Using the Chat Tool
The Chat tool in WebCT provides an easy way for students at a distance to interact with other students and the instructor in "real time." Students can use it for communicating about group work or special assignments. Instructors often use it to hold "virtual office hours". It also offers the opportunity for "guest speakers" to visit the class from anywhere around the world.
If you decide to promote a chat opportunity between you and your students, it's important that you specify the time and the chat room in which the interaction will occur. There are four chat rooms for the course available to you.
Each of the conversations in these rooms is logged to a text file in the course. Many instructors make a link to those files available in the course or post the contents of those files to the Discussions board following important chats. Linking to these files or posting them allows students who were unable to attend the synchronous chat to follow the conversation. Since many students often have the same questions, making those conversations available can dramatically cut down on the amount of email you receive about minor course issues and assignment questions.
Once you go to the chat area and click on a chat room number, a Java Applet window appears. See the graphic and descriptions of the numbered items below for further information.
- This is the area in which you will see the text of the conversation. It will also include notations about who has entered or left the chat room.
- This area on the right displays all the users who are currently logged into the chat room.
- The message you want to post in the chat room should be typed in this area. To actually send it, just press Enter on your keyboard. The limit for messages is about 255 characters.
- If you select Entry Chime, you will hear a "ding" each time a user logs into the chat room. This is especially helpful if you are hosting virtual office hours while doing other work.
- Send URL will bring up an input window which allows you to type in and send a hyperlink to a web site through the chat room.
- Quit will log you off the chat room and close the Java Applet.
One other chat room option of which you should be aware is private messaging. If you click on a user's name in the Users Logged On area, that allows you to send a private message to that user. That message will show up in the Output Interaction Box as if it were public, but will be denoted by the text, "PRIVATE MSG:", before the text of your message. To go back to posting public messages, click on the user's name again in the Users Logged On area to deselect (unhighlight) it.