Students' Experiences in Using Chat Rooms as Virtual Classrooms

Abstract

This chapter shares experiences from a group of students who were using the chat rooms as part of instruction in their course work. It also attempts to explain the lessons learnt when one exposes the distant learning students to a different method of facilitation. The respondents were 51 university distance learning students from Kenyatta university in Kenya whose lecturer had created chat rooms as virtual classrooms in their coursework during the May to August 2012 semester. The lecturer's availability at all times was vital to students' success in using the chat room. Using chat rooms as virtual classrooms gave every student in the class room an equal voice as students engaged the lecturer and each other on a common playing ground. This chapter underscores the importance of chat rooms as environments that supports virtual learning for distance learners and encourages learners' participation hence enhancing learner-centered learning.