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

By: Karen May

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We have to remember that our students are 'digital natives', (thanks James for that quote I use it all the time!)We are dealing with a new generation of clients who want the best possible version of anything you've got and they want it now.
Chat is a brilliant tool as this generation are able to to multi task far better than most of us oldies. My own children who are 17 and 19 are able to chat on msn, send sms text, downlaod music and believe it or not work on assignments all at the same time!
This is their domain, they are more comfortable talking about and sharing ideas on chat than they are f2f.
Once students get over the novelty of chat you find that they are actually on task discussing the topic you have set.
One of the more effective uses of chat that I hope we will see more in the future is 'live chat' with students in another location. My colleague Debbie Evans ran some live chat session with neighbouring schools in our region and it was a great success. (When I was at school we had pen pals at a sister school in the states.) This new form has just eliminated Australia Post out of the equation. I for one look forward to the development of chat and forum opportunities for students in who are attending school in remote locations of the state. What a great way of bringing culturally diverse groups of students together.

Posted by Karen May