An online chat entails students typing and sending messages via a computer in real time. A chat session is quite similar to the brainstorming activity using a whiteboard, except students are exchanging longer thoughts and ideas on topics that have already been developed during the brainstorming stage. Students are apt to take more risk and express themselves more frequently in an online discussion rather than in face to face interaction because the student remains anonymous. A greater benefit of an online chat session is that at the conclusion, students are left with a tremendous amount of digital text that can be reviewed, edited and entered into student writing without writing anything on paper. The text is authentically produced student material and therefore comprehensible and relevant to most students in the class.
Students can participate in an online chat session in groups or as an entire class.
Groups of four to five students seem optimal because it provides the right amount of input. Students will have trouble following a conversation in which too many students are participating. If several separate discussions took place during a class, every group's final discussion text can be distributed to all students giving students the opportunity to share their ideas with the entire class. Teachers can create their own private chat room for their classroom. Be aware that online chatting via the Internet can be painfully slow depending on network traffic.