Adding a Chat to Your Course

A chat is synchronous communication, which is a way of describing how it allows you and your learners to hold a text-based discussion in real time. The Moodle chat room is different from the forum (which is asynchronous) because for forum discussions, the learners don't need to be logged in at the same time. In a chat room, students need to be logged in to the session at the same time and participate in a structured activity you can control. The Moodle chat room is similar to Google chat, AIM, MSN Messenger, and other chat rooms. However, the Chat module in Moodle is unique because it's tied to your course, and you have instant access to all the messages between learners, and between you and your learners. Having a record of the communication can be used in other activities, and you control how it's used within your course.

Effectively using chat with your learners

Although not as robust as some of the instant messaging found on the Internet, the Moodle chat room is an effective learning tool that instructors find useful. Here are a number of ways that instructors use the Moodle chat room:

• Question and answer: With online courses, you can use it as traditional online office hours, where students can ask you questions related to the syllabus. You can leave the past chat sessions available for students to re-read, and you can post some of the questions to the News forum.
• Test reviews and preparation: You can make yourself available before tests. You can use the questions and answers at a later date to create exam questions or prepare final exam reviews.
• Study and project groups: You can set up a number of chats for students to work in groups on projects or review for tests. You can set up chats for individual groups you've assigned for the projects, which restricts other learners from entering the chat room. See Chapter 4 on how to create groups.
• Guests: You can invite a guest to join a chat room and participate in a debate or answer learners' questions. For instance, a counselor set up a chat for a guest medical expert to answer questions related to his day-to-day work and his expertise. He was not able to take a day off work to visit the school, but happily agreed to spend an hour in a chat room.
• Foreign language or ESL: One of the most creative ways I've seen instructors use the chat is for students to hold an open discussion in their French and German courses. The teacher saved the transcripts from the chat and posted them as an assignment, asking the students to correct the grammar and spelling. It was an exercise everyone enjoyed.
• For sick students: A number of teachers have used the chat room when their students were ill and in the hospital for an extended period of time. Group work exam preparation and project feedback were completed by using the chat room.

Creating and entering into a chat session

The Chat module follows the same standard format as other Moodle activities. To set up a chat, follow these steps:

1. On the course front page, click the Turn Editing On button.
2. Choose Chat from the Add an Activity drop-down list located in the course center sections.

   Don't forget to first locate the section set where you want to post the forum. Moodle takes you to the Adding a New Chat page for the course section selected.

3. Fill in the chat name.

   I suggest using descriptive names — the title will appear on your Moodle front page.

   Fields marked with an asterisk must be filled in.

4. Fill in the introduction text.

   Use this space to tell the learners the purpose of the chat. If some learners are using chat for the first time, add instructions on how to use it. When I use the chat for the first time with a course or group, I usually say something like: “I will be in the chat room to answer questions related to the course. Click the Click Here to Enter Chat link. You will be taken to a chat window. Ask me questions by typing in the text line at the bottom.”

5. Enter the date and time you will hold the chat in the Next Chat Time field.

   Depending on where your Moodle site is hosted, you may have a different time frame showing up in the chat. Ask IT whether the server time is the same as the time you are at; otherwise, when you enter the chat room, a different time may be displayed, which will confuse your learners.

6. In the Repeat Chat Sessions field, determine whether you plan to hold regular chats scheduled at the same time.

   Moodle publishes the chat in the Calendar, Latest News, and Upcoming Events blocks on the front course page. You have four options you can select from the drop-down list:

   • Don't Publish Any Chat Times: If you select this option, Moodle leaves the chat room open, and learners can enter it any time, which may not be ideal if you're using it for structured activities.
   • No Repeat: Select this option to create a chat on a specific date and time. This setting is useful if you don't hold regular chat sessions.
   • At the Same Time Every Day: Your course calendar will list the event for however long you specified.
   • At the Same Time Every Week: This option is the same as the preceding option, but on a weekly basis.
7. Save the past session.

   To do so, enter a specified amount of time in the field. The default is set to Never Delete. You can specify days by selecting them from the drop-down list.

8. Decide whether everyone or teachers only can view past sessions.

   If you want only teachers to view past sessions, select No from the drop-down list.

9. Choose the Common Module Settings as you would when you set up any Moodle activity.

   See Chapter 3 for a rundown of the Common Module Settings.

10. Click the Save and Return to Course button.

    Moodle saves your settings and returns you to the course front page.

When you and your learners first click the chat link from the front page, you'll enter the home page for the chat session. You see your description and purpose of the chat, information of the next chat session, and a Click Here to Enter the Chat Now button. If this is the first session, nothing else is displayed on the page.

If you set up the chat session so that messages are saved and if you're returning to the chat, you see a View Past Chat Sessions link in the top-right corner. You can click the link to see a transcript of the chat. To enter the chat, click the Enter Chat Room button, and a new, smaller window opens.

Figure 8-7 shows the Chat screen, which is divided into two frames. The left frame displays the chat messages, including the name and profile picture of the person who entered each message. The right frame lists all the people who are currently participating in the chat session, displaying each participant's profile picture, name, and the time he or she entered the chat. To enter messages, type in the text field at the bottom and press Enter. If you don't want the chat window to auto-scroll, you can disable it by deselecting the Auto Scroll check box below the text input field. The auto scroll places a scroll bar in the text window when text fills it. Scrolling up may be useful if you need to return to a question a student may post.

Figure 8-7: A basic Chat screen.

Managing and administering a chat

Moodle provides a number of features that enable you to manage your chat session.

• Refresh: Chat refreshes every five seconds, so don't worry if you don't see your message right away. You may hear a sound every time it refreshes.
• Beeps: To get someone's attention, you can click the Beep link on the right next to her name, and she'll hear a beep (if her sound is turned on). If you want to beep everyone, enter beep all into the text field. If you want your learners to respond to the beep, ask them to turn on their sound. You can also ask everyone to turn off sound if it becomes annoying.
• Internet addresses: Typing in any standard Internet address results in a link and opens a new window with the Web page you wanted.
• Smileys: You and your learners can type any emoticon supported by Moodle, and it shows up as an appropriate smiley.
• HTML: If you're familiar with HTML, you can insert images, change text color, or add sound to chat session.

You may want to limit how many students can enter a chat room. Working with a large number can be difficult and time-consuming. Small groups work best if you use the Chat module with your course, you may think about setting some protocols to manage sessions.

I post the following rules on the front page in the first week of every new Moodle course:

• Wait for the teacher/moderator to ask for your questions.
• Do not use the beep unless you feel someone is not paying attention or an answer/question you posted is directed at the specific person.
• If you just can't wait to answer your questions (if you're the student who stands up and jumps up and down with a hand up), send a question mark in the chat.
• If you have an observation or a comment or you think something is important, send an exclamation point in the chat and wait for the speaker to acknowledge you.
• Uppercase letters usually indicate shouting. A combination of upper-and lowercase is difficult to read.
• Give others time to respond. Don't send a set of rapid messages. Often it's difficult to tell which response goes with which message. This is very important if more than two people are using chat. I often enter the learner's name first and then answer his question, especially if several questions come in before I can answer them.
• Ask learners to not judge typing skills and typos and spelling errors. Everyone makes errors, and you don't want to set a standard where others feel they have to be as careful in a chat as a forum. Some students won't be active if judgment is used.
• Think before you press Enter. This is important if students use this as an in-class reward activity for finishing work. Chat transcripts are saved for a long time. Tell your students to be polite to their classmates.
• Use humor and sarcasm carefully. Humor and sarcasm are very difficult to interpret when people can't see facial expression. Use smileys for emotions. (You can use the standard smiley supported by Moodle. Entering the characters into the text bar results in the smiley appearing in the chat window — for example :-) makes the smiley.)