Live Chats
In the training, it mentioned that synchronous discussion is not good for teaching. I understand that our Live Chat session are not discussions and does not allow for participation other than a chat message or when you turn on a students microphone. I understand that the university feels that this is a benefit and the students watch them, but does any other instructor have a hard time of getting the students to attend the sessions. I have tried several things to get them to attend like sending out emails to remind them that they are going to happen. I even post a announcement in class, but they still do not participate.
Simone, I completely and utterly agree. I have a very difficult time, frankly it doesn't matter even when I change up my live chat times to be more accomodating to different time zones. Funny though, I will see that they are in the classroom just not attending the chat sessions. Additionally, some will email me right in the middle of a chat! This tells me that no matter how many times are email, post announcements and have in the virtual classroom my live chat times they are not paying attention to it!!! Frustrating to say the least!
May I suggest sending via SMS/text messaging?
I have recently realized students just glance their email and forget about it .. however sending generic text message, you get a positive response. good luck ladies
I think that the course was referring more to discussion rather than teaching in general. The idea that the chat structure can make ongoing discussion challenging is not really off-base either, as the the IM feature can quickly become overwrought and difficult to follow. For one word responses, yes/no questions, and show of "hands" I think it functions well, but to have a full blown dialog among multiple students that way and trying to follow it is a bit like herding typographic cats.
Now, that said, the chats are invaluable for demos, Q&A, slide lectures, etc... I am as surprised how few students attend the chats as the rest of you seem to be, they miss so much when they don't attend!
I usually teach face to face but attended online graduate school. While I tried to attend live chats most of the time, it was easier and more informative for me to watch the prerecorded chats. At the time, my children were very young and unpredicatable and were often a distraction to the real time chats. Going back later, with the ability to hit pause, was really nice. Is there a way for you to monitor which students watch the recorded live chats later on?
I have the same issue with getting students to attend the optional office hours at our school. Instructors must post available times and students may sign up to have an online meeting with the instructor to discuss questions about course material or anything else. It is supposed to mimic an open door to the instructor during their down time in a traditional campus. Seldom times the extremely diligent students will show up, the ones who are struggling do not. The only time we have had large numbers attend these type of sessions is when we provide some structure as to what will be discussed or reviewed. If they know the instrucor is going to review a topic they don't want to miss it but they will not access the resource on their own accord without a framework for the session. I would love to hear how others have encouraged this type of student-instructor engagement and what you think the barriers are for students?
I too have a very difficult time getting students to attend the chat sessions. I have tried emailing, posting announcements, etc. to remind them, but nothing seems to work. I did try texting for one term, but one student complained to my supervisor that I was "overbearing" and bugging him on his cellphone (I texted the entire class once per week). She asked me not to use the students phone numbers unless I was contacting them about attendance issues. I know that most students don't listen to the recording either. I would discuss specific clues to passing the class and doing well on the homework assignments in the chat and no one followed the directions. It can be very frustrating.
Hello Cindy -
It has been my experience that unless the attendance to Live Chats is mandatory to some degree, students will not attend!
I strongly beieve that attendance must be mandatory as option 1, option 2 would be to complete an assignment; then students do attend live sessions as they do not want to write anther assignment... lol
I like your idea of giving students the option of either attending the Live Chat or completing an additional assignment, Marina! Usually there has to be some type of incentive for students to attend chats, even though one would think that graduate students, in my experience, would have intrinsic motivations to attend chats and improve their understanding of the assignments and the course content.
I have often offered "bonus" material to students who attend the chats or at least listen to the archives. If they bother, then they'll get some extra help that I don't offer through the classroom in general.
Hello Simone. Thanks for opening this thread in the discussion. I enjoyed reading about the responses and suggestions. I, too, have tried several ways of encouraging students to attend the Live Chat from trying to change the schedule to sending messages, etc. I think the reason why they do not feel the need to attend is because it is not mandatory and that they have a chance to watch it at a time that is convenient for them. What I do is I try to cover the topics that I think the students need to understand on a Unit, provide some examples and ask them to send me an e-mail right away if there is something about the chat that they do not understand. I usually receive e-mails asking for clarifications, which is good because it means some of them do watch the recording.
-Christine
@SFarrar
Sometimes I tend to discuss homework questions (Discussion board/Individual Project/Knowledge Check) just after the Live Chat and have seen an increase in participation for the regular Chat session.
Given the choice between asynchronous and synchronous, I beleive that most online students like the asynchronous environment. I also beleive that many of them like the anonimity that an asynchronous environment provides. They do not have to perform in from of a class (even if it is a live chat window).
Those that wish to show up, will show up. I have had several of the same students for different classes and they follow the same pattern time after time.
Convincing adults to attend a class does not lend itself to learning.
I feel that I am in the same boat with a lot of you. My program and coursework are moving to more online formats and I have many concerns that doing such will take away from the educational experience of classroom learning.
If a student does not "type" or "post" their responses or show that they are having difficulty with the material, how do you use an online forum/classroom to identify those how may be struggling?
I am definitely in the same boat here. I do not feel that these sessions are the "best" method of interaction, but they do ensure that we are offering a variety of methods, and some students do benefit from them. I think that most online students do not expect such time-bound interaction from the outset, so most students end up not using this method. I think that the "live lab" may actually be a greater benefit if it were to be recorded and offered as an audio session for students to listen to on their own time. Perhaps more students would actually make use of the information that way. I wonder what others think about this.
