3 D2L with Morton Ann Gernsbacher — 02.27.2015

In the Active Teaching Lab on February 27, 2015, Morton Ann Gernsbacher shared how she uses the oft-ignored synchronous chat in Desire2Learn for her online Psychology courses.

Key Takeaways

• Having a specific assignment in preparation for the chat contributes to students being well-prepared for it (for example, instructor curates the articles and has students “jigsaw” in groups of three. Each student reads one article in advance and then the group discusses for one hour).
• Since the course is 100% online, having a synchronous chat provided the human element for students.
• Creating and assigning roles within student groups made all students accountable (create group, write summary of discussion, copy chat to send to instructor, etc.).

If you’re interested in getting up and running with chat in Desire2Learn, watch the videos below and try using the D2L chat worksheet we created for this session!

The Active Teaching Lab, a Faculty Engagement program, provides a safe space for structured explorations of cool teaching tools and techniques that your colleagues are using to engage students and teach more effectively. During the academic year, labs are held weekly and will be listed on the Active Teaching Lab page.

Morton Ann Gernsbacher’s D2L Chat Story