Facilitators of virtual classrooms and training sessions must balance presenting their session material, navigating the features of the platform, and holding their learners' attention to keep them engaged. Most virtual platforms offer a Chat feature to allow facilitators to communicate directly with learners, and learners to communicate directly with each other. Here are some tips for managing the chat so you can foster communication and engagement and conduct your virtual sessions with ease.
1. Learn Your Chat Channels
If there are specific channels for staff or other groups of users, make sure you know what they are, so you can quickly message the right people.
2. Set Ground Rules
Learners might use the chat to carry on discussions unrelated to the session topics. Establish ground rules at the beginning of the session if you have rules you want the learners to follow, such as keeping side conversations to a minimum or not overusing emojis, acronyms, shorthand, etc.
3. Post Questions in the Q&A
If you have questions for your learners that you don’t want to get lost in the chat, you can post them in the Q&A section of your platform. Engageli's Q&A is threaded, persists, and asynchronous learners watching the class recording in the Playback Room will also be able to participate. Like the chat, the Q&A can be downloaded.
4. Designate a Moderator
If you have teaching assistants (TA), you can assign them or another learner to be the moderator and keep track of the chat. The chat moderator can answer questions without distracting from a presentation or lecture and alert you to pertinent questions or comments via a private chat with you or the “Staff” channel.
5. Download the Chat for Later Review
During a session, learners may actively participate in the chat, posting questions, responding, and helping each other. If you are not able to keep up with the chat in real-time, you can download the chat at the end of class for later review so that you can address any outstanding questions or issues in the next class.
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