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GUI for Chat in Repository

1 Requirements

Scenario in a nutshell: Scheduled chat session
The chat in the repository is geared towards formal learning as a part of the curriculum. The chat is a proper repository object.
Members of a group or course take part in a scheduled chat session. The chat session is scheduled by the course administrator, he or she sets a date and time and invites participants.
The chat is moderated. Participants have their written conversaton i.e. about upcoming tasks or coordinaton of workload.
Scheduled chat sessions require participants to stay committed to their learning process which is particularly critical in phases of self-directed learning. Scheduled chat sessions allow for giving these self-directed learning phases some structure and contribute to motivation.

1.1 Chat as a Repository Object

The Chat can be added anywhere in the Repository. It is filling the whole screen underneath the main navigation. The Chat is represented in the breadcrum.

Wording
People taking part in a chat conversation are called participants and not users.
What participants write is a post and not a message.

1.1.1 Tabs in the Chat

The following accordion outlines the different tabs of the chat and the action-menu.

1.2 Permanent Chatroom

If a chat object of the Type "Permanent Chatroom" is created in the repository it is very similar to the chat implementation of ILIAS 4.4.x:
The chat is an object in the cours or anywhere in the repository. It is a permanent object, always available respectively available as determined by the object's settings.
This chat is best to be compared to flirt- or soccer-chats of big TV companies or permanent chats of online games. It works best when it revolves around a topic that in and of itselfs never stops and produces interest 24/7.
Which is clearly not the case for learning. This kind of chat will be offered again mostly to honor the ILIAS heritage and not because we see educational value-added in this type of flirt- or soccer-chat.
In the chat of the type "Permanent Chatroom"

• there are not features for scheduling or attendence records, since this chat is strictly "stumble upon".
• there is no protocol
• participants can go in and out of the chat as they please

1.3 Scheduled Chat-Session

Since the chat requires participants to attend simultaneously it only makes sense to be able to schedule a chat session.
In education and training chat sessions typically have an objective, a defined group of participants and a date and time.
Again typically the course administrator decides uopn all those things and sets and annonces them.

The Chat is listed in the tab 'Content', it shows the date and time of the next, upcoming session. There can be several sessions in the chat but the chat is shown as only one object. The date is shown in the calendar, too.

Adding and scheduling a session
To support the case of recurring chat-sessions the chat object should be able to accomodate more than one session and also recurring sessions.
We want one chat with several sessions and not one chat-object per conversation.
Chat-sessions should be modeled after the sessions in courses and groups. Sessions can be added and copied. It should be discussed whether they can ex- and imported.
 

Concerning Availability there are two options:

• The chat containing the sessions controls the availability and it can be set at the chat-container and the sessions.
• The sessions control the availability and there is not control for the availability of the chat container.

Participants can indicate by clicking a button whether they will attend or not. Once a session is finished a list of participants is generated.
It should be checked, whether the existing session implementation can be re-used and if at all possible the invitation / reminding mechanism should be made available in courses and groups, too.
 
Invitations / Reminders
Different from sessions in courses and groups it should be possible for chat sessions to invite /remind participants for every single session. The Reminder-Mails should contain a standard text comprising the date and time of the session and a link to the respective conversation. Documents can be attached to that Reminder-Mail.
 
For the recipient of the invitation / reminder a mail is sent and additionally in the bootstrap-top-row a notification is displayed. Both messages contain the same content.
 
Before the Session Starts
Users who try to access the chat before the session starts are directed to the 'Info'-tab. On the 'Info'-tab a message is diplayed: "The session has not started, yet. The chatroom will be opened at 24. October 2015, at 10:00 o'clock."
 
Managing Participants

• If the chat-object is contained in a group or course there should be a toolbar with a button "Add users of current group /course". Please model according to the "Submissions and Grades"-tab in the Excerise-object.
• In the toolbar there should be a "Add-user"-dialogue and Search, again as in the excercise.

Straying Participants
In case a participants goes astray in a chat session (euphemistic for silly and pointless clicking around while being supposed to focus) that person should get an extra nudge to find his or her way back.
In the bootstrap-top-row an icon informing about all ongoing chat sessions and other requests, so he or she can pick up on them.

• If a users clicks on the icon, ILIAS opens an info-text. Expample: "2 ongoing chat sessions, 11 requests for contact."
• If the user clicks on the information line of an object i.e. chat sessions a list of more detailed information is dspalyed Example: "Chat Consultation Hour Werner Willi and Humpty-Dumpty Course"
• By clicking on the title of the session the user is transfered back to the session from which he or she strayed.

Ending the Session and Protocol
When the moderator hits the "End session, create protocol" button the session is closed as will be the chat. Users clicking on it will be directed to the Info-tab, again.
For finished sessions a protocol is automatically prepared. The protocol is an HTML-File and is saved automatically after finishing the session. Users will be presented with a "Download"-link. In the settings one can choose if the Download-link is presented to all partcipants or just to moderators.
Long term storage of chat protocol is not required.
 

1.4 Using the Chat

Chats in the repository are carred out in a full-screen mode. Participants can see, who is in the chatroom and can write posts.

Displaying users entering and attendance in the chat
When a participant enters the chat, those already present get a notifcation in the main window: "[Username / First Name Last Name/ Pseudonym] entered the chat."
Particpants are listed in the column "Participants". If required their name could be append by a very small grey by-line stating the time they entered.
It is required that this list comprises everybody in the room: all participants, moderators and oneself, not like in the old chat.

• Alternative: the entering is not marked by a line in the main window, since this creates 15 lines for 15 participants but the enter dates are only listed in the participants colum.
• Alternative: the entering is not marked by a line in the main window, but users are notified by a small pop-up as we know from skype.

Writing posts

• In the tab 'Content' at the bottom is the text entry filed for writing posts.
• So send a post one hits "Send" or presses "Enter"on the keyboard.
• ILIAS shows the post in the main menu, setting the name of the sender in front of it. The point in time of sending the post could be marked in very small grey by-line at the end of the post, but this increases visual clutter.

Other than in the old chat there is no switching of recipients of messages (all, whispering to XY,...). There will be no more whispering. For the educational setting whispering is not helpful because it is a diversion. To chat off-topic people can use the Awareness Tool.
Adressing somebody directly ("@Alexandra") is no longer supported technically. People have to type the "@" themselves. Not like in the old chat.
 
Clearing the chat
For the moderator there is at any time the opportunity to clear the chat of all postings: Click "Clear chat of posts". ILIAS will ask for confirmation: "Do you really want to delete all posts in this chat?" After confirming all posts will be purged and are not going into the protocol.
 

1.5 Moderating the chat

It might be advisable to be able to deposit a Netiquette-text. This text could be shown in the chat as a separate tab or when a participant enters for the first time.

Blocking a Participant
In the 'Content' tab in the 'Participant' column the moderator can click on a name of a participant. ILIAS opens an action-menu. The moderator can select 'Block participant'. ILIAS will open a new screen: "Do you really want to block and thus exclude this participant from the chat? The blocked participant cannot re-enter the chat. That participant will be technically prevented from taking part in this chat after blocking." After the confirmation that participant is blocked.

• The remaining participants get a message: "Participant NAME was blocked from this chat by the moderator."
• The sanctioned participant gets a message: "You have disrupted the learning effort of the participants and broken the rules for communicating. Thus you are expelled from this chat. You are blocked and cannot enter the chat or read or write posts."

If the blocked partcipant tries to re-enter the chat he or she is directed to the Info-tab and get the blocking message again.
 
Unblocking a participant
All blocked participants are listed in the tab "Blocked Participants". The tab contains a table with the First Name Last Name, username, date of blocking, blocked by (name of moderator who blocked).
 
The table bears checkboxes in front of the names. Moderators can unblock them by checking and clicking unblock. ILIAS will unblock the user.

1.6 Open questions

• Preconditions: is it sensible that a participant can enter a chat only after a course was completed? Truth is that you cannot chat when other people are not ready with their precondition course. But since it is a cross-sectional feature is might be implemented out of a spirit for streamlining.
• Learning progress: Should the chat contribute to the learning progress? I can see no scenario in which a permanent chatroom could add to learning progress. For the scheduled chat sessions one could think of a tutor determining the learning progress manually. Automatically setting the learning progress after a person did what? Entering the room, staying more than half the session, writing a post? I am not sure about this one. But "Ending Session, create protocol" is at least a clearly defined event that could trigger something in the learning progress.

2 Status

• Scheduled for: Not scheduled yet (will be set by Jour Fixe)
• Funding: Partly funded: Helmut Schmidt Universität Hamburg
• Maintainer: (will be set by Jour Fixe)
• Implementation of the feature is done by (company, developer)
• Contract settled: No | Fill in "Yes" if a contract is already settled and add Institution / Organisation in "Funding" row
• Tested by / status: (name, e-mail), (status information set after implementation)

3 Additional Information

Contact the following persons if you want to know more about this feature, its implementation or funding:

• Information about concept: (name, e-mail)
• Information about funding: (name, e-mail)
• Information about implementation: (name, e-mail)

4 Discussion

Jansen, Michael [mjansen] August 17th, 2016: The (possible) funding party wants to keep the "whispering" and "adressing" functionality. There should be an option to disable these features per object.

Jansen, Michael [mjansen] August 31th, 2016: We already received funding for the following aspects. To let the JF decide on them separately, I added new wiki pages:

• GUI for Chat in Repository: Export/Import
• GUI for Chat in Repository: Blocked Participants
• GUI for Chat in Repository: Online/Availability
• GUI for Chat in Repository: List of Participants
• GUI for Chat in Repository: Abandon Options for Message Formatting
• GUI for Chat in Repository: New Button to Enter the Chat from Info Page

Open Feature Requests:

• Scheduled Chat Session (Sessions)
• Preconditions
• Learning Progress

5 Implementation

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