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

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