Yesterday was the first time we arranged a chat discussion using the new feature 'Meeting Room Live'. Lindsey and I talked on MSN beforehand and agreed to moderate one chatroom each: She opted for the LA 1 and 2 discussion and I took on the LA 3, 4 and 5 discussion. The General Discussion was going to be left unmoderated.
In an attempt to make the chat discussion easy, short and to the point, I did post a thread on FirstClass earlier with some ground rules and the questions we asked people to submit during the week.
I stated that the chat should not be used for private discussion, that it should not last longer than 30 min and so on.
Before I submitted the post, I had sent it to Lindsey to see if it was okay. She agreed with it and it was posted.
At 9.30 pm people started joining the LA 1 and 2 discussion. The LA 3, 4 and 5 discussion was left deserted. I assume that most people just have not started those yet and wanted to clarify all questions for LA 1 and 2 before continuing the journey.
The chat room was unnecessary, but I'm still happy I created it. Even though there was no demand for it, it was good to have it on offer.
I had also joined the LA 1 and 2 discussion to keep on top of things.
The first thing I realized was that, even though it was posted in the chat room itself (and catch-up was enabled) and in several posts on FC beforehand, people asked if there would be a transcript available and if the chat had started yet.
Also, some of the questions asked and discussed were already answered by Learning Facilitators in Plone and FC. Therefore, I would consider them 'a waste of time'. It also showed that some people have not yet really gotten the hang of checking Plone, FC and previous posts on a regular basis.
Some things were discussed in early chats, which can be read as transcripts. I understand that 30-page transcripts can be daunting, so I have decided to extract the main questions and answers from this chat discussion, once I find the time. I will also ask fellow 'moderators' to do so.
Reading through the chat transcript of the LA1 and 2 discussion, I am impressed that Lindsey kept the conversations to the point, even though people were tempted to discuss other things.
My hope is that people will start posting any questions they have on FC (under the respective threads), so we can arrange the chats upfront.
I was also busy in the General Discussion. It was not really about Module 2 this time, but something, that effects all people in Cohort 6 in regards to Module 2.
Ultraversity and ARU have announced a complete server downtime just before christmas and an 'at risk' connection that cannot be guaranteed and may produce loss of data, until the new year.
This is going to be a real problem for some people in Cohort 6, because this module is based on online communication within the group. This will be impossible at that time. The deadline for the module is January 5th, so most researchers will have planned that time (christmas and new years) for intensive online discussion.
Looking back at Module 1, the last two weeks before the deadline were very busy in the community. I can only assume this will be the same for Module 2.
We have decided to propose a 7 day extension on the deadline due to the downtime.
This is all for now.
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