Chatting it up Online

Chatting it up Online: Students Talk to a Favorite Author, by Pamela Livingston

In this article, Pamela Livingston describes the process of setting up and running a live online chat. The chat involved second and third grade boys and Mary Pope, Osborne the author of the Magic Tree House book series. The article is full of details about arranging and signing up for an online chat. Also, she facilitated the computer and visual audio equipment need at the school. Second and third grade boys at the school would prepare questions for the author and actively participate in the online discussion. She felt that the children’s interest in reading would be increased through talking with the author of one of their favorite book series. I felt the article was very helpful that, instead of just concentrating on all the positives, Pamela pointed out some pitfalls and technical glitches that she had in organizing this activity. She highlighted the importance of being diligent and pre-testing all the aspects of the chat. She went so far as to check out the computer room at the time that they were planning to hold the discussion and discovered that sunlight would affect the visibility of the screens. Since she had done this prior to the event, she was able to correct the sunlight problem. In another incident, the author did not receive the boy’s prepared questions that were sent by e-mail and she had to enter the questions during the chat. She felt that the students understood that they were connecting with the author through the computer. In reading this article, I was not totally convinced of how much inspiration second and third graders would gain from this type of communication versus the amount of time and energy that went into preparing for the activity. Pamela stated that at certain times the questions and answers being scrolled up on the screen were hard to follow. The children’s ability to follow rapidly changing written communication may have taken away from their enjoyment at getting to communicate with the author. The article is a very good guide for anyone considering this type of activity, which I think it would be a great benefit for students at a higher-grade level.

Q1: Is this type of project worth the amount of effort?

The answer is that it depends. You have to determine what the students’ ability to understand and interact in this type of technology, plus their interest in the subject of the chat.

Q2: How do you deal with technical problem?

Education tech activities need to have standard education material as back up to avoid disappoint of students and loss teaching time.

Michael Poteet