The discussion area is for asynchronous conversations where one student can post a message in the morning and someone else can respond in the afternoon. All of the postings are in one place and can be read at any time. After the student has completed their response, they can copy and paste their response into the discussion screen.
Online chats are synchronous conversations where all participants are online at the same time.
Depending on the tool used, the chats may be able to be archived for future reference. The number and names of the discussion is influenced by your curricular objectives and structure within the class. This is an area where the students can discuss non-course related issues. The actual name should be influenced by your discipline and course. Technical Questions Establishing a technical questions area provides a place for the student to ask questions and look for answers.