Log of Chat Session with Staff and Students of the Centre for Distance Education, Athabasca University (October 7th, 2003)
This chat log represents just a fraction of the dialogue. Much spirited conversation took place via the voice funsiton in Yahoo Messenger. The spoken conversation was not recorded.

 

You are in "CDELive!:1" ( Welcome to CDELive (6/Oct/03)! )

mikecogh: I can hear you loud and clear

sharonclark01: I can hear you Jon and Mike

dgmillar2001: I can hear both of you.

misstrib: I can hear you and Mike

ter_cenya: I can hear both of you.

mikecogh: Precisely!

misstrib: A little weak, Neil

mikecogh: Testing now

djrweaver: did I come through okay?

djrweaver: YOu were fine Jon

mikecogh: talking now

adrienne_deschutter: I can hear both you and Mike, Jon.

djrweaver: Yes I hear mike

djrweaver: sure

jon_baggaley left the room

jon_baggaley (jon_baggaley) joined the room

djrweaver: welcome

djrweaver: I hear Jon are you handsfree?

mikecogh: cab you heear me Jon?

djrweaver: I hear bus and I hear your keys typing.

mikecogh: Can anyone else me?

sharonclark01: I can

misstrib: Yes

djrweaver: I hear mikecogh

ter_cenya: I can hear you

jim_rudolph55: yes

dgmillar2001: I can hear you Mike.

mikecogh: Yep!

mikecogh: Bingo!

patriciafahrni: ok

m_cossarin joined the room

mikecogh: Yes djr

dgmillar2001: Hi Mary.

djrweaver: thanks mike

m_cossarin: hi there

ter_cenya: I am in Western New York, USA.

jhklaas joined the room

mikecogh: So 2 from Picton

jim_rudolph55: Hello from Vancouver

dgmillar2001: Vancouver.

patriciafahrni: vancouver,too

mikecogh: Yes JOn

ter_cenya: I am originally from Welland, Ontario (about 1.5 hours south of Toronto)

sharonclark01: Saint John, New Brunswick

jon_baggaley: http://users.chariot.net.au/~michaelc/

sharonclark01: Linda S. is still waiting to join

m_cossarin: Harry would like to be invited in at his other ID - hdoxsee

mikecogh: (blushing quietly here)

djrweaver: lol

djrweaver:

adrienne_deschutter: yes

m_cossarin: yes

margueratt: Yes Mike, Dennis Margueratt is a student at

mikecogh: You're fine here

ter_cenya: I can hear you

jim_rudolph55: loud and clear

djrweaver: I would be honored

djrweaver: honoured as a brit would say

sharonclark01: Jon - Linda is still waiting - has had no invite - do you have her newer address

misstrib: Jon, Neil4tutor would like to be invited in

mikecogh: http://users.chariot.net.au/~michaelc/fll/ffl_home.htm

linda_schwartz51 joined the room

mikecogh: learningtimes.org

jon_baggaley: Sharon - I have tried Linda at linda_schwartz5 but no reply - could you please try inviting he in?

sharonclark01: she is in now

djrweaver: JOn...she is in as linda_schwartz51

jon_baggaley: thanks S and hello L

linda_schwartz51: Hi Jon

mikecogh: Thanks Denis

ter_cenya: I teach online Advanced Placement English and Economics high school students. We use software called Elluminate for office hours. This software not only has a whiteboard but also voice capabilities. It has been extremely valuable to reach students who are having difficulties and it is also a valuable tool for staff meetings.

agapalalas joined the room

jon_baggaley: Hi Aga, I wasn't sure if you were waiting to be invited in to this conference!

agapalalas: hi, yes I was, now i'm in Thnaks

djrweaver: hello DEBBIE!!! good to see you again.

sharonclark01: Hi Aga

m_cossarin: Jon, please invite "hdoxsee" to the chat.

agapalalas: Hi again

misstrib: Hi, Duane!

misstrib: Jon, I think Neil is still waiting to ge in?

ter_cenya: It's actually Stacey

ter_cenya: And I'm a she.

jim_rudolph55: The whiteboard component of Elluminate really enhances the audio component in small group work. Nice to be able to summarize a meeting.

djrweaver: Video has some value...

ter_cenya: I love the whiteboard and ability to use powerpoint in Elluminate.

mikecogh: Is voice only effective for you?

dgmillar2001: It depends on what people have to say.

ter_cenya: I find, in teaching Economics that the whiteboard, in particular, is a lifesaver for teaching purposes because graphs are so important to the subject.

djrweaver: It is similar to telephone communication. It is more challenging. The screen lets you know in small groups who is talking. In some of my classes I cannot tell who is talking in ELLUMINATE because the icon glows and is so small. The visual cues are important.

misstrib: Especially for us visual learners

mikecogh: Yes Linda?

ter_cenya: And for those tactile learners, they can also draw on the whiteboard themselves.

djrweaver: The nice part of this tool is that it is universal and many people keep it running so the IM is of value in education. REach your mentor when you NEED help.

ter_cenya: There are definite possibilities for Yahoo if you use if creatively. For instance, most of the visual material you would need for a lesson could be put onto on a website for students to view there.

mikecogh: How is this a barrier?

djrweaver: Yahoo Groups also allows more collaborative capabilities.

ter_cenya: Sometimes the fear of the technology can be a barrier for my high school students.

hdoxsee joined the room

jon_baggaley: Hi Harttu - you hearing?

jon_baggaley: Hi Harry - you hearing?

hdoxsee: yes I've arrived

jon_baggaley: Great

mikecogh: Sure Jon

misstrib: Who drives the technology? The organization or the students? Don't some students want "community," which can be effective using synchronous tools?

djrweaver: Debbie, I think it is two fold. Org should drive participation at some level. Students will drive their own means. Education should help to expand the mind and by doing so a student might choose a new mode.

mikecogh: http://www.homestead.com/prosites-vstevens/files/efi/webheads.htm

cdelive left the room

mikecogh: VET

mikecogh: VET = CC system

linda_schwartz51: In using voice, there could be a danger in the amount of critical info that gets communicated -- while it is not difficult to archive audio, the subsequent access to it is harder -- having to listen scan through a long conference to review a certain portion, for example. This is much easier in text.

cdelive (cdelive) joined the room

jim_rudolph55: Jon, could you please ask Patricia back into the conference.

cdelive: Thanks Duane - could you try inviting 'neil4atutor'?

djrweaver: Linda...it might be prudent to research an audio search tool for that means. I think something in relation to what the military uses to scan audio segments of significance. If we use that and then can sort a conversation, we could find points to autofastforward to.

djrweaver: I have been cdelive...he is trying to fix his new firewall so it will let him in.

hdoxsee: Large groups in audio conference start to feel like a classroom but without the benefit of seeing each other. The problems of some more vocal individuals dominating the conference also reappears.

cdelive: Thanks, Duane - I am also 'cdelive', juggling two PCs in case of either one of them hangs

djrweaver: Yes hdoxsee...but the neat thing is that I notice that those that link to lurk and think, tend to speak up more because they can use the text. Regardless of audio dominators.

djrweaver: link=like*

jon_baggaley: Debbie or others - would like to turn the chat to issues of extra-curricular contact - e.g. mutual support of the type provided in an online Student Association?

mikecogh: Silicon Chalk

djrweaver: That is excellent news to me Mike!!

cdelive: One of our MDDE662 is evaluating Silicon Chalk at present - too early for preliminary report yet?

ter_cenya: And really, asynchronous chat can be VERY time consuming as well since have to dig through many threads on a regular basis if there is a class participation component.

hdox2003 left the room

margueratt: Particularly useful for persons who are hearing impaired - Dennis

djrweaver: JOn is cdelive

baggaley47 left the room

mikecogh: a lot of what kind of work? Curiculum work?

neil4atutor joined the room

djrweaver: finally got you in Neil.

cdelive: Hi Neil - firewall problem skilfully remedied ?

mikecogh: And yrs Syacey - asynch discussions are SOO time consuming

djrweaver: Neil's firewall is preventing him from hearing audio...he will work on it.

mikecogh: Debbie - are you saying voice helps make decisions?

adrienne_deschutter: Mike ... as you described for the "near future" there is software called Liberated Learning that allows for "instantaneous" voice to text conversion of profs in classrooms ... its original intent was to facilitate learning for students with disabilties (and others).

ter_cenya: I know that I often feel isolated from my colleagues since I am the only person of the full time staff who lives on the other side of the US. They can go for coffee regularly, for instance.

jon_baggaley: Duane - could you please reinvite me as 'cdelive'?

djrweaver: yes

adrienne_deschutter: agree ....

jon_baggaley left the room

cdelive: thanks Duane could you try me again as cdelive?

jon_baggaley (jon_baggaley) joined the room

djrweaver: you are cdelive Jon

cdelive: got sound back - thasnks Duane

djrweaver: welcome

djrweaver: that's me!

djrweaver: usually

ter_cenya: I know that I feel more comfortable with text because I often have a difficult time expressing myself verbally.

misstrib: Except "chat" text - I can't type fast enough!

djrweaver: Many of my students prefer text chat...to audio...I have one out of ten that prefer audio only.

neil4atutor: many of my native students clearly prefer text chat (still no sound so probably off topic)

neil4atutor: I speak then type

mikecogh: Comment?

annetterichards2003 joined the room

mikecogh: So Dwayne - 1 out of 10 prefer audio??

mikecogh: Any more detail Dwayne?

djrweaver: That is my experience so far Mike

ter_cenya: That is how a room like this is excellent...those who prefer text can type and those who prefer to speak, can speak. I think it increases participation all around.

djrweaver: Duane

neil4atutor: multimodal communication

jhklaas left the room

cdelive: Neil works with the Elluminate company here in Alberta - the chat referred to Elluminate earlier, Neil, and Mike also uses it - would you like to contrast it with Yahoo re. the functions Elluminate is best at?

neil4atutor: Elluminate has no firewall issues

ter_cenya: My husband tutors for a company called Tutor.com. His tutoring classroom has voice capabilities, but most of the students do not use it.

adrienne_deschutter: any idea, why?

neil4atutor: I am thinking of doing PHd on this one.

cdelive: The contrast is etween an expensive product and a freeware

neil4atutor: Tutor.com I think is an American only company

ter_cenya: I think some of the reasons are lack of technology (they don't have a microphone or the right kind of sound board) and also that they are not comfortable with voice chat.

djrweaver: I use Elluminate in my Academy classroom. I use this Yahoo and Yahoo groups for company and bringing in remote instructor to classes that are face to face.

cdelive: Note to the 662 group - we will be taking part in a conference next month with Mike, using Yahoo and Elluminate

mikecogh: TAFE

adrienne_deschutter: thanks, Stacey

neil4atutor: Elluminate was very proud to see Duane's school on board.

ter_cenya: You are welcome, Adrienne.

djrweaver: Neil cannot hear Mike.

ter_cenya: tutor.com IS an American company, but I believe they have some libraries in Canada that use it.

cdelive: will that affect the NSW conference, Mike?

djrweaver: His firewall is blocking your audio..right..

neil4atutor: still silent

djrweaver: He is sitting by himself in Edmonton....

neil4atutor: having preached reteat

neil4atutor: retreat

djrweaver: Neil....Mike was talking about an example in Australia where the firewall did prevent ellluminate from working.

awittermerithew joined the room

cdelive: Hello, Anna - last ten mins, but you are very welcome - Jon

neil4atutor: Elluminate has solid tech support and will work with their clients on that one.

neil4atutor: will be back!

cdelive: Final 5 mins - any other questions for Mike?

adrienne_deschutter: lost Mike....

awittermerithew: lost Mike too

djrweaver: Mike can you see this...your audio got cut off....there you are now

ter_cenya: Yes

mikecogh: Can you hear me now?

awittermerithew: yes, thanks

misstrib: can hear you now

adrienne_deschutter: yes

hdoxsee: yes

cdelive: You were talking about on-campus vs. off

djrweaver: yes you just presnted the question...

awittermerithew: yes

djrweaver: a good question...

dgmillar2001 left the room

cdelive: I prefer to challenge the institutional infrastructures to get with the plan and lift their firewall obstacles

cdelive: 'Go home' not really appropriate to a DE institution which is supposed to be state of art

annetterichards2003: Annette Richards is here - good to hear Mike

ter_cenya: I'm not sure, with the virus threats, that institutions will be inclined to life their firewalls.

cdelive: This reveals the interesting differences in policy and philosophy between campus and DE institutions

mikecogh: Exactly Stacey.

mikecogh: Good thinking Adrienne.

ter_cenya: The challenge with that will be those students who have other classes immediately before or immediately after the conference. They may not have time to go home and return to school.

cdelive: Interesting experience Mike and me had online at a UK conference last month - the unviersity's firewall was no problem at all - only in N. America, it seems

adrienne_deschutter: Stacey... rather than "go home" ... online offers access from anywhere, no?

mikecogh:

djrweaver: right!

patriciafahrni left the room

cdelive: Go home is usually what institutions say to their teachers who want to use these methods - that saves the institution from solving the security issues these tools create

ter_cenya: Adrienne - I meant students who were doing some traditional classes as well as some distance education classes.

cdelive: Irony is that weven at Athabasca these methods are currently only possible if the teachers install them on their home PCs

cdelive: I have been having problems talking.Mike - so will thank you wholeheartedly in this text box!!!

ter_cenya: Thank you, Mike

djrweaver: Thank you VERY MUCH Mike. I will investigage learning times...thanks again Jon. Nice to see familiar names and hear familiar voices.

hdoxsee: Thank you, Mike. I must go now also

jim_rudolph55: Thanks Mike.

misstrib: Thank you Mike!

awittermerithew: thank you so much for sharing your time and experience!

cdelive: You have brought a worldwide perspective to your efforts here tonight, and we look forward to further fcollaboration with you

adrienne_deschutter: really enjoyed the discussion, thanks, Mike.

agapalalas: Thank you v. much

margueratt: thanks Mike

sharonclark01: Thanks very much

hdoxsee left the room

margueratt: What about layered firewalls?

jim_rudolph55 left the room

jon_baggaley: thanks again mike very much - we look forward to further collaboration with you (my mic seems to be not working

ter_cenya left the room

m_cossarin: Thanks Mike

adrienne_deschutter left the room

misstrib left the room

thomasgjones2003 left the room

linda_schwartz51 left the room

margueratt left the room

agapalalas left the room

cdelive: duane could you propose the vocal thanks to mike?!

m_cossarin left the room

sharonclark01 left the room

annetterichards2003 left the room

mikecogh: My pleasure Duane - thank you

djrweaver: Neils did you want to test your audio now?

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neil4atutor joined the room

cdelive: You elicited a high turnout, Mike - thanks a mil and talk again soon