Live chat
after reading many of the thoughts posted here most do agree that synchronous chats are a waste of time for students and the professor. Asynchronous discussions are great for online learning. Discussion threads seem to promote the most learning.
I so agree. There is nothing worse than teaching to an empty classroom! When there are students they are normally the ones that do best in the class.
Gloria,
I do agree that live chats work when students participate; the trick is getting them to do that.
Sincerely,
Vince
Zara,
It is true that synchrous discussions are a waste of time for everyone. I have been doing live chats for 4 years at one of the online schools I work with, and you can't get the students to show up for those. I have recorded many alone, and generally, you will only have 1-2 people show up.
Sincerely,
Vince
IMHO-Live chats are somewhat useless when there are no attendees. This is a real problem in the online environment across the spectrum of schools. When students are able to attend, the value increases tremendously. My chat sessions are archived as many have mentioned here but a chat session with no attendees is mostly just too stilted.
Steve
I liked what you suggested about the bonus points. When in a seated class, I offered small bonus points and the class was engaged. The Live Chats have up to five students. I reserve the last 15 minutes to review the weekly assignments and if students are interested, I will stay online answering questions.
I do the same thing. The classes I teach require some kind of weekly chat and the conflict is you cannot satisfy everyone available time. Some work during the day and some at work at night. So I record my live chats so everyone gets a chance to attend or listen to and ask questions if they have them.
I tend to agree with you. I find that most of my student "listen" to the archived (recorded) chats and don't participate in the live chats. I often wonder what else they are doing as the live chat is being played!!! Since they are not participating in the chat in real time there is no way to know if they are really listening or not.
Zara
This is one of my real "pet peeves". I happen to love the Live Chats. I think they are important.
After teaching in the classroom for over 10 years, at first it was hard to use the asynchronous methods. After 6 years of online teaching, it has become 2nd nature to me, but I still like the personal contact with the students.
When I was allowed to give up to 5 bonus points out of a 1000 point grading system, I would have nearly ½ - ¾ of the class attend at least 1 of 2 Live Chats each week. When I am not allowed to give some incentive except my personality, I might get 3-5 students if I am lucky. Even when the chats are archived, very few students review the information.
Because the basic classes are “cannedâ€, the Live Chats are the most time effective method of disseminating additional information. I am not a real fast typist and I make a lot of tying errors. Typing in a synchronous environment for me is not very pretty. There is a lot of backspacing and it takes me much more time to respond. When I respond to asynchronous discussion questions and responses, it takes me a lot of time to type out something as long as this reply. So far it has taken me about 4 minutes to type what I have just completed in the 1st 3 paragraphs.
The Live Chats allow me to further respond to the topics and to individual discussion responses. I can also explain how I determine a grade and explain the “nebulous†assignment objectives the “canned†questions provide to the students. There might be 4 objectives for a Project Paper with grade values assigned. I then take those objectives and break each one down to 11 specific points I assign to equal the overall points assigned. They need explaining as each student views them a little differently. An example for a written paper is the specific way I need the assignments completed and presented. Because of the method I retrieve, print out, evaluate the answers, and assign grades; I deduct points. In the Instructions I state “The file name must include……; each page requires a running header to include the following information:….; and they are to be submitted no later than…..â€. In my rubrics I give a point value to:
1. Fine name includes
a. ----- -5
b. ----- -2
c. ----- -1
2. Header includes:
a. ----- -5
b. ----- -2
c. ----- -2
d. ----- -3.
What I do in the Live Chat is explain why all of this is necessary. It is all based on my experience in business.
I also have found several very good videos and/or PowerPoint presentations about what they are studying. These add more information that the students would not otherwise obtain.
The students also get very comfortable with me and many that attend the sessions do not hesitate to contact me any time they have a question about a topic or are having problems. The students that do not attend: do not follow the instructions very well, do not contact me when they have a question, and do not contact me if they are having problems.
Yes, the discussions are the heart and the soul of any learning experience.
Live chat works whenever students can participate. It's interesting when students over talk each other and answer other students questions. It is always a learning experience and is exciting when the students have a break through moment.
I host synchronous chats and I also believe the students like them, particularly the newer students who are nervous about class. I feel the chat allows me to put their mind at ease on many topics. Like others stated, I also record the chats so those who cannot attend live are able to listen later.
Jennifer Evans
In my courses, many students have attended the synchronous chats in order to ask questions and to listen the explanations of the different PowerPoint topics I review.
This is also the time where students feel completely free to ask questions and many of them have said that they ask questions in the chat because they know the chat is being recorded.
Eric ,
Everyone learns differently. Just as we would differentiate instruction for our classroom students, we need to be aware of student learning styles and use a variety of tools to reach all of these students.
Herbert Brown III
Because I come from a generation that views chat as a recreational medium, I was originally inclined to dismiss the role of chat tools as a way to facilitate synchronous discussion. However, given some of the suggestions in the module: Keeping size to a minimum of 5 or 6 and limiting the access time to 30 minutes or so, I'm beginning to see the potential of chat as a tool.
I doubt if it would ever become my favorite, but it's another tool for the box.
Thanks for this particular topic!
zara,
Although many people might report that synch. does not work for them; personally it has worked very well for me and the students always comment on how much they like that portion of the course. I do archive synchronous sessions for those students that cannot connection "live."
Herbert Brown III
