Palaver
Automated discussion moderation
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This website works best on laptops and desktops
It's free to speak when no one's in line
Just hit start my turn!
Scroll down to see how it works.
Moderating a discussion involves distributing a scarce resource — the total time available for speaking to the group. But moderators can't access the information needed to promote really great discussions: Who wants to speak most at a given moment? What do they plan to say? How valuable would their contribution be now, relative to the contributions that other participants would make instead?
Thankfully, discussions don't need moderators. Discussion markets free both students and teachers from the cognitively demanding and (for many people) anxiety inducing aspects of moderating and participating in real-time group discussions. Palaver makes joining the discussion easier for everyone, eliminates many moderator biases, and allows everyone—including your TA—to better focus on what's being said.
This page will explain what you need to know in around two minutes.
Scroll down to see how it works.
When more than one person wants to speak, you have to bid for a place in the line
At the beginning of a discussion, everyone's endowment is reset to 100 points. Instead of raising your hand and hoping your teacher calls on you, in these discussions you enter the queue to speak by bidding. Palaver tells you where you are in the line, so you control when you're up.
Use the bid slider in the middle of the display to indicate how much you want to speak. Palaver will tell you where your bid places you in the queue—first, second, third, etc.—so you can adjust accordingly.
Below, Justin enters a bid so he can speak after Claire.
Other students might outbid you
Palaver will notify you if someone moves in front of you in the line. If you want to get back into first place, increase your bid—but be careful not to run out of points. If you do run out, you'll have to wait until no one else wants to contribute.
The number of points you bid should reflect how much you want to contribute. Sometimes what you want to say needs to be said before the discussion moves on. When that's true, enter higher bids to prioritize your contribution. And don't be afraid to bid high! Many students undervalue their contributions.
When your contribution is not urgent and the price to speak is high, it's sensible to hold off until fewer people want to speak. You'll know when that happens because the price to contribute will drop. Possibly to zero—a bargain!
Below, Vidushi outbids Justin, sending him to second place.
If you end your turn early, you only pay for the time you spent speaking
If the price to speak is high, keep your contribution brief to avoid burning through points. See the points you have remaining at the bottom of the display.
Below, Claire ends her turn early, allowing Vidushi to speak.
Don't be afraid to use your points—they're topped up at the end of every discussion
When what you have to say is urgent, increase your bid until you're satisfied with your position in line. But if the price to speak is high and your contribution can wait, consider deferring your turn until the price drops.
If you run out of points, you might be able to earn them back. In some discussions, the moderator will configure a reward for silence-breakers. That means if you break a silence in the discussion and while you're speaking someone is inspired to enter a bid, you'll get a fraction of whatever they bid returned to you.
The best way to increase the reward is to make a contribution which connects the ideas of multiple students in an interesting way. They'll want to join in!
Learn more about discussion markets below.
Discussion analytics
Palaver is like Fitbit for your discussions. From the home screen, you can access stats for all of your discussions, including your total and average contributions and how they compare to your classmates'.
One last thing...
Palaver implements two kinds of discussion markets.
A second-price discussion market is like an eBay auction: When you win (speak), you pay the next highest bid after yours.
A first-price discussion market is more like buying a house at an auction or a car from a dealership: You pay whatever amount you offer.
So if you bid 30 points and the next highest bid after yours was 2 points, you would pay 30 points in a first-price auction but only 2 points in a second-price auction.
When you join a new discussion, Palaver will tell you if it is first- or second-priced.
Click here to learn about how Palaver works from the admin (teacher) side.