ANSWER:

Chat and Whiteboard: Create Room

The Chat tool allows you to communicate in real time with other users in the course. You can use Chat to engage in real-time conversations with all users or selected users. You can also use the Chat tool's Whiteboard to draw objects, enter text, and import images that can be viewed in real time by other users. Excellent uses of Chat include online office hours, online guest speakers, exam reviews, and study groups.

Role(s) Needed: The instructions for creating chat/whiteboard rooms apply to Section-level Designers.

Step 1: From the Build tab, click the Chat tool.

Step 2: Click the Create Chat or Whiteboard Room button.

Step 3: On the Create Chat or Whiteboard Room screen, for example:

• Enter a Title and Description, which is recommended to provide directions to students for participating in the session.
   
• For Item Visibility, decide whether to show this item to students (upon saving) or keep hidden until you are finished setting up all your activities in the course.
   
• For Maximum users, enter the total number of users you want allow in the room at one time.
   
• For Type, select whether the room will be Chat and Whiteboard, Chat only, or Whiteboard only. TIP: The Whiteboard uses more computer memory than Chat itself, so you may see better performance by running Chat only.
   
• For More Options, click the Expand icon to specify additional room settings. Some of the following settings may not be available.
   
  • For combined rooms, if you want to allow users to hide Chat or Whiteboard so that only the other displays, select Allow users to hide or show Chat or Whiteboard in a combined room.
     
  • If you want to allow users to send private Chat messages, select Allow private Chat messages. TIP: This might be a beneficial option if there are multiple people in the room and you wish to discuss a private matter with someone aside from the group.  Private messages appear in a pop-up window and are never logged.
     
  • If you want to allow users to identify themselves in the room using an alias, select Allow alias. NOTE: This allows students to be anonymous, so be careful!
     
  • If you want to maintain a Chat room log to record sessions for future review, select Maintain Chat room log.

Step 4: Click Save to create the room.

If you have any further questions, please contact us for support. Thank you.

- WebCampus Support