Oct 5, 2009
Is there a place for “Chat” in your online course?
Yes, there is. Although asynchronous discussions are perhaps the best form of discussion for learning purposes, a chat is a useful tool for brainstorming, working out logistics, getting to know one another online, or any other purpose that is well served in "real time." In a chat, everyone is online at the same time, firing instant messages back and forth with their keyboards.
Many people ask “What’s the difference between ‘chat’ and ‘instant messaging.’” From a user’s point of view, very little. They are both “synchronous”: all parties are online at the same time. They both allow one-to-one or many-to-many exchanges. With a Chat, however, you must stay in the "room" to know what’s happening, whereas Instant Messaging usually runs in the background while you do other work. A bell alerts you when someone you want to talk to logs onto the Internet. Then you can page them and start a conversation.
Advertisement: A chat can quickly turn to chaos without careful facilitation. Once more, we provide helpful guidelines in our Faculty Web Book.
Once again, you don’t need the Chat function of course management software to conduct a successful online chat. Want some chat software for free? Check out the big 4:
AOL Instant Messenger
Google Talk
MSN Messenger
Yahoo Instant Messenger
ICQ
ICQ (”I seek you”) doesn’t get as much press play as the others, but its every bit as functional and every bit as popular. It’s also the oldest chat client having been around since long before IM-ing became popular. With ICQ you may chat; send messages, files and URL’s; play games; or just hang out with your fellow ‘Netters’ while still surfing the Net. ICQ lets you choose the mode of communication, be it chat, voice, message board, data conferencing, file transfer or Internet games. It supports a variety of popular Internet applications and serves as a Universal Platform from which you may launch any peer-to-peer application (such as Microsoft NetMeeting). It may also be used in a multiple-user mode, so groups may conduct conferences or just ‘hang out’ on-line.
ICQ has a fully developed portal with lots of special-interest groups. With 100 million users, ICQ chat is arguably the most used Web-based chat system in existence. It may also be the best. Check it out and decide for yourself. The ICQ client is free.
Hot Tip: ICQ also offers what’s called the ICQPanel for your course Web site. You may install a chat applet right on the course home page, so visitors to your site may enter a chat that is currently in session, page you or any other ICQ user, and view ICQ chat rooms and Users Lists, even if they don’t have ICQ!
Caution: It’s always a good idea to be sure that everyone in your “chat” group has the same Instant Messenger or at least that different messengers are compatible. One option for “universal” chatting is Trillian. If you’re using Trillian, you can send and receive to anyone using any of the above instant messengers except Google Talk. And it works with IRC, too (described next).
IRC
Another free, old-time chat tool is IRC or Internet Relay Chat. Developed in the days before browsers, you can hold an IRC chat from the command line of any operating system. Yes, that means Windows, Macintosh or Unix (such as Linux, BSD, Solaris, etc.). The true import of this multi-platform capability is that you can hold a chat with any number of people, no matter what operating system they might have, including legacy systems like Mac, pre OS 9, or Microsoft, clear back to 2000, NT, 98, 95 or DOS. Believe it or not, there are some schools and the rare business or two that still have a mix of machines like that. But IRC is equally good if you just want to hook up your Linux, Max OSX and Windows XP users.
Skype: The New Kid on the Block
The newest chat tool on the web, and perhaps the most widely used, is Skype. Like the “messengers” listed above, it offers a text chat function, a voice message function, and a video function. Unlike the rest, however, Skype offers voice mail and the ability to call others or receive calls from others who just have a regular telephone. And recently, Skype has introduced a podcast-like capability called Skypecasts, that can include up to 100 people in a single conversation. Also, with a number of different third-party tools you can experience video calls as well. Skype works well with Google Talk too.
Twitter: The Infant in the Stroller
Even more recent than Skype, Twitter has become all the rage. We’ve attempted using it in learning environments, and to tell the truth, the 140 character limit per post can be a serious constraint sometimes. [Twitter.Com]
On the other hand, having such a constraint, along with good facilitation from you, can teach your learners a certain discipline of thought. In addition, there is a standard “best practice” in chatting that is actually helped by the Twitter character limit. What’s that best practice? The practice of using chat like a CB Radio in which the current speaker is allowed to “hold the floor” until they type in an agreed upon symbol such as “oo” for “over and out”—meaning “I now relinquish the floor.” So even if they run up against the 140 character limit, if they have not typed “oo” they retain the floor. The character limit, hopefully, provides feedback about how long winded they are being. It will definitely provide others with evidence to point at should they decide to suggest that that participant may want to let someone else “speak” for a while.
So, with your facilitation, you might be able to teach your learners to use Twitter in an effective manner for those types of discussions that require or benefit from a rapid-fire exchange of ideas.
Gail and Claude
Next up: “What About Using Web Conferencing for Course Communications?”
