Chat sessions
The topic, "When to drop students from chat sessions?" is thought provoking. It's just like the classroom: When and what techniques do you, as the the teacher, use to to preclude a student from dominating a discussion or changing the topic to something they want to discuss. It takes tact and skill but you need to be firm or the other students will see it as a waste of time, lose interest, and stop participating.
With regards to the concept of active learning and the use of chat sessions, one idea taught in this course is for the instuctor to post material that the student would read and then they would come to the class to discuss it. I think this is a great idea but wonder how many students would actually attend the chat sessions and also how many students would be needed in the chat to have an effective discussion.
Michael when I post added discussion questions I do have students to respond with their thoughts. I then continue the discussion with providing them with some food for thought on what they said. I have received emails from students thanking me for responding with thought provoking statements and questions. They don't all respond but I get a handful that participate. It is difficult to get all of them engaging.
