Serious chat in a university setting

[P. Michael McCulley]

On  8 Nov 97 at 6:40,  Sharyn J. Ladner (Sharyn J. Ladner 
<sladner at umiami.ir.miami.edu>) wrote about Re: 
Serious chat in a university 

> We use iChat here at FSU for group discussions in our distance education
> masters program. 
> Sharyn
> 
> ***************************************************************************
> Sharyn J. Ladner                                         sladner at miami.edu 
> University of Miami Richter Library            sjl4008 at garnet.acns.fsu.edu
>    (on sabbatical 8/1/97 - 7/31/98 at FSU School of Information Studies)
> ***************************************************************************

I think the use of interactive chat in distance learning is certainly 
a great use of the technology. And Walt's note on using moderator's 
to help facilitate the discussions is a good point on making sure a 
group has a good experience online.

I'd like to mention PowWow <http://www.tribal.com> in this context, 
and note the new production version 3.21 is out now. Their 
"communities" module is a fairly recent innovation, and yet seems to 
have developed quite a community :) of sorts --many of them 24/7 
operations. It includes features to moderate, with some controls. The 
listing of communities is at <http://www.tribal.com/communities/>.

The "cruise" (touring the Web together) aspect of PowWow continue to 
be a fascinating teaching/sharing tool, in my view.

Best regards,

Michael McCulley, Webmaster
Knight-Ridder Information
mcculley at best.com
*speaking only for himself*