Chat rooms can be used for students to talk "live" to other users that are online at that time. This is called "synchronous" communication. Chat rooms can have specified topics that students talk about or can be open for any topics. Many dangers have been associated with open chat rooms where users really do not know who they are "chatting" with and inappropriate discussions may take place.
A safer alternative is a private chat room where only certain known users are allowed into the chat room. This can be useful for students in a class to have a discussion with one another, for students to work in groups or for private interviews with a few people. It is not as useful if students are in different time zones since the discussion takes place in real time. Asynchronous chatting can be done through discussion boards.
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Organize a private chat with 3 other students in the class about the advantages and disadvantages of online learning. Print out the transcript of the chat and submit to the teacher.
An author of an article can also set up a chat session to discuss points in the article. Click here for an example of this.
