Imagine this; A world where you and your friends meet in the pub, a restaurant, or a coffee shop, order drinks, and sit down to socialise, and talk, and share your experiences. Someone starts talking about something, someone responds , two other people respond, not one after the other, but:
BbOoTh AaRrEe TtAaLlKkIiNnGg AaTt TtHhEe SsAaMmEe TtIiMe
Three and then four people start to talk, not waiting for each other to finish, and to make matters worse, you're each saying something different in the same tone, and then all 8 people join in !
Who do you focus on? can you focus on anyone? Maybe if 2 or 3 people are talking you might be able to pick out a voice but 8 people? What about 16 people? They never shut up ! But you manage to pick out something that some one is saying, and now you want to respond. Everyone is still talking VERY LOUDLY so you close you eyes to focus on your own voice, and join the conversation, or the shouting, or whatever you want to call it. You don't really know if anyone heard you, but when you finish what you're saying, you stop talking to pick out something new from the chaotic situation, and then you close your eyes, and start again.
Welcome to the world of on-line text chat ! But with a difference. You use your eyes, and not your ears. Ten conversations are going on at the same time, but it does not matter because your eyes can pick out the conversations that you want to participate in. If you want to remember what someone said earlier on, you can scroll up, read, and re-read it as many times as you like ! (If there's no video cam, you can also join the chat unshaven, in your pyjamas, listening to some music, watching TV, and eating a tub of Ben & Jerry's).
You can also save the conversation on your local drive, or on the university e-learning discussion board for future reference.
Chat can be a fantastic tool for online learning, where in a very short space of time great minds can meet, focus on a particular topic, and share their ideas. This is true especially when discussions are joined by experienced tutors (Like Rory and Sian) guiding the conversation topics at various intervals.
So until we can develop faster than light travel, go to a nearby star system (Distance and speed depending on how far back in time you want to see), and use a super high resolution telescope with a very wide lens pointed at earth in order to lip read what was said by a particular group of people at a certain time (I don't think sound can travel that far). Until we can do all this, we should certainly further explore the benefits of text chat ! 
Keywords: E-Learning, Faster Than Light Travel, IDEL11, Text Chat
Comments
I love this line of script – and the metaphor you use perfectly encapsulates the feelings many students have described when initially engaging in online text chat.
What kind of teaching and learning situations do you think chat might be good for? How do you think that constrasts to the discussion board? Or Twitter? (which seems to sit somewhere between synch and asynch forms of communication)
Does the synch chat experience bring any further insight into the readings for you? Were there any ideas raised there (or on the discussion board) that have helped you consider the theme further?
Great pic, btw. :) Oh – had you used synch chat much before? Are you emoticon-enlightened now? :)
Hi Clara,
I think online chat is useful for learning that involves debate, different views and counter views. Exchange of ideas, and brain storming. In contrast I don't know how effective it would be for instruction teaching.
If we tell a bunch of students that we have a chat session from 8pm untill 9pm about a certain topic, I think that the asynchronous nature of the discussion where I don't have to wait for my turn (like in a classroom) to make a contribution, means that you have a medium where lots of people can throw in allot of ideas, and even if you don't have time to digest it all at the time of the chat session, the chat can be saved, and studied later on.
Also people don't have time to make their ideas "Perfect", which means that we get everyone's initial spontaneous thoughts, without these thoughts and contributions being too influenced by views of others (As they might be on a discussion board for example). I've noticed over the last couple of weeks that in discussion boards people tend to agree quite allot !!! :)
Twitter I think is great, it allows for a more relaxed debate as with a discussion board, but it also gives the feel of the debate being alive similarly to chat. It combines a leisurely feel together with some anticipation of what people will respond to my thoughts. But the ideas in Twitter aren't as raw and spontaneous as you'd get with chat.
In terms of the reading, I think Chat is a clear example of technology enhancing education, which Prensky's "immigrants" (I hate using that word lol) should consider when they want to have a vigorous live debates where everyone can contribute, and create lots of different opinions and views.
Is chat used allot on this course as a whole ? and what are your views about it?
Yes I Chat using MSN messenger, and Facebook, but never for learning processes ! I was something of an emoticon Jedi in my student days :D
> Is chat used allot on this course as a whole ? and what are your views about it?<
On this particular course, for Skype, no. Instead we will have a chat experience in Second Life, then try voice in Second Life and end with a video conference where we can all see each other and hear each other (Brady Bunch style).
For other courses on the programme, it depends. In Course Design this semester, I am running one text chat in Skype and one in Second Life most weeks. (I run two because I think 5-7 students is enough for one chat, and also different folk prefer different environments.) In courses like Understanding Learning and also Online Assessment, most communication happens asynchronously via the discussion board and wiki. The differences relate to personal preferences for the tutor, what works well with the subject matter and pedagogical approach, and also to the team’s commitment to learners having a range of different online learning experiences to help them decide what works for them as learners and educators.
Cheerio
C.