[ARCHIVED] Chat Function as Office Hour Tool

[jsoluri]

Chat function as virtual office hour?   I was thinking about using this to have virtual office hours (partly to deal with students in very different time zones). However, my concern is about privacy: are all chats available to all students in the course?  If the answer is yes, does Canvas has any real time way to communicate with individual students (obviously I can email or use a different platform).  Thanks, John Soluri

[Stef_retired]

 @jsoluri , you're right: the chat is visible to all students enrolled in the course. I'd recommend using Conferences for one-on-one meetups with students: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-12687-415241306 

[jsoluri]

Thanks, that makes sense although conferences would have to be scheduled, correct?

[Stef_retired]

Yes,  @jsoluri , that is correct: conferences need to be scheduled.

[jsoluri]

Thanks again!

[nils_michals]

Stefanie--

Do you know if there's a way to log-in to chat for ALL of my classes at once? I'd like to have office hours via chat, but not just for one class.

The only way I can think of doing this is to have multiple tabs open, but it'd be nice if I didn't have to do that.

Thanks!

[Stef_retired]

 @nils_michals , the course conference is specific to the students enrolled in that course. Conferences don't span multiple courses for various reasons, including the possibility of running into FERPA issues.