Scheduled Chat Times

(Tip: hit reload or refresh whenever you open this page to see if changes have been made. The last change occurred at 16 Mar 2010 02:22 PM -0500.)

Please note in blue above that I've added AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) user names. Check to make sure yours is there. If it isn't, email me your AIM user name, in case we need to move to IM if Angel goes down. Mine, by the way, is profdan1032. I'd also suggest you add class members to your buddy list, especially those in your group.

See http://www.aim.com.

And in red--your SL avatar names. Again, mine is Profdan Netizen. I suggest when you're in SL you add us all as friends. And again--if you don't see yours here, email me with the avatar name. And make very sure it's spelled just as you have it in SL, including capitalization.

Explanation for the "Scheduled Chat Times"

As you recall from our attendance policy, "attendance will be based on your participation with the rest of us" in online activities.

• As part of your attendance in this class, you need to meet with your group in Second Life when assigned on the Online Activities/Writing Exercises pages that I post each week.

• Plan on meeting at least once a week.

• Based on your introductions, above you will find the session you are assigned to.

The sessions are scheduled for two hours, but that doesn't mean you have to stay in Second Life that long, as long as you fulfill effectively the required activities described in the Online Activities/Writing Exercises pages.

• If during a week you miss the scheduled chat or the required participation in Writer's Café, then you will be considered "absent."

• And with chats, you have to participate fully. It's not enough simply to show up, dance a jig, and then leave.

Why are we doing online activities?

Here is the reasoning behind both the Angel discussion forum online conversations and Second Life chat activities: The audience for your four essays is not just me, but all of the members of this class. That's why we had introductions, to get to know each other a bit. The purpose of these chats, and the whole class discussions in the Writer's Café forum, is to become more familiar with your audience, members of this class, so that as you work on your essays, you will have some sense about what our attitudes are about the subjects we deal with. So the discussion is not only to express your position about a topic (which can often help you figure out or clarify what you think), but to listen carefully to what the members of your audience are saying, giving you a sense of what they do and don't know, of what they do and don't care for.

Changing session times

• If you need to change because the time doesn't work for you, email me which session better suits you. However, do note I will not increase any session beyond seven members.

  • Thus, sessions 2 and 4 (Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings) are full--you would only be able to join it permanently if you found someone in the session to trade with you.

• However, for an occasional situation where you can't meet with your scheduled time, feel free to participate with another group.

• But remember that you may be letting down those in your scheduled time, so I suggest you not make a practice of it.

• And do email the group in your scheduled chat session to let them know.

• You can email through Angel>Communication>Course Mail>Quick Message and just choose the names of your chat partners (by clicking on To:).

And of course, you can attend more than one chat, plus any of you can choose to meet in SL on your own with each other.

Moderators

I will soon ask a member of each group to be a moderator, based on his or her computer competence and responsible completion of the work for the first few weeks. I will identify moderators soon.

The moderator will

1. Start the chat on time.

2. Generally keep the discussion on task, based on the instructions I give in the Online Activities/Writing Exercises pages.

3. Send me a transcript of the chat.

   You can copy the local chat window, or get a copy of the log automatically saved to your hard drive. However, the latter is safer--if you get kicked out of SL everything in the local chat window is erased when you re-enter.

   From Communicate>Local Chat:

   • Click on the chat window

   • Then click on CTRL-A to highlight the entire window, and then CTRL-C to copy it.

   • Now you can paste the chat into your word processor, save as RTF.

    

    

From the automatic chat log saved on your hard drive:

Go to Edit>Preferences:

Then click on Communication. Make sure everything is checked across from Logging Options. Your log (chat.txt) should be found on your hard drive under My Documents>Second Life>Your SL avatar name, with the time and date. Just scroll down to this week's chat and copy/paste into a new RTF document. Just email me the chat transcripts as an attached RTF file.

Moderators will earn some extra points for these duties well executed.

Why am I here?

Some of you gave times in your introductions that did not fit with other class members. And some didn't note times you were available in the first week online activity letter. I tried to put you into sessions that were closest to what you noted.

However, if you cannot regularly make the sessions you're assigned, let me know which you can work with and I'll move you. However, again, do note I will not increase any session beyond seven members.

And if you don't see your name up here at all, you haven't been attending class and/or haven't been active in Angel (which means you may soon be dropped from the class). Or I made a mistake.

Contact me if you don't see your name, as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to call me or e-mail me. My phone number can be found at the top of the syllabus, and office hours can be found at https://angel.lcc.edu/AngelUploads/Files/holtd/_profile.htm. I do have voice mail for my phone if I'm not in. And I'm available on AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) during my office hours. (If you want to meet at some other time, contact me and we can arrange such.) I will also be in Second Life on Angel Learning Isle. Finally, you can contact me through Twitter (danholt) or Facebook.

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© by Dan Holt, 2010

Created 6/15/1998
Revised: 16 March 2010 02:22 PM -0500