One of the tools available in ANGEL is the Live Chat nugget. As the name implies, this tool is for synchronous conversations, or chats.

Here any students (or faculty) attached to a course can communicate in real-time. The communications may be logged so that the faculty member or the students can access the discussion. Communication is limited to text only. You can make a session available to all students or set up teams.  You can set up a session as a specific date/ time or you can keep it open throughout the semester.

Here’s a brief video on how to set-up a chat room

A few things to consider when using the chat feature:

A chat room is like a real room. Whatever was said before you entered is not available to you. All you “hear” (i.e., see on the screen) is what is happening when you are in the room. If you leave the room and come back in, you will no longer see the text that was on the screen when you left. If you want to access the logs and/or have the logs accessible to students you should change the tracking to ON. To do this you will go to the settings in the chat area (pencil icon) and edit settings.

Here is a link to directions that you may provide students for using the chat room.

You can add the document as a link in ANGEL, paste the link in an Announcement, an e-mail, etc. The directions are pretty straightforward as all the students need to do is access the chat through the Communication Tab. Once they click on the chat link the platform will open and they can type, much like instant messaging, which most students are quite familiar with.

For more synchronous discussion options or for assistance with setting up your chat session please contact the department of E-Learning!