Improving drawbacks on synchronous chats
I have noticed that most students administer lurking (watching, but not engaging in, a discussion) during synchronous chats. What are ways to improve on the drawback?
One of my strategies is to include interactive sessions during the chat session. This gives me the opportunity to get participants involved. Your thoughts?
Dr. Henrietta,
Using current events where students need to add their own opinion and how it relates to the class is a good way to get more participation. Students get bored responding to standard questions like "how will you use this topic in your career". You could add something along the line of "how will increasing gas prices effect your career" or something that is going on right now.
Shelly Crider
Make the students participate. You could assign specific questions regarding the topic and have them respond during the chat. This way it allows time for the slow typer to put their thoughts together and create an answer. This would be a great boost to their confidence. it would also eliminate sleepers who are not engaging in the dicussion.
Caryn,
Anything to help with confidence is a great idea! We do have a wide variety of students....sleepers, slow typers, to the advanced techies.
Shelly Crider
Hello,
I tend to not want to call students out as that ends up discouraging them from attending, and this defeats the purpose. That being said, I will interject polls or even ask questions that have no right or wrong answer just to get them involved and comfortable.
Morissa Pawl
Morissa,
Interesting about the polls. I like that. You will find a lot of students like to see where they stand on a situation as opposed to their peers and this is an excellent way to do so!
Shelly Crider
