Synchronous Teaching
I have been teaching online for 11 years with several different institutions and this is the first experience I have had with Live Chat sessions. I have to admit, I am very disappointed with the involvement of students. I have yet to have more than 2 students attend the Live Session even though I have tried various ways to get them to join me. I would love to hear some ways that others have encouraged students to attend the event.
Jean Morrison
Lori,
That would be so frustrating. Can you require participation points regarding chats? I also think that we have to be careful that by using chats we are beginning to try to make the course more like a f2f course. That is not the the purpose of online. Just a thought . . .
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Jean,
I have been involved with Live Chats for 4 years and it is unsettling when students do not participate. For one of my schools it is not a requirement for the students to attend and it is very frustrating when students do not attend. I am also reviewed on my chats and class participation is one of the criteria. How do you get students to come to a HR class as opposed to the instructor who is singled out because of her high classroom attendance when she teaches drawing and design which is more interactive? It's so frustrating.
Richard,
Wow, I am going to check this out. I think we have to continue to think and rethink our tools and strategies to engage students. You are a great example of doing just that.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I found this to be a challenge as well. I feel that office hours are a valuable resource for the students. What I decided to do in this case was to switch to a different median. I no longer use the live chat sessions, I use global crossings or Blackboard Collaborate. This allows the students to see me posing a more intimate environment. I was able to get as many as 80 students to show up when I switched to this median.
