Tiny Chat

I ran across this free chat room website while reading another blog. The website is called “tinychat” and is extremely easy to use -- and it doesn’t require any registration or logins!
The URL is www.tinychat.com.

How/Why would you use a chat room in your classroom?

• The class can participate in a quiet “discussion” while watching a movie or video.
• The teacher and students can post questions and answers during a lecture or presentation.
• Students could “Google” for additional information and post their findings ASAP during a lecture or presentation.
• Students can enter their thoughts and opinions on a given topic. Note - a chat room levels the playing field so that ALL students have an equal voice.
• The teacher can monitor as students can practice acceptable online behavior.
• The class can collaborate with students from a different school, state, or even a different country!
• Students can share collaborative resources.
• Use a chat room to communicate with students while watching a televised event in the evening.
• The class can communicate with a home-bound student.
• Please add your own ideas by adding a comment below!

How to Use TinyChat ...

The teacher will:
1. Go to: www.tinychat.com
2. Click the “Click to Create your Chatroom” button.
3. Share the provided URL. (Note - you will also be able to see / share the URL after you enter the chat room.)
4. Click the “Enter Chat Room” link.
5. Enter your name; click “go.”

The students will:
1. Go to the provided URL.
2. Enter their name; click “go.”

To Chat:
1. Enter your message in the box at the bottom of the screen.
2. Click the “Send” button or press the enter key on your keyboard.

Saving the Chat (Optional):
If you want to archive the chat:
1. Click the floppy disk icon in the lower-left corner.
2. Save the file. (It will save as a RTF file and will open with any word processor.)Note - I had some trouble saving the chat, but I was able to easily copy the text from the chat and paste it into a word processor.