Chat

Chats are scheduled real-time discussions. More informal than regular Discussions (which provide a more structured setting, better-suited to long-form compositions), chats are meant more for conversations, quick thoughts, real-time replies, and so on.

The lifecycle of a chat:

1. The course's faculty or teaching assistant schedules the chat
2. Once the chat's start time has arrived, everyone in the course—teachers, students, auditors—can participate in the conversation
3. The chat ends when A) either a new chat begins or B) the instructor ends the chat session
4. After the chat has ended, it becomes a transcript which anyone in the course can review

The course instructor can...

Schedule a chat: Enter the Start time(needs to be now or sometime in the future) and give the chat a Name. Keep in mind that once this chat starts, any chat running at that time will be ended.

End a chat: When in the chat sessions, just click end this chat session. The Chat will be closed off to new comments and will be listed under Transcripts on the main Chat tab.

Delete comments: Just hover over any comment and click . Confirm your action and the comment will be hidden from students (you and the registrar can still see it).

Delete an upcoming chat: Click the chat session's name under Scheduled Chat Sessions, and then click Delete.

Delete a transcript: Click the transcript's name and then Delete this transcript. A transcript can't be deleted until the chat session has ended.

What can you do in a chat?

Obviously, you can write stuff and post it. Just type or copy-paste text and post it to the chat (either click Send Message or hit the Enter key on your keyboard). You can also...

• Upload a file: Just choose a file from your computer and click upload. If someone else posts a file, just click the filename to download it to your computer.
• Use emoji:Emoji are silly little cartoon-like characters. Use them to lighten up the chat.
• Embed stuff:Embed a URL from YouTube, Vimeo, Scribd, Instagram, or any image URL to post it directly into the chat.