Friday 5: Using Chat and Instant Messaging in the Classroom
Lucy Gray
Hi All -
My students have found me online. I haven't decided if this is a good
thing, or not, quite yet, but it definitely has me to thinking about
using chat and instant messaging to communicate with students.
In my sixth grade computer science class, our discussion about instant
messaging started when a student asked me about my user name for a
class wiki project. I explained that I use the same user name
(elemenous) for all my accounts, including the AOL Instant Messaging
service (AIM), and my students perked up immediately. They were
surprised that a teacher, of all people, actually used AIM, and I bet
one class that many more teachers use an instant messaging service
than they realized. I also explained that I use chat regularly to
communicate with other teachers around the world, and that it's been
wonderful tool for exchanging files and learning from other educators.
So, since this discussion, the number of kids instant messaging me
after school has jumped from 1 kid last week to about 8 kids last
night. I think I had 4 different chat windows open on my computer, and
it was difficult for me to multitask. I noticed that the conversations
are markedly different than the ones I have with adults. When I chat
with an adult, I usually am pinging them for a specific reason such as
tech help or to share a resource. With kids, however, it seems as if
they are sort aimlessly IMing each other and me. This is a social tool
for them, and they must be chatting with lots of other people because
often our conversations go dead as if they were busy elsewhere. Sixth
graders, IMHO, have not learned the fine art of carrying on an online
conversation. Interestingly enough, though, one of my students told me
that most of the grade-level "drama" happens within instant messaging
conversations after school. One kid said he's learned to hit certain
keys to quit IMing quickly when his mother approaches as he's not
supposed to be online during homework time. Another kid said his
mother took away his keyboard because she thought his computer habits
were too distracting for him. (I'm making a mental note of this tactic
for when my children hit middle school.) It's fascinating to see how
important this tool has become to kids; I feel like I've been let into
the club a bit as they have been reaching out to me via IMing.
Generally, I think using instant messaging and chat rooms in the
context of learning is not something most teachers want to incorporate
into their curricula; it's a matter of digital natives versus digital
immigrants. We immigrants have been slow to realize that this tool is
wildly popular amongst adolescents, and that if we frame its use
properly, chatting via instant messaging or inchat rooms might
actually empower learning. So this week, I've compiled a slew of
related articles that might help you understand this phenomenon.
Take care and have a great weekend,
Lucy Gray
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1) Strategies For Using Chat
Academic Distance Learning Center, Webster University, Saint Louis,
Missouri
http://www.webster.edu/online/courseDev/pdf/using_chat.pdf
2) Let's Chat: Chat Rooms in Elementary School
http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_3_2001/grigsby.html
3) Educause | Resources | Resource Center Abstract
http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7008
4) PC World - Internet Tips: A Grown-Up's Guide to Instant
Messaging
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,114161-page,1/article.html
5) Moving at the Speed of Creativity>Blog Archive> The Case for
Instant Messaging in the Classroom
http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/08/28/the-case-for-instant-messaging-in-the-classroom/
6) Experimental College at Tufts | Instant Messaging: R U Online!
RU? | By Robert Farmer
http://www.excollege.tufts.edu/AllWiredUp/IM.pdf
7) Spiral Notebook > IM in the Mood for Chat
http://www.edutopia.org/community/spiralnotebook/?p=68
8) Apple - Education - iChat AV and iSight in the Classroom:
Lesson Plans
http://www.edutopia.org/community/spiralnotebook/?p=68
9) iChatCollaboration.pdf from Goochland County Public Schools
http://webdev.glnd.k12.va.us/resources/iChatCollaboration.pdf