Chat sessions

Your course may include chat sessions with your tutor, fellow students or the author of the course. Anyone with access to the chat can ask questions or make comments in exactly the same way as in a normal conversation – except these are typed rather than spoken chats!

Chats can be scheduled for a particular time and your tutor or course administrator will inform you when the session is happening. Activities using chat can be identified in the course content area by the  icon. You can also access chat sessions by clicking Chats in the Activities block in the menu drawer.

How do I take part in a chat session?

To access the chat, either click the link on the course homepage or go to Chats from the Activities block, then click Enter the chat to open the chat area in a new window.

To chat, simply type your comments into the bar at the bottom of the screen and, when you are ready, press the return (enter) key on your keyboard. Your comment will appear as the most recent addition to the conversation along with your name.

Making the chat window bigger will allow you to read more comments at once; this makes following the chat session easier. Different 'themes' or ways of viewing comments are available but please note, if you choose to change theme mid-chat you will lose the conversation thread.

We have noticed that Chat works best when using the Mozilla Firefox web browser [available free to download from Mozilla]. If you experience problems using Chats in Moodle, i.e. being disconnected from the session, we recommend you consider using Mozilla Firefox.

Can I view a past chat session?

If you were unable to participate in a scheduled chat session, or if you simply wish to revisit a session, you can do this by clicking to enter the chat you’d like to view then clicking the Past sessions link in the ADMINISTRATION block in the menu drawer.