Chat+Rooms

 **WHAT IS A CHAT ROOM** Electronic chats are a synchronous form of communication, closely resembling actual, real-time conversations. Individuals log-into a system and can communicate directly with anyone else logged into the same system. Within seconds of writing a comment online, everyone else logged-into the system can view and immediately respond to these initial remarks. **CHAT ROOMS:**
 * can be used to carry out formal or informal discussions about current events, controversies, readings, common experiments, business plans, and many other issues
 * can be used to provide immediate feedback or responses to learner questions
 * can be used by students to present and describe their work to others; feedback or advice can be sought from other participants
 * can promote community among groups of learners who otherwise would be unable to communicate formally or informally (e.g., geographically dispersed)

**DISCLOSURE:** Since electronic chats are synchronous or "live," you should be aware that only 2 or 3 students can effectively communicate at any one time. Entire classes attempting to chat together will not only be confusing for the students, but will also likely slow the server system to a crawl or crash. CourseInfo, in particular, cannot manage large chat groups.  **THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CHAT ROOMS** Chat rooms are typically used in one of two capacities. (1) General Open Chats: chat rooms are provided to students for general discussion and project work with classmates. In this case, students decide when to chat online, and the chat software remains open and available at all times. (2) Hosted, Moderated Chats: specific chat activities are planned by the instructor who establishes a plan and a time for chatting in advance and informs his or her audience of the chat plan and schedule. A hosted chat will typically require a moderator who may guide a discussion or talk about a paper or project. More advanced chat rooms might allow the moderator to show and mark-up an image or demonstrate a software application. In some cases, students may be the hosts or moderators, as described in the sample activities later. Hosted chat activities are somewhat time-zone dependent. For instance, it will be challenging to schedule a hosted, live chat with a classroom in Australia due to the time differences (9am in Blacksburg today equates to 1am in Sydney, Australia tomorrow; but 4pm in Blacksburg today would allow for live chatting with Sydney, Australia at 8am tomorrow). Chat screens are frequently cluttered by 5, 10, 15, or more individuals attempting to communicate at one time. Too many posts at once can be confusing. Click to enlarge the sample image at right to view a sample chat screen. As individuals post to this chat screen, their comments appear at the bottom of the screen, with prior comments scrolling upward.

Some chat systems allow you to archive online discussions for review by those not present or for closer analysis at a later date. This practice is recommended for hosted sessions.  <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Some chat systems are memory-intensive and may be slow in loading or completely crash a computer system. The CourseInfo system used at Virginia Tech has had reported problems in the past, with only small numbers of students (e.g., 4-5) able to communicate at any one time. Make sure you test out any chat system for speed and robustness prior to engaging in scheduled classroom activities. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Abuses of chat rooms are common, from inappropriate language and conversations to cyber-stalking. Make sure any young or immature students are aware of the [|risks and responsibilities]. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**CHAT ROOM TOPICS** <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Chat rooms facilitate discussions about various topics, including professional discourse, personal discourse, and educational discourse. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">// Examples of Professional Chat Rooms // <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">// Examples of Personal, Community Chat Rooms // <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">// Examples of Educational Chat Rooms // <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">distance educators share strategies
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Virginia teachers discuss the state educational system
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">programmers query one another about Y2k problems
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">homeschoolers swap techniques with one another-- [|http://www.flora.org/homeschool-ca/support.html#chat]-- []
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">owners of saltwater aquariums
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">owners of certain types of pets
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">kids pen pals
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">ask your favorite author or actor a question
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|fraternity and sorority chats]
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">communicate with parents who have children with attention-deficit disorder
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">health and wellness
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|general geography interest]

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**EDUCATIONAL CHAT ROOM ACTIVITIES** <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In addition to general chat sessions for various subject areas, there are some very specific chat activities you can conduct with your own class. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">// Discussing // <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">All participants read a common book or listen/watch a common performance, then discuss their reactions to the work at the same time (e.g., 9am-11am Monday). See, for example, the [|Mark Twain discussion site]. Discussions need not be formally scheduled as above; chat rooms can remain open all day, allowing students to meet whenever they like to talk about a project or assignment. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">// Role Playing // <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Students research a position or perspective (e.g., Abraham Lincoln), then discuss issues with students playing other roles (e.g., Robert E. Lee). The instructor can moderate the conversation by asking questions, or allow the "players" to query one another. The roles need not be from the same time period, but rather could investigate similar or different perspectives held by individuals across time (e.g., how Bill Gates technopoly informs or clashes with Vanderbilt's railroad empire). <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">// Mentoring // <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Students communicate with experts in a field to ask questions or to receive feedback on their work. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Students can also communicate with peers in a field to provide some form of support to one another. See, for example, how students studying [|English as a second language] listen and help one another to apply skills. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The examples below show how the CourseInfo chat room can be used by students to ask questions of one another and to quickly diagram problems and solutions using the whiteboard. Such features are useful to support peer homework groups. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">// Critiquing // <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A student or student team writes a paper or suggests a solution to some problem. This paper/project is provided to other students for review. Later, the design team moderates a scheduled chat, responding to questions and remarks from other students, the instructor, and/or an expert about their ideas. Source: []