Tozzl  used to be a message board platform.  I learned about this afternoon when its lead developer emailed me. My initial thought was, “I don’t know that the world needs another message board tool.” But as I explored it a bit I changed my mind.

Tozzl allows you to quickly create private, password-protected message boards as well as public boards. To get started visit Tozzl and select “create a new Tozzl.” Then you can name your message board and set a privacy password (optional). Tozzl assigns a new, unique URL to each message board. On your message board you can add sections for chat, file sharing, to-do lists, and YouTube videos. You can also import the feed of a Twitter hashtag. In my demo board available here you will see that I imported #NCTIES15.

Applications for Education
The many facets of Tozzl open it up to a bunch of possible classroom uses. You could use it simply as a backchannel tool in which students ask questions through the course of a lesson. You could have students use it as a project management tool when they’re working in groups. Tozzl message boards also have the potential to be used for simply distributing digital handouts and videos to your students.