussions in their classrooms. That way, they can track individual and whole-group dynamics that might invite teachers to discern students’ strengths and improvement areas.

If refreshing doesn’t work, log off and log back in. Simple as that! Otherwise, please contact Dialogic at jfm2219 [at] columbia [dot] edu.

In short, Dialogic collects minimum necessary personal information from teachers when they create an account. That information is used for account authentication and communication purposes. Dialogic allows teachers to input student rosters, track discussion order, and take general notes during seminars. The data generated within the tool is considered simple, raw, continuous variable data, and does not include any personally identifiable student information. Student data is de-identified and anonymized when or if any data analysis is conducted for research purposes. Any personally identifiable information about students is removed before analysis.

For additional information, please review the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

On the dashboard, teachers can distinguish class sections by selecting “Create New Section”. Once a section is created, Dialogic will create a section card on the main dashboard page, whereupon teachers can then create and edit rosters that match the rosters they have for their classes.

To delete class section data, Dialogic layers the deletion process to protect teachers from accidental deletion. To delete, teachers must “archive” the class; then, under the archive section, they can delete the class by selecting the appropriate drop down.

Participants cannot be removed from a roster. Instead, they can be labeled “active” and “inactive.” In “Edit Roster,” teachers may select or deselect students’ active status.

To distinguish students who might have the same name, enter their student email address in the roster page. Emails will be used to distinguish two students with the same name.

Go to edit roster, and to add a guest to any section or seminar, add "Guest" before their name. For example, if a guest contributor named “George Washington” participates in a seminar, create "Guest George Washington" into the roster.

Select the plus (+) and minus (-) radio buttons to determine the number of desks necessary to begin a seminar. Assign students to seats by selecting the student first and then clicking a corresponding seat. Should teachers make a mistake, they can adjust seats when the seminar begins by clicking the “Adjust Seats” button.

Teachers can track annotations by clicking the “Annotations” button.

Teachers can identify what types of contributions students make by selecting whether they have made a material reference; have asked question(s); have challenged someone else’s idea(s); have provided outside information; and have affirmed someone else by saying their name.

Teachers can type notes into the dialogue box if they wish to type more qualitative notes.

For tracking, click the “Undo” button. For seating, click “Adjust Seats.” Neither action will affect the seminar program itself.

Teachers might be averse to scoring or grading a discussion, and Dialogic understands this impulse. For now, however, Dialogic looks to collect this data to understand any correlative relationships between teachers’ perceptions of the quality of student discussion and the data those discussions bring to bear.