Describe how the chat went for you. What did you enjoy? What drove you mad? And what would you do as an instructor if you chose to use a space such as this?
- For me, the Live Chat on Angel was frustrating. There was just too much going on that I had to resort to Rovai's conversation about lurking. I found lurking to be comfortable in this space because 1.) when I typed something, it seemed irrelevant or 2.) things were just moving to quickly for any type of engagement (so, I could not really focus on one comment for too long). Although I commented a few times during the chat, I found lurking to be my most viable option.
- Moreover, Faigley's discussion relates to my (our) experience on the Chat as it moves us from a current-traditionalist mode to a new rhetoric platform; he mentions that the text and the teacher become “decentered” in InterChange. He also talks about this idea of equal exchange within the online system. After engaging with the Live Chat, I began to think about Faigley’s online discussion form. It's really crazy to me that I am about to say this (because I'd like to believe that I'm a proponent of new rhetoric) but I think that the teacher as "decentered" greatly depends on the medium and the purpose of the assignment. So, I don't think that new rhetoric should be excersied all of the time. I think that teachers much strike a nice balance and that is what I hope to do as an instructor using Wysocki's idea of "new media."
- As a person who is used to face-to-face interaction in a variety of different ways, then, I don't think that I can afford to try to make the online space something that it is not...and I think that we tried to do that by attempting to focus in our discussion in Live Chat. Simply, I think that Live Chat would be useful for team building (collaborative projects) where small groups of students could brainstorm; I could see myself using Live Chat in this capacity.
- Also, I am reminded of the multimodal event that Cynthia Selfe and Doug Hesse engaged in at CCCC last year. While watching it in Dr. Monroe's class last year, the Live Chat seemed to work well when there was a major faciliator (via Skype) and the chat function was used to comment on the discussion. Although there were many things going on at once during the multimodal event (video, chat, phone), there seemed to be some focus...I don't think that there was any real "decentering." I do think, however, that what we want to do is bring the classroom to the internet...I don't know if that can really happen in a place like Live Chat ...
I like the distinction you make between LiveChat for team building versus LiveChat for academic discussion and discourse. I agree. There is a place for it, but I also want to be careful and realistic about what I expect from the medium, and choose formats that clearly work to meet the goals of the assignments I give. So, do you think you will use chatting in your classes in the future?
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to sound like a bit of a broken record in my blog responses here.... but, I like the idea of, "Simply, I think that Live Chat would be useful for team building (collaborative projects) where small groups of students could brainstorm; I could see myself using Live Chat in this capacity."
ReplyDeleteI've had good luck using chats for small group work before. I've also, however, had good luck w/ large groups and I'm still trying to figure out why this one failed. It seemed you all wanted something from it that it couldn't provide, yet I'm not sure what that "it" is. Sometimes the beauty of the live chat happens when everyone embraces the chaos and the dissonance and instead of backing away, works within it to come to new understandings.
It was probably my teacher fail that I didn't 1) encourage people to do this, and 2) broke down and tried to force order on you. I think this only made it worse.
Still, I loved the chat, if for nothing else than it made me think, "why did this fail?"