– Synchronous: Chat
A. Individual & Small Group Meetings via Chat
Background
Participants in this course are separated by distance, time and location. They are Adult Learners working in the Health Care field. Most of them will be taking 20 courses together over a period of 2-4 years, in this fully online diploma program.
Students join us with a variety of backgrounds, levels of education and computer literacy. It is often during the first couple of weeks that students can become intimidated when dealing with the online technology, comparing themselves with others, and can start to feel isolated or that they don’t belong or won’t be able to “keep up” with the rest of the class (as they don’t have as much knowledge and experience as their classmates).
It’s important for us to use a variety of ways to reach out and connect with learners – early and often! We start with an optional orientation to Moodle the weekend prior to course start, and include several types of communication activities during week 1, including:
- Posting Introductions in a Discussion Forum
- Create an online profile
- Post an entry in their personal Blog
- Reflect on their Learning Goals and notify the Instructor(s)
- Contribute to a WIKI of class contact information
- Complete a Poll / Survey to provide feedback on how things are going and if they have what they need, such as text, plug-ins, access keys, etc.
- Participate in a Discussion Q&A about the Course Requirements and Schedule – so individuals can post needs for flexibility and the class can brainstorm potential solutions and recommendations
However, all of these types of communications are asynchronous – with significant time delays between when one posts and when one receives a reply.
Therefore, in order to reach out and ensure we are addressing the communication needs of all learners, we schedule individual appointments with each of the class participants.
For those who need a more immediate reply to their questions and more of a real-time back-and-forth discussion, we use Moodle Chat for live two-way communication, which is almost instantaneous (with a five-second delay). If a participant does not have an opportunity to chat with the Instructor by the end of the first week, the Instructor will initiate a telephone call (a low-tech synchronous form of two-way communication).
Note to Instructor
A description of Week 1 – Let’s Meet Chat is described below – the actual Chat works and is located in the Moodle course under Week 1 Orientation – the second-to-last item in the Week 1 Wrap.
- This is a very effective way for an instructor to meet each student personally, to try to get to know them on a one-to-one basis and build rapport as we form a new relationship.
- There are two limitations for this chat
- The chat appointment has to be scheduled at a mutually agreeable time to both the learne and Instructor (we will manage to accommodate each student, even if we have to pick up the phone)
- Secondly, chat favours those that are writers and typists – and is not the preferred communication style of our auditory and kinesthetic learners. However, I don’t feel it is a negative to help learners stretch and attempt to learn new ways to communicate. After all, they will have an opportunity to gain hands-on experience interacting with various learning activities and to see, speak and hear course participants when they attend scheduled online web conferences.
Synchronous Chat Activity Description
Let’s Meet – We’d Like to Get to Know You Better!
So, we’ve reserved 20 minutes of real time synchronous communication using Moodle Chat that will allow us to exchange live messages while we’re both logged in to this course at the same time.
- Access this meeting room on Sunday between 8pm and 11pm and you’ll be able to get some immediate answers to questions (we’ll communicate with a five-second delay only, instead of the lengthy delay associated with asynchronous communication like e-mail and discussion forums
- Use the link above labelled: Click here to enter the chat now
- Note: If you’d like to have a private chat – just send us an e-mail and we’ll arrange a time with you to meet in a private area of our virtual office :>)
How to Send a Text Message via Chat?
- Type a message in the text area at the bottom of the chat screen
- When you have finished typing your message, press Enter – and your message will be broadcast to anyone logged into the chat meeting room
- On the left of the screen, Moodle lists participants who have logged into the same chat room
- Moodle chat works by refreshing the screen every five seconds, so you may not see your message right away
- Remember you can always click the Moodle Help Button
for help with Moodle Chat