The Chat Tool in Brightspace

Brightspace has a Chat tool that allows you and your learners to have a real-time discussion. As opposed to other collaboration tools, such as Discussions, Chat conversations occur in real-time.

You can use the Chat tool:

• to brainstorm ideas
• hold a question and answer period
• have a debate or discussion
• organize a remote study group
• add it to a quiz description, so that students ask questions while taking the quiz

There are two types of chats:

• General (course) chats – visible to everyone enrolled in your course. 
• Personal chats – visible only to users who you have added to the chat’s participants list. 

How to Create a Chat

1. Navigate to your course, click on the Tools/Course Admin and select Chat

Click on the Chat option from Tools/Course Admin.

2. Click on New Chat button.

3. You have the option to create a General Chat or a Private Chat. Enter a title for the chat, choose the chat type, enter the chat description and then click on Create.

Create a new general or private chat.

a. General Chats are accessed from the course that they were created in. All users in the course will have access to the General Chat you set up for that course.

You could use one during an online exam when students need a quick way to ask you questions. As the general chat is visible to the entire class, it may be beneficial in case that the answer needs to be visible to all your students.

b. Personal Chats are great for private conversations with one or more of your learners.

A personal chat will be visible to all students, but accessible only to students added as members.

To add members to this Personal Chat, click on the View members option.

You will be presented with a list of the current students from your course. Select the student or students you are opening this chat for and then click on Add.

Important: If you need to avoid having the link to a personal chat visible in your course, go to Tools/Course Admin/Chat and click on the title of a personal chat. From the browser’s address bar, copy the URL and send it to your student(s) by email, along with the date and time set up for the appointment.

How to Deploy a Chat in a Content area

Once you create a chat from Tools/Course Admin/Chat, you link to it from a Content area, by going to Existing Activities/Chat option.

In the next window, you can create a link to an existing chat, or you have the option to create a new chat.

Click on the title of the chat you want to deploy and direct your students to the module where you had deployed the general/personal chats.