How realistic are chat sessions?
Many students move to the online environment because their lives dictate that they cannot be in class at a particular time. Do you feel chats are realistically possible when you are trying to accommodate a time that will work for 10-25 differently scheduled people?
Sonia:
Scheduling chat sesions for that number of students can be a challenge especially if you plan on weekly chat sessions. Asynchronous Discussion forums will be more effective as students can respond to the forum within the period forwhich the forum remains open.
Satrohan
I believe that the chat room gives the better direct feedback sychronously than posting dicussions because you can with the properly tools speak and possibly see whom you are talking to. in past experiences the students and the professor came up with several times with a minimum of 3 chats per semester to meet to accomodate the schedules of the professor and the students.
Annejeanette:
One cannot dispute the benefits of immediate feedback; however, these are some points to note:
Frequency of feedback is also important; so the Instructor has to weigh carefully the number of Chat sessions for group interactions as well as the number of Chat sessions to answer student's individual questions. Both scenarios are applicable; and it is my opinion that individualized feedback should be given a higher weighting.
When an Instructor provides feedback to a sector fo the class, the remainder of the class does not share that information immediately. While students may review the content of archived Chat sessions, they were not participants and offered no input in those Chat sessions.
Satrohan
I agree with the suggestion of a minimum of 3 chats per semester to accommodate the schedules of the professor and the students.
If the chat times are listed in the course outline the student can prepare for the chat times.
The instant feedback to questions can help the student stay on track with the course.
Lois:
These are excellent suggestions, Lois. They will yield beneficial rsults once the number of students per Chat facilitates adequate participation and feedback.
Satrohan
Synco chat effectiveness would depend on te location of yoru students. If your course has students from al over the world, it may be difficult to find a time when all students can be on at the same time. If your class did have students in all time zones, you may have to offer several Synco chats, and only expect those in that particular region may show up for it.
Kathleen:
Scheduling Chat sessions across time zones is indeed a challenge. while multiple sessions may accommodate most of the students, it may not cater for all. Check to see if your Course delivery Platform supports archiving Chat sessions. IF it does, it would provide students with an opportunity to review the content fo Chat sessions even though they have not been able to participate in them.
Satrohan
I feel that scheduling chats can be a difficult task. The student may not get a chance to attend every chat session but from time to time hopefully they will be able to attend.
LaTisha:
We can bridge that gap by archiving the contents of each Chat and providing students access to the archives.
Satrohan
Perhaps, it may depend how many time zones the students are located within. I liked the last idea about archiving chats. In this cyberspace enviornment time and distance are less important than when teaching in a bricks-and-mortars institution. Perhaps one or two chats could be scheduled, with the rest of the interaction asychronous.
This is an excellent recommendation, Richard. A blend of a few chats, perhaps one for each time zone if that is practical, all students having the opportunity to review the archives of all Chat sessions, and Asynchronous Discussions should strike a proper balance.
Satrohan
The advantage of taking an online course is it's flexibility and convenience. Chat rooms are unrealistic due to time zones, work schedules, and other personal/ family commitments. Asynchronous discussion forums, as mentioned, allow that flexibility which students are looking for. These discussion forums meet the requirements for discussing course concepts and applications, including the convenience of being able to participate 24/7.
Charlotte:
Please shar eyoru thoughts with us on this question.
Which method fosters more meaningful student participation? Synchronous or Asynchronous?
Satrohan
Satrohan,
Both methods - synchronous and asynchronous - can foster meaningful student participation as long as they are done effectively.
For synchronous participation, I agree that students need to be within the same/ near time zones. The discussion points need to be a select few in order to manage the process Students need to understand that it's not a competition as to how fast a student responds; its about the depth of the contribution.
For asynchronous participation, and as mentioned in another message, students are able to read the assignments, and think about then formulate their response. Additionally, this environment provides students the opportunity to read and think about other student's responses prior to responding themselves.
Based on my own personal experience, I find the asynchronous participation to be more effective and substantial.
Charlotte:
I shae the same position you have taken in your last statement. And I agree that the effectiveness of synchronous discussions rely heavily on the Instructor's ability to manage the session. Focusing on one topic until the thread is exhausted before introducing another topic is a good management strategy.
Satrohan
Sonia
I think that most students want to do online instruction because they can work it around their life schedule. I think that it is unrealistic to accomodate a large amount of students for chat time when they all have varying schedules. I think that with a smaller group this would be much more possible.
Melissa:
Smaller groups are easier to manage; however, we have to keep in mind that it will increase the frequency with which the Instructor has to conduct Chat sessions to accommodate all students in the online class.
Satrohan
Getting together 25 people or so in one session mught be difficult, after all students enrroll to on line courses because of lack of time ans schedule. I think a solution would be have different chat sessions where students can participate in any of those, of course there will not be as many as 25 students as the same time and for the teacher to be in all the sessions mught be complicated too, but at least student would have more options to choose from
