Your instructor will announce the times of virtual "office hours." These times can be found in the syllabus (in the Important Resources area). Other special times may be announced during the course. You should check the Message Center regularly during the course for these hours and other important information.

During online office hours you will be able to communicate live with the instructor and other students who are also logged on. How will this be done? Look at the picture.

When you click on "Chat" from the Communication site you will see a login screen (circled in red). You can access the Communication site from the Desk, Ducks, or from the Course Menu,

Even though you have already logged in, you need to login a second time to use the Chat feature.

Type in your login name and password and click on "enter chat."

When you enter Chat, you will see an interface with a Drawing Board (pale yellow screen), a Conversation Box (large white area), and a Text Entry Box (long thin white area).

Drawing Board. The pale yellow field is the Drawing Board. The drawing board allows you, the other students, and the instructor to draw multi-colored pictures freehand with a mouse. You all will see each other's pictures displayed on each other's boards.

The color squares to the left of the drawing board allow you to select a drawing color.

The eraser symbol to the left of the drawing board allows you to erase your board when it gets too cluttered. You can only erase your own board, not other people's board. The instructor can erase everyone's board.

The lock symbol allows the instructor to lock all boards so that only the instructor's drawing will show. This allows the instructor to do a mini-lecture online for the students who show up to office hours. But now we are getting ahead of ourselves. Look at the picture again.

Conversation Box. Below the drawing board there is a large white area which displays the online conversation. It shows you the text of everyone's typed comments. Everyone's comments are automatically preceded by their login name. You, the other students, and the instructor can all type in comments and see each other's comments.

Text Entry Box. On the very bottom you see the word "Chat." You can type in your comments in the long white text field next to the work "Chat." The text you type in will be broadcast to everyone else when you hit "Enter" (or "Return"). For example, the picture shows a person entering the question "In problem 2, what was the sum of X squared?" This person has not hit 'enter' yet, so this question has not been sent to the conversation box.

Student Collaborations and Visits. You and other students can arrange to meet online in the Chat Area at a specific time. You can study together or socialize. Please do not meet during posted live office hours. If this feature is popular we will set up several different chat rooms so that more than one group can get together and chat at the same time.