To throw a cat among the pigeons ... should this code be an activity module?
Without thinking too deeply about it, it seems to me that there would only ever be a need for one of these in any course ... should it just be a standard thing under the People sidebox?
It is a hugely useful tool, but I think it should be integrated into the people sidebox, so that when users visit the course page, they immediately see a count of various dialogues that are open and active.
Meow.
What about the chat? Should it be a module?
Meow.
What about the chat? Should it be a module?
A standard item under the People sidebox would be best.
It basicly takes the place of private Email in a course .
A very useful module.
It basicly takes the place of private Email in a course .
A very useful module.
To me, it could be in the People box. I'm just concerned about one thing - what if someone has already installed it in Moodle 1.1.1? How will the upgrade to 1.2 affect existing dialogues? I think they could simply be merged into the one in the "People" box and the activity-module-type ones should be erased.
I see where you coming from, but what about the different flavours, sorry Tom, flavors, of dialogue. There's student-to-teacher, student-to-student, everyone-to-everyone; then there's the email option which can default to either on or off; then there's the deletion of old dialogues. Life's not simple 
If I had a nice small course, I'd be tempted to put both a teacher-student dialogue ("Talk to the Tutor") and a student-student dialogue ("Talk to a Fellow Student") in it. [calls for an another]
Ray
If I had a nice small course, I'd be tempted to put both a teacher-student dialogue ("Talk to the Tutor") and a student-student dialogue ("Talk to a Fellow Student") in it. [calls for an another]
Ray
For simplicity, could we not just make it "everybody" all the time, and somehow distinguish between teachers and students within the one interface? The email options could be the same interface as the forum subscriptions, with teacher setting and student settings.
My thought is that too many private Dialogues would detract from the forums where most dialogue should be to promote connected activities. Making too many things private increases the work needed to respond all the time ... while public posts have more economy. [edit, just saw this where you said the same thing
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Of course, Dialogue could continue developing independently as a module as well - and I realise you developed it originally as a replacement for the journal. The private mail/instant messaging thing I'm sort of thinking of might well end up as something quite different. Just thinking aloud and on the run.
My thought is that too many private Dialogues would detract from the forums where most dialogue should be to promote connected activities. Making too many things private increases the work needed to respond all the time ... while public posts have more economy. [edit, just saw this where you said the same thing
Of course, Dialogue could continue developing independently as a module as well - and I realise you developed it originally as a replacement for the journal. The private mail/instant messaging thing I'm sort of thinking of might well end up as something quite different.
Hi, I've just started designing a new course and have some new insight into the subject question than I had before.
I think having Dialogue as a learning module is justified. In that course of mine I will ask students to work in pairs and discuss an issue and then report their findings to the group in the forums for further discussion. I think Dialogue would be best suited for phase 1. One additional feature that I would like in such situations is the option to allow the teacher to view dialogues.
I think having Dialogue as a learning module is justified. In that course of mine I will ask students to work in pairs and discuss an issue and then report their findings to the group in the forums for further discussion. I think Dialogue would be best suited for phase 1. One additional feature that I would like in such situations is the option to allow the teacher to view dialogues.
I know it doesn't exist yet, but when group support is finished, you could do this in normal forums.
but wouldn't those groups have to stay rigid in the cohort feature? I imagine dialogue would be useful for on-the-fly groupings that are not permanent?
Exactly. Groups would be great for that purpose (actually, even better, because they would allow private forums for more than two users), but for the time being I think groups will be permanent cohorts (is this correct, Martin?) and for pair- / group-work on-the-fly groupings would be necessary.
Here (in the UK) the last option would be a tricky issue. I believe it would then follow that the teacher/institution would have legal responsibility for the CONTENT of each and every item that passed between the students. The issue is still a bit murky even when the teacher CANNOT see what's passing between the students!
This could be a setting on the http://moodle.site/admin/modules.php page. Just a choice "allow an option for the teacher to view students' dialogues", which could be OFF for UK sites.
Sigh... 
In response to: Here (in the UK) the last option would be a tricky issue. I believe it would then follow that the teacher/institution would have legal responsibility for the CONTENT of each and every item that passed between the students. The issue is still a bit murky even when the teacher CANNOT see what's passing between the students!
In response to: Here (in the UK) the last option would be a tricky issue. I believe it would then follow that the teacher/institution would have legal responsibility for the CONTENT of each and every item that passed between the students. The issue is still a bit murky even when the teacher CANNOT see what's passing between the students!
Just to throw in another idea. Like forums which are an activity module and the news forum is special only in that it is shown on the right margin. Can we have another such box showing the drop down box to open a dialogue AND subjects of N recent dialogues waiting a reply from me of ONE special dialogue and the actual dialogue can be placed anywhere on the page with any name and options just like the news forum.
I think that "a standard thing under the People sidebox" is a great idea, but replace the Journal?
To do this, dialogue must incorporate at least grading facility and the posibility to send the same message to all the students.
To do this, dialogue must incorporate at least grading facility and the posibility to send the same message to all the students.
I am using Moodle to augment face-to-face teaching in a High School environment. Most of my students are Advnaced Placement students. They range in age from 16 to 18.
I am using the dialog module for teacher-to-student communications. Peer presure causes so many of my students to forgo asking questions in class and on a public forum - the only way I can get some students to participate in any discourse is by means of a tool like the dialog. In this sense, one per course is sufficent.
I am also using the dialog extensively with a student who has taken ill and will not be attending my class in person. This student will complete the course online. Since the course is not truly designed as an online course, the dialog is very useful for filling in the details. This activity needs to be teacher-student.
I have had to severly restrict the chat module because my students don't seem to be able to use it in a serious way. If I host a chat session with a specific topic, then it works. But I had complaints from other faculty about students chatting during their courses, and looking at the chat sessions, nothing eductaional is generally discussed. I would not like to see the dialog module expand to encompass chat, hence an everybody-to-everybody only mode would probably not be very useful for me.
But I also see where Moodle development is heading, especially with expanded emphasis on group work and cohorts. This would give rise to specialized dialogues that may live only for a short time and may only involve a small subset of the class - hence dialog would need to be a module.
I like the idea of the journal as a seperate activity module, and I use it to get my students to reflect on their learning. I prompt them with questions to assist, and I make the journal a significant part of their grade. The results have been a total revelation to me, and have substaintially altered how I teach my classes. Again, the students won't put forth this information except in a private communication. Personally, I would want the journal to remain seperate from the dialog.
Just my $.02
I also use moodle to enhance a HS Class, in our school each student has an email account, but if it were possible i would prefer that they each have a "Moodle Mail" account, as it would be easier to maintain, and easily policed. The problem with doing this with the current "Dialouge" system is that the students have a mailbox for each class they are in. Is there anyway to agregate it into 1 box? where the students can send dialougues to all the students?
Having just started thinking about using it, I'm sure there is a place for it as a module. I can't trust students to use chat sensibly and the privacy of the dialogue means that they can ask for help/advice when they normally wouldn't do in a public forum. I wouldn't want all students to have open access to communicate with each other (eg from a link on the people bar) since when the nattering starts, the thinking often stops.
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I've come to this thread (and moodle) a little late but sometimes you only need a small hammer, not a sledge. I want my students to be able to send each other private messages like phpbb does. Each student has a messagebox and ANY other student can click on their name and send them a private message or email. Private messages of course, stay within phpbb and emails are sent external. I don't want to have to rely on a mailto: working so a nice web interfaces is needed. I don't think email would be that hard since moodle can email already. If they private message it is kept in an internal location (database?) and when they log in they are notified with a javascript popup that they have a message. Dialog is great but is more than I require. If I want to have a discussion between the whole class I will use a forum.
Grant
Grant
Grant
I have desired similar , an Internet Explorer browser version is available at http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=4247
that relies on having the online user list displayed (on the homepage) see