Add the Chat activity – eCreators Customer Support

The chat activity module enables participants to have text-based, real-time synchronous discussions.

The chat may be a one-time activity or it may be repeated at the same time each day or each week. Chat sessions are saved and can be made available for everyone to view or restricted to users with the capability to view chat session logs.

Chats are especially useful when the group chatting is not able to meet face-to-face, such as:

Regular meetings of students participating in online courses to enable them to share experiences with others in the same course but in a different location
A student temporarily unable to attend in person chatting with their teacher to catch up with work
Students out on work experience getting together to discuss their experiences with each other and their teacher
Younger children using chat at home in the evenings as a controlled (monitored) introduction to the world of social networking
A question and answer session with an invited speaker in a different location
Sessions to help students prepare for tests where the teacher, or other students, would pose sample questions

Step 1. Follow the instructions for how to add an activity or resource to your course.

Step 2. Format the activity for how you wish for it to appear for both users, trainers/managers and administrators.

Field	Information

Name of this chat room	Name the chat room. This is a mandatory field.
Description	If you would like to include a description, you can here.
Display description on course page	This is disabled by default. Check the checkbox to enable. If enabled, the description will appear on the course page beneath a link to the activity.

Next chat time	Add a date and time for when the next chat session will occur.
Repeat / publish session times	Select from the following options: Don’t publish any chat times No repeats - publish the specified time only At the same time every day At the same time every week
Save past sessions	Select from the list how long conversations from chat sessions will be saved for. Never delete messages is selected by default.
Everyone can view past sessions	If set to no, only users who have mod/chat:readlog capability are able to see the chat logs. No is selected by default

Availability	If the availability is set to ‘Show on course page’, the activity or resource is available to students (subject to any access restrictions which may be set). If the availability is set to ‘Hide from students’, the activity or resource is only available to users with permission to view hidden activities (by default, users with the role of teacher, non-editing teacher or administrators).
ID Number	Setting an ID number provides a way of identifying the activity for grade calculation purposes. If the activity is not included in any grade calculation then the ID number field may be left blank. The ID number can also be set in the gradebook, though it can only be edited on the activity settings page.
Group mode	This setting has 3 options: No groups Separate groups - Each group member can only see their own group, others are invisible Visible groups - Each group member works in their own group, but can also see other groups The group mode defined at course level is the default mode for all activities within the course. Each activity that supports groups can also define its own group mode, though if the group mode is forced at course level, the group mode setting for each activity is ignored.
Grouping	A grouping is a collection of groups within a course. If a grouping is selected, students assigned to groups within the grouping will be able to work together.

Completion tracking	If enabled, activity completion is tracked, either manually or automatically, based on certain conditions. Multiple conditions may be set if desired. If so, the activity will only be considered complete when all conditions are met. Select from the following: Do not indicate activity completion Users can mark the activity as completed Show activity as complete when conditions are met A tick next to the activity name on the course page indicates when the activity is complete.
Require view	Student must view this activity to complete it This will only be configurable if ‘Show activity as complete when conditions are met’ is selected in completion tracking.
Expect completed on	This setting specifies the date when the activity is expected to be completed. The user can still access and attempt the course after this date. But the activity will not be marked as completed.

Tags	Enter tags here to increase the search ability of this activity.
Please note, Competencies will not be available unless they have been set up at a course level.
Course competencies	Course competencies linked to this activity. Search for competencies that you’d like to link to this activity.
Upon activity completion	Select from the following options: Do nothing Attached evidence Send for review Complete the competency