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Where to chat: Choice of venue for an esl/efl class
I should preface this by saying that I myself have a hard time getting
a 12:00 out of a vcr; my own ignorance and naivete might
be so colossal as to embarrass me in front of those who truly know their
way around cyberspace, but, having found a way to use chat with
esl/efl students, and using it, and finding other ways of using it, I thought
I'd at least share my thought process with regard to the choices at hand
and how to choose among the possibilities. One has to know what one
wants; you may want something entirely different from me. But I have
decided that I need multi-user chat capability (I want all my class to
be able to be in the room at the same time); I want transcripts (a
record of what happened); and, I want basically to be left alone; I
don't need to see my students striking up conversations with random
strangers as or while our class progresses. I can tolerate an occasional uninvited visitor, as I do in
my own classroom, but wouldn't go out of my way to make this an everyday
occurrence. Finally, if my students have to register somewhere to take
advantage of a public forum, I want that registration to be private,
non-threatening, and as spam-free as possible.
I've always taken my students to Tapped In, but I've
tried to be mindful of different options and possibilities, of where we
could actually do what I intend. My main reason so far is that I am familiar
with Tapped In; it welcomes use for academic purposes; it is even there to encourage
it; but mainly, because it provides transcripts on request, and I think
this is good; I think I should always be able to go back, look at what
was said, and even print it out if necessary. I consider this protecting
myself, for some reason. It may be that, as part of an older generation,
I consider the written word lasting, more serious and more consequential
by nature, and thus must be able to cover my tracks, so to speak. I am
sure that, since it's just conversation, it is unnecessary to record
every minute of it; however, it's also because we deal in URL's, that
students bring them to the chat, and that I want to be able to recover
them and use them later, that I like having a written transcript, and an
online place, my email, from which I can just click on the url's. The
only other place I know of that provides and sends chat transcripts to
users is Second Life, though I know there are more, and I know
that even some of the places I've listed below may provide transcripts
if one were to just figure out how to access them. The mere fact that I
haven't figured out how to access them says very little more than that
it's not immediately obvious, to the novice, exactly how to do it, or
transcripts have not been requested often enough for anyone to bother
making it possible. But I also believe that this whole
scenario will change soon. I asked my university if they provided a chat
client so we could set up our own internal chat, but they didn't; they
did, however, set up a meebo chat on their own IT help desk with
positive results. It was over this meebo chat that I asked; I was
surprised that the technology wasn't available. I was also surprised
that chat had gotten so integrated into the functions of the university
so quickly.
Blackboard, or whatever online learning environment you are
using. We have yet to connect our classes to Blackboard,
though our university offers it, partly because our students are not
enrolled university students, so there are bureaucratic problems
involved in setting up the system. Much of Blackboard is this way; you
have to understand and work with the totality of the system to
successfully take advantage of one of its better component parts. Some
schools subscribe to more open learning environments, or ones in which
the parts themselves, such as the chat, can be used more easily, without
having all student users enrolled in a tedious process. And again, is
there a transcript? I'm not sure, nor am I sure I'd want to invest more
time trying to find out. Blackboard has the advantage, if you could call
it that, of being controlled; non-students will never log in. Your own
class has its own space, and it's easy to find; others won't ever be
there.
What about Moodles, you might ask (these are essentially free alternatives
to Blackboard, and also offer chat), or any of Blackboard's competitors?
Some of these are quite good, and I can only say that I don't have much experience
in comparing online environments. When I find the chat, I'd ask if it had
transcripts. Online educators are known to deliver entire lectures on the
chat function, so I know students wanting to keep and go over the lectures would
want transcripts available. Yet again, I often don't know how to ask; I figure
that, since chat is still in its infancy, people may have made the transcripts
available, but they haven't become good at showing you how to get them.
Tapped In is free, always open, and usually has someone in the
reception area to help with logistics and how to recover transcripts, if
one wants to go further back than one's e-mail. I
usually let them know what I'm up to, then click on the Comfy Conference
Room on the upper right to go to an empty room where students and I can
talk. Occasionally people will find us and enter our chat room as we
speak; this has never been a problem. TI has also said that regular
users of their service should consider giving them a contribution to
help keep their services available. I know very little about their
set-up except that it was originally funded by a grant, I believe, and
was intended to help get educational institutions like us more involved
in educational technology.
Meebo will install a chat window on any blog or website; from
there, visitors can get a logon name and begin chatting, if they happen
to be at that blog at that moment. The little window will provide each
visitor with a code name and will provide a clean ongoing chatstream,
yet it won't record or send the transcript that I know of. Meebo is
extremely popular with people who simply want to set up a chat site at
an information center, say a conference that is opening, where the
function of the chat is basically temporary but the need for an
immediate connection between visitor and host is apparent. I've
considered putting one at our blog but haven't; I have, however, put one
at my own, yet had no occasion to use it.
Dave's ESL cafe chat room, or public spaces that are more or less
like it; taking a class here might like taking your class to downtown main street,
encouraging interaction with whoever might be there, and
hoping that something you say to them will sink in or be remembered,
when downtown is competing for their attention in the background. There
are a number of places like Dave's, which are not specifically ESL, or
which don't even necessarily have an educational goal permeating. All we
want, really, is a place to chat and be left alone; surely there is one
out there somewhere. If one doesn't need to be left alone, or one
doesn't need a transcript, such venturing out into the world is worth
considering. But I also feel the need to have a somewhat protected
environment, like the classroom - a place where I can call security if
I'm hassled, or better, a place where the trouble-causing elements
simply won't find me. And that's why I'd begin asking questions: is
there a room here that I can use? Do you provide transcripts? What do
you have that is, at this moment, informing the world of where all the
people are chatting, thus encouraging them to come and find us? Dave's
at least provides multi-user chat, such that having a few other people
around is really not a problem, and might even be considered useful.
Facebook chat, with one of the cleanest and most pleasant chat
applications, has the advantage of being controlled by virtue of
allowing only your friends to have access to the ability to start up a
conversation with you. However, in my case, that's almost 200 people,
so even if I made all my students set up accounts (1), and learn how to
maneuver around the area, I still could be interrupted at any time by
any of my other friends. There is, as I write, no way to set up a sign
saying, chatting but busy; no way to set up a small, isolated community
of temporary Facebook users, connected to each other; no way to separate
a "teacher" profile from other personal uses I might have of Facebook,
and no way to do the same for my students; and finally, no way to
protect them from the vagaries of Facebook account-holders' risks, such
that they couldn't be harassed in the future by spammers or other
charlatans. Facebook also doesn't allow multi-user chat, that I know of,
though that could and probably will change.
Nings that provide chat rooms. What is to stop your class from
setting one up, and using it? Nothing. Nings are public, free, community
spaces which offer chat rooms and assume that everyone using a given
Ning has reason to be in a single community, and most certainly willing
to register in a database of communities. This is where I get stuck;
not that I have anything to hide, only that I don't feel chatting with
my students is by itself a reason to announce our class to the
world, and invite strangers to see who we are and what we do.
Second Life has the advantage of giving you a virtual body
(avatar) to walk around with and use while you chat with people; the
obvious disadvantage is that you, and your students, presumably, have to learn how to maneuver this
avatar before even starting. The
dramatic possibilities are unlimited (2), but since SL provides chat
transcripts, this also would be an advantage in language learning
situations. I have no experience with it, but know of language
practitioners who use it successfully.
To me the use of SL in language learning brings up the combination of chat,
or conversational writing, in other environments; for example, explaining to
someone how to fold an origami, while actually doing it (with an avatar, perhaps).
It's one thing to carry on a conversation in writing when 100% of one's attention is
focused on the chat screen, but these days, more is required of your average chat
participant, and this could be reflected in SL assignments.
There is even a case to be made that the web is moving toward 3D, so that soon most
websites will require an avatar, or at least provide one, so that visitors can enter
and experience an environment. I find this hard to envision, but the technological
capability is there to make the web like a live television, with clear 3D pictures
and the viewer given the capability of walking right in and experiencing virtually
everything. One might point out that, if so, people will prefer sound capability in these
situations, since they can provide music and monitor the quality of voice; chat requires
a live presence. Yes, but, looking forward, chat offers privacy that sound doesn't. A
favorite SL story of mine is of a guy who walks into a bar (in SL) and notices that plenty
of people are there, all drinking (virtual beer? does it free up your virtual inhibitions?),
yet not a sound to be heard. He soon noticed that they were all chatting to each other- many
private conversations, all online.
Elluminate and WiZiQ. These are online learning environments where you sign in,
go to a space where you can often watch a speaker, one who has a webcam and sound capability;
then, everyone has access to a whiteboard, on which you can color different messages, draw
or present a picture or some notes; and finally, to one side, a running chatstream where everyone
involved can carry on a discussion. I was unable to think clearly or carry on a discussion of
any substance, the first few times I was on these; then, when I tuned in, I noticed that a good
amount of chat messages involved people complaining about the sound quality, webcam capability,
or some other technical problem, of which there were many. The places are, after all, in their
infancy, and the number of people who use them with fluency and adeptness is still small. A teacher
who takes a class up into one of these would have the option of bringing pictures and powerpoints,
in effect making a presentation, at which the chat window could be used to carry on a running discussion.
Similar to the situation with SL, it would be an opportunity to point out: conversational
writing will become more common in your future. You will need to be able to focus, copy and paste,
and present things in this format. Your fluency with this kind of online presentation will be very
important. By the way, I don't have any trouble convincing my students of this; I generally
could say it, and move on. With teachers, it's more of an issue (see Chat resistance).
Actually getting the skills to function in these environments is another story. I have been in
them a number of times, and still feel dazed virtually every time, although I can usually say,
here I am, what would you like? (3) I don't think the technology is a big issue; eventually this will
be smoother, every time.
1-09
1. I hesitate to make people set up Facebook accounts; Facebook
is a hot issue, but it's also a social venue, and to me the whole issue is
complicated by how much a student wants a teacher in his/her face, socially.
Some do, and really appreciate the opportunity. To others, it's an intrusion
on their freedom, and their ability to speak freely. If there were a "mini-Facebook"
(as I'm sure there will be soon) where they don't mind multiple identities and multiple
user access, and have some tolerance for the temporal nature of classes, I would
suggest that a class indulge, purely for the sake of the chat function.
2. People have had their eye on Second Life for educational purposes, from the
first minute that it was developed. The resources below barely scratch the surface;
there is quite an active contingent of educators online, especially in the field of
language education, where drama (putting a student in another dramatic persona)
has always had uses for freeing students of inhibitions and teaching language.
See Leverett 2008a, below.
3. Again, I owe what little experience I have to the webheads, who regularly get up
in these places and discuss subjects like these. One reason I'm dazed is that
it usually happens on Sunday mornings, my time...
bibliography
Blackboard Assistance at Boise State. (n.d.).
Blackboard FAQ Response. Boise State University.
http://itc.boisestate.edu/BbSupport/BbFaq/faqdetail.asp?176. Accessed
1-09.
Leverett, T. (2008a, Oct.). Second Life and language learning: an
interview with Thom Thibeault. where u at w/chat weblog.
http://whereuatwchat.blogspot.com/2008/10/interview-with-thom-thibeault-
lets.html.
___ (2008b, April). brb: Using chat in
an esl/efl writing class. From Teaching writing in
online and paper worlds, Demonstration, Writing IS, TESOL 2008, New
York City. http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/tw6.html.
___ (2008c, April). Digital fluency
as goal and objective. From Teaching writing in
online and paper worlds, Demonstration, Writing IS, TESOL 2008, New
York City. http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/tw4.html.
___ (2008d, April). Always in MyFace:
Social networking becomes a necessity. From Teaching writing in
online and paper worlds, Demonstration, Writing IS, TESOL 2008, New
York City. http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/tw5.html.
___ (2007a, Mar.). Fluency first:
Fluency as a construct. From Student weblogging
for fluency, skills and integration, Demonstration, Writing IS,
TESOL 2007, Seattle WA.
http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/wf3.html
___ (2007b, May). Dialects in a
changing language. Global Study Magazine 4, 3. London. pp. 56-57.
Available online at:
http://globalstudymagazine.com/site/articles/359.
UNC-Chapel Hill Help & Supprt (2008, Mar. 24). Blackboard: Chat tools. Tutorial.
http://help.unc.edu/5474. Accessed 1-09.
University of Victoria Distance Education Services (2005-2007).
Communication Tools - Chat. University of Victoria.
http://distance.uvic.ca/onlinehelp/tutorials/bb/comchat.htm. Accessed
1-09.
Links and resources
Blackboard
Tapped In
meebo
Online chat resources for teachers
Dave's ESL Cafe Web guide: Chat
Second Life
Second Life in Education wiki
Second Life Grid: links for educators
Second Life in Education: Vance's ESL Home
Second Life bibliography and resources
Elluminate
WiZiQ
Presentation home
Introduction & table of contents
Chat and esl/efl bibliography
[ CESL ][ Tom Leverett's weblog ]
behind faner, TL, from the pop collection
tree at kumakura, from TL's pop collection
 Page maintained
by
Thomas
Leverett, CESL, SIUC
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