How to Moderate a Chat
Purpose:
- To teach strategies and guidelines for chat facilitation
- To provide models of good chat facilitation
- To provide chat practice
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the same purpose and importance as moderating a meeting of a face-to-face course. Your chat time is your class time. |
You are the facilitator and are responsible for making sure that the chat is meaningful and valuable for the participants. It is important to make the participants want to attend the chat because of the learning gleaned from the experience. How can you accomplish a successful chat? Here are some suggestions and guidelines to follow:
- Be prompt. Start the chat on time and end it on time so that the participants feel you respect the time they are sharing with you.
- Make certain that the participants understand that attending your chat once a week is the same as going to class once a week. Attendance and participation are required.
- State the goals and objectives for
the chat at the beginning of the chat. Just like the
students in your classrooms, the participants need to know what
you want them to focus on and accomplish by the end of the chat.
- When possible, have a task or product to be completed
during the chat. This will give the participants an opportunity
to be more active and student-directed. Examples: revise a proposal,
make a Web design rubric, make a list of sections their project
will need, . . . When doing this, try to set up the "mission" for the participants
at the start of the chat and then try to step back so they direct their own
learning to create their product. You can provide guidance when they ask you questions
or help to bring out important points or re-focus if the conversation wanders. They may
resist being student-directed at first and warm-up to the process gradually.
Take a look at two sample starts for a chat. Which of these looks more student-directed?
facilitator: Hi everyone. Today we are asking you to look at a sample project proposal and write an improved version based on all you have learned in the past couple weeks.
facilitator: Please pick one of the proposals on the before/after page from last week's homework and pick a synthesizer to post the new version on the bulletin board. We have about 45 minutes.
facilitator: I will be assisting by helping clarify key points, letting you know if the conversation drifts to less important issues, and responding to questions. Go ahead and get started.
participant1: I did the synthesis for the last chat, could someone else do this one?
pause
participant2: I haven't done it yet, so I will. Which proposal do you want to look at? I'd rather do the high school one.
participant3: High school is ok with me.
participant4: ok
participant3: boy that hook really needs work
participant4: I agree, how about telling them about the sewage overflow that happened here during the last flood?
facilitator: so that makes it related to a recent problem the students had in their own community.
participant2: ok thats an improvement, how about the use of technology? Seems like these classrooms could share data and publish results.
participant4: yes and that would make the task more authentic as well if these collect and share real data rather than in a simulation.
participant4: I'm pretty sure we could put the students in contact with some experts on flooding and agriculture from the local university so the student could ask them questions.
[conversation continues with facilitator highlighting key points and responding to questions as needed]facilitator: Hi everyone. We need a synthesizer for today, any volunteers?
pause
participant2: I haven't done it yet, so I will.
facilitator: Thanks. Ok, go to the proposals before and after page that you read for last week.
participants: ok
facilitator: which proposal would you like to work on improving? participant2 will post a summary to the bulletin board.
participant2: I'd rather do the high school one.
participant3: High school is ok with me.
facilitator: ok, what do you think of this hook?
participant3: boy that hook really needs work
facilitator: what would you do to improve it?
participant4: I agree, how about telling them about the sewage overflow that happened here during the last flood?
facilitator: so that makes it related to a recent problem the students had in their own community.
facilitator: Lets look at best use of technology next. how would you improve that?
participant 2: Seems like these classrooms could share data and publish results.
facilitator: How else could you use technology?
participant4: I'm pretty sure we could put the students in contact with some experts on flooding and agriculture from the local university so the student could ask them questions.
facilitator: great idea. What can you suggest for the authentic task? participant2, are you getting all this?
[conversation continues] - Create a chat format for the participants
to follow. You need to model and teach good chat behavior
at the first chat. You may create a format of your own or use
the ones we have found effective. The first two items below are
conventions we saw being used in online discussions at Wellspring.
- One strategy that we have found to be effective is to ask the students to type ? when they want to ask a question or make a comment. It is like raising your hand and waiting to be called upon to speak. When it is appropriate and usually as soon as possible, call on the person who typed the ? to ask his question or make his comment.
- Another strategy to use when the participant is making a longer comment and is not finished is to type in . . . to indicate that he intends to say more. When participants see the . . ., they should realize that it is important to wait and let the person finish sharing his ideas. It helps keep the content of the chat flowing in an understandable form so that many conversations aren't going on at the same time.
- Remind the participants to write using lower case letter rather that all capitals. Using capitals is like SHOUTING.
- Make participants aware at the beginning of the course of the need to be tactful in chats, especially since their facial expressions and tone of voice are not "seen" on a chat. Words can easily be misinterpreted. It is important to use humor and smileys when possible to convey tone and expression.
- Channel Tips
- Ideally, arrange the chats so that 4-8 participants are in each room. With fewer participants than this, it can be difficult to keep a discussion flowing. With more participants than this, it can be difficult for participants to process all the responses and to break into the conversation.
- Remember Channel 1 and #1 are not the same channel.
- Use the channel list to locate lost souls.
- One facilitator needs to play the role of "traffic director" who makes sure the participants are on the right channel.
- Use a staff channel during the chats to coordinate what you are doing. It allows you to ask for help from another facilitator, to move students to the next part of the chat simultaneously, and to troubleshoot any other issues that might arise during the facilitation of your chat.
- Having more than one facilitator on a channel can be useful when giving feedback to participants or when trying to get a conversation going.
- Being on multiple chat channels can be very useful if you need to be aware of what is going on in more than one discussion at a time.
- Organizational Tips
- Be sure to post the chat schedule, the topics, and the guiding questions for the chat ahead of time. It is important to have the participants prepared for their chat.
- Having facilitators physically in the same room as they lead their online chats can be very helpful and supportive. You can verbally ask a question and get the answer to write in your discuss conversation. You could also adjust the schedule quickly if one activity takes longer than expected. It is a way to manage the momentum of the discussion and support one another face to face while conversing online in the chat rooms.
- You don't have to know everything. Recognize the experts on your team and in the audience. Use them! You may have guests who are experts on specific topics lead a discussion.
- Keep everyone involved.
- Try to keep one person from monopolizing the conversation. If one person has a specific question or issue, ask them to attend "office hours" or stay after chat to discuss the matter.
- Use whispers to compliment and encourage participants.
- Use whispers to warn the "quiet ones" that you will be asking them the next question or calling on them shortly.
- Use whispers to fill latecomers in on what is being discussed.
- Use whispers if needed to help keep the discussion on-task or to respond to individual concerns if they can not be put off until after the chat or office hours.
- Ask participants to log on to the chat they are attending only. It is helpful to know that the person is really on the chat with you and you can include them in the conversation. If they are just "lurking" on your channel and really chatting on another channel, it is confusing to the other participants. They wonder why the person is not participating. They wonder what he is thinking.
- Lurking does not meet the requirements. The participants need to contribute to the chat just like they are required to speak up in a face-to-face class. Being there and passively watching isn't enough.
- Ask lurkers their opinions and encourage them to share their expertise.
- Keep the momentum flowing.
- Set time frames for the topics and stick to them.
- Structure the chats around the needs of the participants. Have the participants select topics for breakout groups as they need discussions on these topics to complete their work.
- Ask participants to bring a hard copy of the directions or reading you are discussing. This will help them keep up.
- Ask participants to complete a task during the discuss. This gives a purpose to the discussion and motivates participants to stay on task. This also increases the likelyhood that the chat will be student-directed.
- Be prepared. Write discussion plans to guide your chat. Prepare questions ahead of time to keep the chat focused and flowing.
- If you are walking participants through a tutorial, cut and paste from the tutorial or pre-prepared message into the discuss.
- Use the whispers to compliment, encourage, and model how you want participants to interact with each other.
- Offer "office hours" so that there is a time and place for individual questions. This will allow you to keep the chats focused and on task.
- Mix groups to get new ideas and perspectives.
- Bring the chat to closure.
- Summarize the key points at the end of the chat.
- Give final instructions for the upcoming projects and assignments.
- Announce "office hours."
- Log the discussion dialogue from each channel and let participants know where and when it will be posted.
You will need to e-mail the participants after the chat or the next day to restate the key learning from the chat, assignments, and "office hours" times. Be sure to thank them for their attendance and participation.
Remember, you are the teacher . . .
- Be there early and be the last to leave. You wouldn't be the first to leave your classroom at the end of class.
- Praise, encourage, clarify, nudge, and compliment just like you do with your students in your classroom. Online you have to say more and communicate two or more times each week.
- Don't be afraid to ask participants to stay on task. Whisper first, but you might have to be more direct.
- Read their work and communicate early and often. You need to know who they are and what they are thinking so that you can best facilitate their instructional needs.