Here’s an exchange I had with a teacher in our building regarding chats:
Chris, Another Moodle question: I have set up a chat for tomorrow at 8:05–how do I limit the duration of it? I only want it to last for 5-6 minutes.
Dawn
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Dawn,
I typically don’t have a limit on chats…just in case students don’t get in on time, etc. It seems that it takes a few moments to get things rolling and all. Also, I usually set the chat to save the transcript and allow everyone to see the transcript…it makes for an interesting “reflection” as you go back and as a class, see what happened in the chat.
The current version of our Moodle doesn’t have a time control on chats…not sure if the newer ones do.
How are you using the chat in your class (just curious)?
Peace,
Chris
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Today I have 1/3 of my class that need to make up a paycheck stub quiz; the other students will be reading an article I saved in Moodle about college admissions checking Facebook & MySpace during the application process. We’ve discussed that issue with job applications. Then I thought I would have them chat about it 🙂 That’s why the short time.
In the Moodle class this summer one comment was made that we should set a time limit because students will often continue with the chat beyond class time and you don’t want it to go on & on. That’s why I thought there was a feature to set a time limit. However, in my Moodle handouts I couldn’t find anything about setting an ending time.
Dawn
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Dawn,
Sounds like in interesting article…I think I read about that “FB/MyS” as app process online. Sometimes it takes a bit to get things “happening” within the chat and if I’m asking for first impressions on a reading from individuals, I have Ss post their response on a social forum topic (say, 3 sentences of reflection). Then, I’ll have folks jump into the chat so that they feel like they’ve got something to bring to the group. A cool wrap-up is to have students then edit their original SForum post and add to their original post reflection on what was “said” in the chat.
But, that’s a 25-minute chunk of time and it looks like you’re wanting the Ss (and you) to try out some of the features of the Moodle site. Either way, it makes for good follow-up conversation afterward when you look at the chat transcript…very cool.
Oh, btw, there isn’t a timer for the newest version of chat. The good thing is that there’s timestamping for all chat entries and you could see who didn’t fulfill your directions .
Peace,
Chris
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