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Description
Kialo edu is an online discussion platform designed to facilitate structured debate, critical thinking, and collaborative reasoning. It uses an argument mapping approach to organize conversations into visual pro/con trees branching from a central thesis, helping students analyze multiple perspectives.
This tool is free to use and nonprofit.
Functionality
- Organizes arguments visually into interactive pro/con tree and sunburst diagrams
- Allows instructors to set up single-thesis debates or multi-thesis explorations for open-ended topics
- Allows students to vote on argument strength, attach supporting sources, and leave feedback on peers’ contributions
- Small group mode enables focused discussions in large-class contexts
- Allows tracking, grading and export of student contributions
Usage
For whole-class discussions: Explore a topic in real time by setting a thesis and asking students to build and evaluate opposing arguments in class.
For large classes: Create small-group breakouts to explore focused topics and easily monitor group progress.
For homework: Set asynchronous debate assignments specifying student tasks: posting claims, responding to claims, providing linked evidence, and voting.
For large classes: Create small-group breakouts to explore focused topics and easily monitor group progress.
For homework: Set asynchronous debate assignments specifying student tasks: posting claims, responding to claims, providing linked evidence, and voting.