I have two chat sessions a week; I schedule one in the morning and one in the evening on the same day each week (this block it happens to be Tuesdays.) I do that in order to have a better chance at "capturing" students that work in the morning and those that may work in the evening, and by having them all on the same day I am hoping students will "remember" when the chat is. I don't know if this is the best possible idea but it seems to work for me. One suggestion I do have is...I always include some kind of feedback technique on my slides, such as an offer to email recipes, worksheets, or an article I have written. I never mention it in my chat but have it on the slides. I know who is really paying attention - and who is listening to the recordings - by who sends me and email request for the info. I consider it a way to interact with the students as well as monitor who is "really paying attention."
Those are some terrific suggestions Jane! Offering the chats on the same day every week is a great technique to get students to remember when the chat is and offering it at different times on the same days is a great way to reach to all of your students. And having a feedback loop imbedded into the PowerPoint slides is a great way to engage your students in the presentation. Thanks for sharing your tips with us Jane!
My institution requires that instructors hold two live 60 minute chats per week, but student attendance is not mandatory. Therefore, many times I'm the only one there even though I always poll the students to see what time frame would fit them best, and vary the times during the week to give everyone a chance to attend. The chats are recorded, so it does afford me an opportunity to share additional information with the students should they choose to attend or listen to the recording. (So, is it really a synchronous or asyncronous discussion? LOL!)
I don't think that there should be a mandate to attend the Live Chats, but I do believe that students should be required to listen to the recordings if they choose not to attend. I field the same questions through individual emails that have been addressed in the Chats, so students will get a lot more background and more thorough answer by going back to the recording (especially since I have 60 minutes allotted to the topic in the recording!).
In order to play devil’s advocate – I do believe that at least one synchronous discussion should be mandated. Not all brick and mortar skills need be de-valued. At some point after their education is completed, the student will be required to think quickly on his/her feet, dealing with several challenges at once. Asynchronous discussions do not allow students to perfect this technique. As to what to do about schedules, time zones etc, that is another issue.
Sixty minutes would provide a great deal of additional information to the student--either synchronous or asynchronous :-) As has been said in other posts, when you require students to attend live chats every week, you are diminishing the perks of taking a class online.
Thanks for paying devil's advocate Frank! Of course, the big question is what to do about schedules, time zones, etc.
I give a lot of information in the Live Chat session related to the assignments, while I don't think they should be mandatory, they should be highly encouraged. It is somewhat frightened to note the lack of reading skills or rather comprehension skills in students. Either that or the assignments are written too high. They just don't seem to follow directions no matter what I do.
Yes, it can be frustrating when students don't follow all the directions and therefore have to get a lower score. I think it is a great idea to explain assignments in more detail in the Live Chat session and I would also think it is a way to encourage students to participate in the Live Chat sessions.
Thanks for your comments Donna.
I believe that syncronous participation is vital to a student's success in an online learning environment. Although students do not have a physical place to be, each week, students need to have a consistent platform where they can engage with the course instructor.
Thanks for your comments Adib. There are some advantages to synchronus discussions. Do you think students should be required to participate in the synchronous discussion or should it be optional?
I really like this conversation because I too teach for a university that uses syncrhonous discussions (live chats) as well as asynchronous discussions as part of the classes. The chat sessions are not typically well attended and we have no way of tracking who is listening to the archived version. I typically see anywhere from 1-12 students during a chat session. I can say though that the students who attend or listen to them tend to be the most successful in the class so even if there was a way to mandate their review of the chat I think it would be incredibly helpful for students.
I can also share that as an online student myself at one time that I did not attend many live chats. I would listen to them in the archive if needed, but I was not real excited about it.
Thanks for your comments Shelly. I think there are two primary reasons why students that attend the live chats are more successful. The first is that the good students will do what it takes to be successful in the class, including taking the time to attend the live chats. The second would be students that attend the live chats do better because of the live chats. There is one other option, which would be the combination of the two. What do you think it is Shelly?
I believe synchronous discussions should NOT be mandatory. The appeal of the online education is the flexibility with time and participation. I do agree with deadlines and other means of keeping students on task, but requiring a live chat is not a good approach in my opinion.
In the school I teach with, faculty are required to hold 1-2 live chat hours each week. I have been holding these for 7 years now, and see participation dwindling. For example, last session I had not ONE student come to class in the entire 5 weeks. The students are not required to attend, and they can review the archive to see what was discussed. However, I find there are students who worry when they cannot attend, and fear it will impact their grade even though they are assured it will not. I believe it creates some level of anxiety for students if they feel they SHOULD attend but can’t or don’t really want to.
With this said, I do see one other synchronous method that has been beneficial. My office hours are held via a live messaging system (IM). Students can IM me anytime they see me visible in the campus. Although at times that has been challenging for me (if I forget to change my status to show I am busy grading for example) it does provide a means of having a real time one-on-one with students that have a quick assignment question or just need help and are feeling overwhelmed. A two minute instant message chat and I am able to help them get on track and even leave them a virtual smile. :)
Great idea Jennifer. Instant messaging is a great way to hold your office hours. I find instant messaging to be helpful anytime. Whenever I am on my computer, I log into the IM that I use so that students can see I am available for a question. The only disadvantage is not all of my students are on the IM, so not all of them can take advantage of it.
I teach an online mathematics course via chat sessions. For those students that are weak in math, attending the chat sessions can benefit them immensely. I provide ample practice of the math content in the chat sessions. Students are strongly encourage to participate in the problem solving exercises and ask questions, when they are confused. If they are not attending, they tend to not do so well in the course, overall. The sessions are recorded, but I find that a lot of students are still not listening to those. I think mandatory participation is essential to a student's success in a math class, especially when they are already weak in math. Freshmen students take a Math Diagnostic assessment to evaluate their basic math skills. In my opinion, if they score a "D" or less on that assiessment, they should be mandated to attend the chat session, either live or archived. Then they are to answer a series of questions that can only be answered, if they viewed the session. I know this may seem harsh, but when students are not viewing the chat session, they are more than likely to repeat the course.
Live chats for courses like math are very beneficial. Math is a very difficult subject for many students, and if having live chats reduces the anxiety of students, that is a great benefit. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this topic Karen.
I have taught at several schools that did require chats. I didn't find them very productive given there were 30 folks in each and it was mandatory. Students weren't always able to voice their insights, experiences, and findings given the brief amount of time and the number of people. Wasn't a fan.
I think you bring up a good point Lisa. When the syncronous discussions are mandatory, the size of the discussion group is not conducive to successful communication via the online environment. Also, varying time zones, different work schedules, and family obligations make it extremely difficult for every student to attend a syncronous discussion at a specific time. One of the attractive features of online learning is the ability to complete a college education even when the student's schedule is not conducive to a set class schedule. Mandatory syncronous discussions take away from this flexibility.
I couldn't agree with you more Robert! Students enroll in online learning because of the flexibility, and requiring synchronous chats takes that away.
You really cant make them mandatory Debra, but it would be great if everyone showed up. I do a lot of practical demo for specific exercises in my chats and I can tell when students don't watch them. Its frustrating and I don't think you should be able to pass the class without at least watching them but I think some instructors use it to supplement information that may be presented elsewhere in the course materials.
