  Students on CHATT Plan
- Process Details
- School Support Details
- Student Account Details
Why Put Students on First Class (CHATT)?
Giving every Halton student a First Class (CHATT) account which they keep for their entire school career supports and enhances learning, sharing and collaboration by:
• augmenting student learning in all subject areas and programs;
• supporting literacy through increased reading and writing opportunities and initiatives;
• developing and refining critical information and communication technology skills;
• promoting positive community-building (evolution of a healthy, vibrant online learning community) where
• students and staff collaborate in class, club, school and regional electronic conferences
• knowledge bases and discussions evolve on topics ranging from poetry to physics
• all users respect and appreciate the principles of positive online cultures
Timeline
• 1991-2003--student CHATT accounts created by request only (~1k accounts per year)
• 2003-2004--entire student body in 17 pilot schools (~12k accounts)
• 2004-2005--opt-in for any school, esp. where 3+ teachers using (~30k accounts)
• 2005-2006--CHATT accounts for all students maintained without interruption until graduation
Details, Details
Account Creation and Management Details
• 2004-2005 student CHATT accounts will be deleted July 2005 and recreated Sep 2005 (for the last time).
• Any wanted student CHATT content should be downloaded before the summer.
• Login authentication will be communicated to the schools as per regular IT procedures. From that point on, accounts will be maintained continuously and automatically using the account automation tool for the duration of a student's school career. E.g.,
- when a student is added to Trillium a CHATT account is automatically created;
- when a student changes school their appropriate user groups are automatically altered;
- when a student graduates their account is automatically marked for deletion.
• For more information about the rollout and status of automatic account management please contact Information Technology.
School Support
• Ongoing training for staff in use of online tools in FC with students will be provided:
- face-to-face workshops during the day and after school.
• Each school will have a school-based student conference area set up (using convention XYZ Student Conferences where XYZ = school code. This catchall conference automatically appears on the desktop for all students at the school and is also aliased inside the staff school conference. This means that staff and students can access the student area, but students do not have access to the staff area (of course!).
Then schools must create all their local, school-based student conferences in that catchall area (e.g., class conferences, clubs, student committees, student government, etc.). See example from Abbey Park HS. All school-wide student conference areas can be viewed at HDSB Conferences > HDSB Info Tech > eLearning > Student eLearning.
• Each school has an IT contact (or other staff member if desired) to deal with any student CHATT incidents (see Incident Protocol) which may arise at the school. They may also pass along regional staff support/learning opportunities and/or make staff aware of the need to promote the AUG with students. For reference, from September to April of the 2004-05 school year, an average of
- 1.5 incidents-per-school-per-year occurred in schools (average time of 8 minutes to resolve)
Student CHATT Account Details
• userid (e.g., 1smithjoh) and password match Windows logins
• students can change their passwords (3 characters K-3 or 6 characters 4-12) if desired
• student names on the First Class system will be UPPER CASE for easy recognition
• student resume information (name, school) has been batched (top pane), students may customize the bottom (empty) pane
• no daily time limit, same inactivity timeout as teachers (10 mins.), smaller storage limit (5 MB)
• students in special groups (e.g., eLearning or moderators) get more space and privileges (e.g., IM)
• live chat or instant messaging (IM) is turned off for students, but entire schools only (not individual classes) may request IM be turned on for their students. There are two levels of entry if a school is interested:
a) In the first level, we turn on "public chat only" for students. That way, they cannot instant message each other privately--they can only use public chat rooms that were set up and monitored by teachers. This allows teachers to use IM if they want it and when they want it (e.g., office hours, test project, Q&A, etc.). A teacher can turn a public chat room on or off by simply right-clicking on it and unapproving it.
b) The other option for schools is to have full IM permission turned on for all students including both public chat room access and the ability to use 'on-the-fly' instant messaging. These pilot schools would need to be reasonably assured that the vast majority of students would respect the acceptable use guidelines while using IM in this case.
UPDATE 2006-11-16 BELOW (enlarge text to read)
MUZAMMIL MEMON on Wednesday, November 08, 2006 at 6:19 PM -0500 wrote:
Will it actually become a live chat forum soon or no?
Live chat is being introduced very slowly over time. We are trying pilot programs in some schools and classes with live chat rooms.
Student moderators and online students use it quite effectively for their purposes, both between themselves and with teachers. I know there will be some casual (i.e., non-educational) conversation with live chat but this isn't any different from students in the halls chatting, etc.--as long as it occurs outside of face-to-face class time of course.
Most teachers are cautious (or outright fearful), suspecting it would only be used purely for banter or abuse. While IM is a highly informal tool, there are educational benefits and uses for a rapid/instant communication between teachers and students for learning.
There are also issues of "boundaries" that synchronous communication (i.e., live chat) present. For example, should a student be able to contact a teacher at any time of day they are online? Most teachers would answer "no"! Therefore, our pilots have centred around creating live chat forums (rooms) rather than turning on private instant messaging. Forums are more controllable (temporally/time-wise) than instant live chats.
Finally, we have had some unfortunate issues with students spamming (and in one case inviting to chat) hundreds of different staff members at random. These incidents certainly do not help with staff acceptance of students on CHATT, especially for live chat. We will continue to work toward agreement.
Please consider in most school boards students do not get board-provided email accounts, let alone the other things happening here on CHATT so please be patient while we sort out the role of live chat in our online community.
Jeff Catania
Instructional Coordinator (eLearning & 9-12 Math)
Halton District School Board
2050 Guelph Line, Burlington, Ontario, L7R 3Z2
Using CHATT with Students
• Possible entry points to using CHATT with students include:
• (REGIONAL) encouraging use of reading program conferences (e.g., Silver Birch);
• (SCHOOL) school-wide discussion areas (e.g., Student Government, teams, clubs)
• (CLASS) class conferencing for one particular unit only;
• Schools/teachers determine (in 1st day handouts) how CHATT is to be used ... or not--e.g.,
• no use of CHATT at all with students
• infrequent student/teacher e-mail 1:1 (e.g., send home work when sick)
• focussed use with class during a single unit/activity only
• ongoing use of a class conference throughout a program
• Teacher web sites on CHATT are a separate entity and have little to do with student CHATT accounts other than a teacher with a CHATT web site for students may consider aliasing the content to a class conference.
• The possibilities for online discussing, debating, brainstorming, researching, sharing, responding, posting, linking, creating, collaborating, questioning, answering are endless.
Acceptable Use Guidelines (AUG)
• The Incident Protocol within the AUG gives specific consequences for incidents involving CHATT.
• Schools may continue whatever local practices they have for communication home re: use of ICT.
• On logging in to the Student Conferences conference for the first time, students will see a pop-up of the AUG to review and accept.
Positive Implications
+ supports improved learning in all subject areas
+ supports 'straight' literacy (reading and writing words)
+ supports improvement of lifelong ICT skills and attitudes
+ supports positive behaviour in the online cultural/community (e.g., Tribes)
+ forum for collaboration with others with similar/special interests (poetry, culture, etc.)
+ optional, flexible level of involvement for all staff (no mandated use for anyone)
+ teachers can simply begin to use e-mail or activate a class conference and subscribe students without having to submit a request for student accounts
+ reduces maintenance as batched yearly instead of setting up lots of accounts as they are requested
+ level of support minimal (access knowledge base, online help) heavy users (e.g., e-Learning) supported by teacher, e-Learning Coordinator, setup/use processes self-supporting (based on FC simplicity and experiences of other boards)
+ additional learning resource/tool for students
+ optional tool for communication (teacher/student mail, class conferences, student eLearning)
+ can tell if/when msg./assignment is received (versus external mail or leaving phone messages)
+ positive identification (e.g., no hotmail, funky addresses, etc.), better monitoring, accountability
+ promotes pathway to enhanced learning in f2f (i.e. progression from mail to conferencing to eLearning)
+ safe, for if not CHATT, then MSN, hotmail, freeweb, geocities, exweb, etc. and (because of 'nexus' clause) we must deal with these issues anyway so very good to have them all on CHATT!
+ teachers/students will share and build skills together
+ more cross-collaboration between classes/teachers at different schools
+ with class conferences, can avoid lots of 1:1 communication, archive resources, get peer support
+ easy way for students to transfer work electronically from home to school without using HotMail
+ easy way to transfer work between Windows and Macintosh platforms
+ it will evolve, some will resent, but the majority have adopted this technology
Negative Implications
- possible unrealistic expectations (by students or teachers) for how much this will be used
- administrative and support time due to increased student use
- need for increased training for all staff
- makes a learning 'gap' if a student has no computer at home (5-10% in Halton have no Internet computer at home)
Thanks to all the pioneering efforts of the individuals in the following schools. You led the way and brought students on CHATT enthusiastically and positively!!!
2005-2006 (Full Implementation)
All schools automatically have CHATT accounts created for all their students.
2004-2005 Schools (Second Pilot Year)
School Administrator Contact 1 Contact 2
Abbey Park Karen Hartman Mike Komljenovic Krista Locicero, Dana Cooper
Acton Greg MacPherson Mark Kovich Christopher Braun
Aldershot Jackie Stern Karen Bowers Ray Micheli
Brant Hills Steve Dawe Brad Beohmer Scott Alexander
Bruce T. Lindley Harv Collison Hub Kennedy Linda Cauchy
Captain R. Wilson Gurdeep Lall Lynne Page Michael Bernard
Centennial Anna Drummond John Murphy Jackie Fairthorne
Chris Hadfield Suzanne Preistner Tony Churchill Neil Hammond
Clarksdale Gord Truffen Gavin Robertson Johnathan Kenna
Eastview Mark Wickens Cheryl Tigchelaar Rob Brown
E. C. Drury Nancy Syer Ross Thomson Tammy MacKey
Florence Meares Cam Fraser Mary Kebalo-Plata Mark Cann
George Kennedy Steve Pilibbossian Jayne Smiley Joan Pepping
Gladys Speers Susab Eade Kathy Bocsi Jennifer Crowne
Heritage Glen Rob Eatough Robert Smolenaars Sabrina Frittenburg
Iroquois Ridge Caroline Conn-Smith Phil Davison Michael Gallant
Kilbride Mike Kasoian Denis Levesque Raquel Bennet-Ahearn
Lester B Pearson Shelley Sydor Sunsania Sharma Melissa Fleming
Limehouse Julie Armstrong Kevin Waitson Julie Armstrong
Linbrook Mary-Alice St James Sandra Silver Sandra Howarth
Mohawk Gardens Barb Rust John Highley Lynne Johnson
M. M. Robinson Leona Woods Dan Visentin Marcus Mossuto
Maple Grove Greg huntington Shaun Else Delia Brown
McKenzie-Smith Bennett Judith Goldberg Scott Dempster Wendy Webber
Nelson Gary Crocker Susan Duekman Tom George
Pauline Johnson Moira Plexman Deborah Payne Moira Plexman
River Oaks Alka Sahai Sean Marks Scott McFarlane
Robert Bateman David Boag Jenny Catton Anthony Corbin
Robert Little Leona Skanes Ron Vandekemp Paul Hynds
Sam Sherratt Steve Fraser Lois McNally Jacquie Chenier
Sheridan Public Shawn McRae Elizabeth Doyle Sean Olsen
Tecumseh Heather Conlin Heather Stoness MJ Farrish
West Oak Marlene Warne Mark Laister Sharon Springett
White Oaks John Stieva Mary Page Mark Lewis
2003-2004 Schools (First Pilot Year)
School Contact Staff Participants
ACE Mike Finch Natalie Shaw, Mike Finch
CEM John Murphy John Murphy, Jackie Fairthorne
CHR Suzanne Priestner Grant Davidson, Tony Churchill, Alyssa Merritt
EAS Elise McKenzie Cheryl Tigchelaar, Elise McKenzie
ECD Ross Thomson Martin Mayer, Ross Thomson
ELG Jenny Catton Jenny Catton, Jane Ohlke
FAL John Oldenhof Erin Stoness, Kelly Ground
FMS Mary Kebalo-Plata Brenda McKinley, Mark Cann, Leanne Rust, Nancy Carter, Lori Llewellyn
HGP Robert Smolenaars Robert Smolenaars, Dave Buddell, Jill Harrison, Ian Christie
LAK John Maras John Maras, Mark Tadeson, Kelley Salmon
LBP Shelley Sydor Shelley Sydor, Liz McDannold
MMR Mike Komljenovic, Dan Visentin Dan Visentin, Mike Komljenovic, Jane Kerr-Wilson, Marcus Mossuto, Jodie Schnurr, Jeff North, Ian Fetterly, Rob McQueen, Lise Bernard-Vanderwegen
NEL Tom George, Susan Dueckman
QEP Karen Hartman Dana Cooper, Larry Rinaldo
RIV Sean Marks Sean Marks, Scott McFarlane
ROM John Primrose John Primrose, Peter Milovanovic, Sally Friedenberg
SHA Lois McNally Lois McNally, Sarah Kwai-Pun
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