Forum Teaching with LAMS - experiences: Experiences with chat in computer labs

By: Peter Miller

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I think our students found it quite a surprise when we encouraged them to "chat" as I suspect they regard Messenger-type chat and mobile phones as "student territory". Indeed, some colleagues positively discourage chat as a distraction. It would be interesting to see whether scheduled chat diminishes the amount of informal, off-topic chat that goes on!

What happens normally in terms of f2f chat depends on the size and nature of the class. In a small class where people know one another, students will sit with friends and chat primarily to provide peer support. Some of this happens in larger classes too but again it tends to be in clusters of individuals who know one another. There will be plenty of students working on their own and LAMS-style chat will hopefully help in integrating them more and potentially making chat more "egalitarian".

I don't think that answered your question at all

Posted by Peter Miller

By: Robyn Philip

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I think we all forget how long it sometimes takes to come up with ideas. You need to toss ideas around for a while and not feel that you will be censored at every word. Chat gives you this opportunity.

We need to draft our ideas. I remember the terror as a kid when asked to write a 'composition'in one sitting, in class: no ink/biro splodges on the page, correct grammar and punctuation immdediately. How much easier it is now to type and undo, undo again, redraft several times before sending something for assessment. And if I can get more students writing and practising writing I'm really happy. : )

You have to learn to scribble before you can draw. You need to 'scribble' before you can write perfect prose. And some students think better while they talk; others think better when they write.

Chat is fun anyway - more fun - more education!

Posted by Robyn Philip

By: James Dalziel

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We talk about chat as "synchronous" e-learning, but I think it is something more interesting than that - as Robyn notes - most chat is "near-synchronous" because you have a few seconds to decide whether or not to hit the "Say" button, or whether to change/delete what you've just typed. These few seconds of reflection make a big difference to being asked, face to face, to answer a question in a classroom. I think this is one reason chat is so popular - those few seconds for revision/rethinking.

Lately I've been quoting a phrase that, for me, captures the essence of why near-synchronous chat can be preferable to fully syncronous face to face communication - "I carried a watermelon". I only saw the film this comes from for the first time a month ago, and this line cracks me up every time. Imagine if this first impression had been via chat, with the chance to type this, then delete it just before "saying" it.

(The film is Dirty Dancing for those who don't know it - the scene is near the beginning when young and innocent Jennifer Grey ("Baby") first meets "uber" dancer Patrick Swayze (Johnny Castle)).

Posted by James Dalziel

By: Angela Voerman

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Peter I'm so glad that you've brought up the idea of integrating more students into the learning in classes. I have been using LAMS to support Aboriginal students studying Community Management. There is a wide range of ages(from early 20s through to 70 or so) and a wide range of different experiences of both education and of computers. The most exciting thing to me is the informality of chat. Students have such fun playing with chat especially when they are not familiar with it, and it eases their way into more focussed and formal examination of the topic(through q&a for examle) in a really effective way. It's great for encouraging free writing. But the most important thing about it in the classroom environment is the quality of the f2f discussion that accompanies the keyboard chat. The interactions become more dynamic in relation to the topic, and the chat does seem to function as a way of integrating more reluctant or shy people to participate in face to face discussion. I will certainly be making this social dimension of learning around LAMS the focus of more research!

Posted by Angela Voerman

By: Karen May

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We have to remember that our students are 'digital natives', (thanks James for that quote I use it all the time!)We are dealing with a new generation of clients who want the best possible version of anything you've got and they want it now.
Chat is a brilliant tool as this generation are able to to multi task far better than most of us oldies. My own children who are 17 and 19 are able to chat on msn, send sms text, downlaod music and believe it or not work on assignments all at the same time!
This is their domain, they are more comfortable talking about and sharing ideas on chat than they are f2f.
Once students get over the novelty of chat you find that they are actually on task discussing the topic you have set.
One of the more effective uses of chat that I hope we will see more in the future is 'live chat' with students in another location. My colleague Debbie Evans ran some live chat session with neighbouring schools in our region and it was a great success. (When I was at school we had pen pals at a sister school in the states.) This new form has just eliminated Australia Post out of the equation. I for one look forward to the development of chat and forum opportunities for students in who are attending school in remote locations of the state. What a great way of bringing culturally diverse groups of students together.

Posted by Karen May

By: Debbie Evans

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The first time I ever used chat, it was with Yahoo...it was cumbersome, clumsy and very difficult to monitor!
I then trained in Webservices...to set up a chat, I have to ring in for permission..wait one week, and then I am allotted a time (say 1 hour) and my computers better work then or else!! Now that's cumbersome.
The first time I used chat in LAMS, I sat in my staffroom with Ruth Mason (CLI), talked about it for 30 seconds, logged on and created the sequence (which included a chat) in 2 mins, activated it then walked down to the lab and ran it! WOW! It was lively, the students were engaged! They loved it!
Yes, there was novelty factor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you know wot I mean heheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh
But when I showed them what I could see in Monitor using the Smartboard in the classroom, that helped to bring back a little more focus. Remember these are 10-12 year olds! So they want to have fun too!
It's safe, and I keep the monitoring obvious.
I find grouping useful, it keeps the size of each chatroom down to a manageable size. I like up to 10 in any chatroom.
We plan to have a live chat from home soon. We do our Homework online as a LAMS sequence and I will be putting a chat into next week's sequence! Last time I tried this (with Yahoo) I was chatting to only 1 student (parents were a little fearful) but they love LAMS so I expect a better response this time!
We will be chatting about a few things. Going to High School, our Yr 6 fair...should be fun!
Deb

Posted by Debbie Evans

By: Bronwen Dalziel

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I've been wondering about what happens to the students that aren't so comfortable with typing.

I know that chat can move very fast, especially if there are more than 4-5 people on at the same time. Do you find that some students get left behind?

What about if they are using chat shorthand, e.g. lol, rofl etc. (I know my mum uses lol to mean 'lots of love', which adds to the general confusion - although in a happy way!).

Is it something to be concerned about, or do the teachers out there find that the differences in skill levels aren't big enough to be a serious disadvantage.

Deb, I will be interested to know how your homework chat goes. Are the students organised enough to all be on at the same time?

Have fun with it anyway next week.
Bronwen

Posted by Bronwen Dalziel

By: Angela Voerman

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Bronwen I was really worried about this: some of my students had never used a computer before this year, and others use them all day at work! I found that the slower ones wrote shorter comments, held back and laughed and talked across the room, then wrote a little more. They were able to dip their toe in and then spend a bit more time on the following activities(q&a...forums...). They did notice the slowness of their typing, but this was balanced by a great sense of achievement. This is yet another one of the joys of the blended approach, and it is also a fun way of developing new literacies...

Posted by Angela Voerman