scholars online question

[amary]

Is this chat based or do the students text message? That is, they hear the teacher and they respond via text? In the literature classes, is their discussion or is it lecture followed by questions?

[Phyllis in Canada]

There is no audio component--it is all text chat. Class time is all discussion time. There are ways to signal a raised hand, and the teacher makes sure everyone is involved somehow--there's no hiding.

[amary]

So the teacher lectures by writing notes? They don't hear any type of lecture or explanation?

[Phyllis in Canada]

That's right. The students have lots of reading during the week and a weekly online quiz. During the 90-min "class" time, it's more of a discussion-based lecture. The teacher certainly gets in plenty of "lecture" or explanations, and closely guides the discussion. It is all done through written real-time chat which the students all seem very comfortable with. Ds has taken several courses this way and one with an audio chat (not Scholars Online). The written chat seems to flow better, besides providing a log to refer to later if necessary.