Quick Guide for Chat Rooms

"Quick Guides" are brief instructions for using a specific module. For detailed Help documentation, visit the Help Main Menu.

The Chat module is for creating chat rooms, which are webpages for live, real-time, text-based discussions.

Chat rooms can be configured in several different ways so you can use them as online classrooms, for online office hours, as an online student lounge, online study rooms for collaborative work groups, etc.

You can create as many chat rooms as you want.

To create and configure a chat room, log into your CATE account and go to the Chat module.

Click the "create new chat room button," then set the configurations for the chat room (such as accessibility, "raise hand" option, etc).

Use the "add sections" button to provide access to this chat room for all students in one or more of your sections.

Alternatively, use the "add groups" button to provide access to this chat room for all students in one or more online collaborative work groups (which you have already created with the Groups module).

If necessary, you can block individual students from a chat room by using the "block/unblock" button. This can be done at any time, including in the middle of a chat session.

If necessary, use the "edit/delete messages" button to edit and/or delete messages as needed. Sometimes you will want to delete all messages from a chat room at the end of a session; other times you will want them to remain for awhile, or even until the end of the semester.

You can also create a permanent transcript of all messages in the chat room at any time by using the "make transcript" button.

When your chat room has been created and configured and opened for business, you can use the usual CATE routines for creating links to your chat room via nav bars, schedule pages, presentation pages, etc. If you want to distribute the URL for your chat room through other means, you can find it in the Chat module under the "Configurations" heading where it says "URL for this chat room."

When your and/or your students reach the URL for the chat room, it's necessary to enter a valid username and password. For you, that's the same username and password you use to log into your CATE account. For your students, that's the same username and password they picked when they checked into your class.

You and/or your students can then interact and conduct text-based discussion in the chat room.

At the end of the semester (or end of the class), you'll want to use the "reset chat room" button to clean out the chat room and prepare it for the next semester.

While a Chat Room can be useful for some specific kinds of synchronous communications, a Message Board is almost always a superior means for class communications.

For more information: Help Module for Chat Rooms

Distance Education office Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA USA Last Modified: Monday, 14-Sep-2009 07:28:51 PDT	Email to CATE Webmaster