Chat Strategies
Although not used as widely as the discussion board, the "virtual classroom," or chat feature, possesses unique strengths for teaching and class interaction. Chat has been used for a variety of purposes, including: virtual office hours, "guest speakers," class discussion, small group work, and problem solving.
Because it is a synchronous modality (that is, everyone must be present at the appointed time in order to participate), students with schedule conflicts may be prevented from taking part. There are a number of solutions to this problem: offering more than one chat time for a given chat; making chats optional; archiving chat sessions for students who can't make them (Blackboard's archive feature provides a transcript of chat sessions).
The strengths of "chat" are similar to those of face-to-face discussion. The dialogue is more dynamic and spontaneous, there's more of an interpersonal feel to the experience, and contributions resemble a conversation more than an essay. The challenges of chat stem from the lack of visual cues from participants, the perceived casualness of the environment, and the bit of delay between writing and posting, which can mean an answer to a question appears a few seconds later and thus sometimes after someone has changed the subject. Thus the dialogue tends to not be as orderly as it normally would be in a classroom. However, many instructors have devised rules or protocols that help manage the environment and pace of chat and have consequently decreased the challenges and increased the benefits of this type of interaction. Most instructors who use chat, use it in addition to the discussion board for certain types of interactions.
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