In September 2001, the TAFE NSW Access Division's LearnScope team held a chat session exploring the team members' experiences in participating in online courses that they had enrolled in as part of the LearnScope project. This article captures some of the positive and negatives experiences and also examines the use of chat sessions themselves. The article is based on the chat log and was prepared by Greg Masters, the team learning facilitator.
TAFE NSW Access Division Learnscope Project: Synchronous Chat, 24 September 2001
The purpose of the chat was twofold:
- To provide team members with the experience of participating in an online chat experience
- To explore the negative and positive aspects of team members’ experiences as on-line learners.
The paper has been structured in line with these aims and consists of three sections
- Reflections on participating in a chat session
- Positive aspects of enrolling in and doing an online course
- Negative aspects of enrolling and doing an online course
Reflections on participating in a chat session
The early parts of the session were dominated by people coming to grips with the technical challenges of participating in a chat session, including:
- Difficulties in logging on
- Activating and deactivating the ‘whisper’ facility
- Sending and receiving sounds
- Adjusting the perception that the ‘screen is jumping’ and scrolling speed
- Selecting and changing colours so that they are legible
- Scrolling through the chat
A common issues was being able to ‘maintain track’ of the discussion so that the conversation flowed logically and clearly:
"This chat seems to be wild and furious - I need a bit of time to pick up the threads of the chat."
"I'm finding it difficult to follow this chat - it seems to be all over the place!"
As the session’s technical adviser noted:
"What you have experienced is very normal for first time in a chat session."
In view of its initial experience, the group highlighted some key lessons for managing chat sessions in the future:
…. the essential need for a learner orientation session, prior to starting the learning.
To make it easier for all participants to follow the discussion...please use the whisper function to post any comments outside of the discussion.
It will also be important to have an organised approach to synchronous chat.
I think I would prefer the iron fist of [the facilitator] or her equivalent controlling what went up and some method of organising the posting into related groups.
[there is a need for a practical lesson held at the beginning of the course] where an instructor taught … the basics of the chat room, how to post, what to do about a private reply, what a threaded discussion is etc.
availability of materials in print/worksheets at own time to prepare learner for the synchronous session
high level literacy skills are required [to participate in a chat session]
I didn’t realise how essential it is to be able to type fast... without too many typos ... this would suggest that a forum might suit novice typists rather than online chat.
Sequencing [of a chat session] is important. However, in the first chat it's important to allow time for testing/playing with the functions available.
In summary, some key lessons that emerged were that:
- Sound preparation of students and learners is essential for them to participate in a chat session
- Some experimentation is useful in exposing people to the chat functions and giving them a sense of comfort
- Careful sequencing and facilitation of the chat session is necessary for people to follow the thread of the discussion
- High level literacy and typing skills are required, which have significant access and equity implications.
Positive aspects of enrolling in and doing an online course
Many of the chat participants had recently enrolled in an on-line course as a central experiential component of the LearnScope project. Some of the positive aspects that were noted include:
I liked the freedom to choose when I would do my course.
I thought it very interesting to do worksheets online and then post them to the teacher.
the support and encouragement that the facilitators gave was fantastic.
I liked the idea of linking to learners in other states, with the potential of getting different perspectives nationally.
Even though [in my course] there was no personal interaction, there was good instructional design with programmed responses and tips provided if I couldn't do it or if I made mistakes. So the immediate feedback was what I appreciated.
Negative aspects of enrolling in and doing an online course
Some of the team’s worst experiences about their on-line experience that were posted during the session include:
[my online course] …did not send out clear instructions on how to actually join the first synchronous chat session. I found this really stressful, felt very dumb, and ….. when I finally was able to link in, I found the formatting very non-conducive to learning on a screen late at night when the class is scheduled. The mode in which the course is structured is a major irritation as it is structured around dungeons and dragons and describing glens at the bottom of the garden -- as all learners are teachers, I would have much preferred to have a structured discussion like we are doing now.
Worst experiences - plural! 1. Connection problems - the screen would freeze and then send an avalanche of messages that were impossible to keep up with. 2. Nonsensical locations/pointless activities that required close reading but didn't seem to achieve anything. 3. Mindless chatter that didn't address any of the issues of online learning. 4. Instructions that were virtually impossible to follow.
I found the learningware quite difficult to use and I didn't really know where I was most of the time. And I kept on getting turfed out of the program or taken to a remote place
The DET firewall prevented us from chatting to our colleagues.
[My course] was totally online with no teacher and no group participation.. so I didn't feel I was working in a real situation. I didn't like the absence of people.
… it boiled down to unclear instructions.
I never was able to get the audio files, and learning a language without them has been rather difficult!
Conclusion
A number of key themes emerged from people’s discussion of their online learning experiences:
- Online learning is very challenging for a beginner
- The format and the way information is presented greatly affects the power of online learning
- Good instructional design is therefore critical
- Preparation for students in managing the technology is essential, as is ongoing and responsive technical support
- There is a need to understand what assists learners to commit to online courses
- High level literacy and basic computing skills are pre-requisites.
One comment sums up many of the team members’ attitudes to online learning:
I guess that same old thing about it being the people which are important and that the technology support the course, not define the course.
