Chat Rooms

The Chat Room utility in WebCT allows students and instructors to have real-time online text “discussions.” In a chat room, users type their messages into the chat console and then press Enter.

• The Send URL button can be used to send a website address (URL) to others in the chat room.
  
• Use the Quit button to end the chat session.
  
• To send a private chat message, click a person’s name in the User list, then type your message and press the Enter key.

For other information about using WebCT Chat, review the Help information available within a WebCT course. The general communication tips provided earlier in this document may also be applicable to chat sessions. For moderated chats (where a moderator directs the flow of communication), the following tips may be helpful.

• To ask a question, type a ? and wait to be recognized.
  
• To make a comment, type an ! and wait to be recognized.
  
• While waiting for the moderator to recognize you, go ahead and type your message in the message field (but DO NOT press the Enter key). Then, when you are recognized, press Enter to send your message. This will speed up response time.
  
• Be patient. At times, it may appear that there is no activity in the room. This occurs naturally in chat sessions as some users may take longer to type a message.
  
• To address the above problem, keep messages short and to the point. If you have a long comment or question, break the message into 2 or more parts. Use an ellipsis (e.g., ...) to end the first part and to start the second part.
  
  John Doe--(doej)>> The first part of the article was confusing...
  John Doe--(doej)>> ...but the summary at the end of the intro...
  John Doe--(doej)>> ...helped clarify the main point of the author