My students have collaborative projects during the week. The problem is that they don't have ways of transportation to meet after school to work on it. Do you think using interactive chats and messaging is a good idea? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
2 comments:
I absolutely LOVE instant messaging. It keeps me in contact with my friends during real time. I think that you should use this with your classroom because the students will get to work with each other after school hours from their homes. Students can type the text from their computer and instantly the other person receives what they said. They can use AOL Instant Messenger. Here is a conversation my daughter had with her friend on a homework assignment last night:
BeachBlondi247 (8:38:38 PM): Hey Kim!
xoblondiexox (8:38:49 PM): Hi Nicole! What's going on?
BeachBlondi247 (8:39:14 PM): not much, I'm just working on our science homework and I'm having trouble, do you think you could help me?
xoblondiexox (8:39:18 PM): Yeah! Of course, what's up?
BeachBlondi247 (8:42:25 PM): I really don't understand how the food chain works. Do you think you could explain it to me?
xoblondiexox (8:42:39 PM): yup
xoblondiexox (8:43:21 PM): all living things are linked together by what they eat
xoblondiexox (8:43:30 PM): organisms are linked together in order to survive
xoblondiexox (8:43:57 PM): plankton are eaten by shirmp, which are eaten by fish and the fish are eaten by the people when they go fishing!
BeachBlondi247 (8:44:19 PM): so what happens if the shrimp are all eaten?
xoblondiexox (8:44:35 PM): then the fish would starve and they would become extinct
xoblondiexox (8:45:22 PM): bears would go hungry too because they eat fish
BeachBlondi247 (8:45:35 PM): hm but isn't it more complicated than that
xoblondiexox (8:46:14 PM): there are also other things involved like the sun, producers, consumers, and decomposers. Remember when Mrs. Smith showed us that video?
BeachBlondi247 (8:46:45 PM): Ohhh yeah! she talked about how plants are the worlds largest producers because they make their own food during photosynthesis!
BeachBlondi247 (8:46:47 PM): I remember now!
BeachBlondi247 (8:46:56 PM): Thank you so much for helping me!
xoblondiexox (8:47:14 PM): You're welcome!
BeachBlondi247 (8:47:25 PM): I really get it! Now I can finish my homework
Your students can use other forms of instant messenger such as Yahoo Messenger, Skype, Google Talk, or ICQ. These types of instant messengers will let students had their friends onto something called a "buddy list".
These will most definitely allow collaboration between students. Students can also chat in groups rather than one on one, if they'd like.
The only disadvantage to this type of communication is that it can't be monitored at all times (unless a parent is over the students shoulder of course). Therefore, you never know what students can be talking about, and they could get distracted from their school work and talk about other things.
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