Clubhouse: Drop-in Audio Chat

Clubhouse: Drop-in Audio Chat is a social media app that's entirely voice-based and divided into rooms you can join. It's not an app you want to use with students, as there's a lot of mature content. However, there is an active community of educators using the app, which has prompted some to call it a "virtual teachers' lounge." 

Once you're in, either allow access to your contacts or add friends manually. Then you can join existing education-related rooms or start your own. There are moderators who decide who can speak to avoid chaos. And you can virtually raise your hand -- like in Zoom -- if you have something to say but haven't been invited to speak yet. There are also scheduled chats that you can find by browsing. Though there is a Replay feature, it's not used consistently, so lots of teachers use other social networks like Twitter to follow up and keep the conversation going. 

Primarily, you can use Clubhouse to commiserate and share ideas. If you start your own room, you can base it around a specific education-related topic, like the digital divide or project-based learning. And there are likely rooms to join around subject areas you teach, too. But you can also just listen in to conversations educators are having as if you're listening to a podcast to adopt the ideas that make sense to you and for your classroom.