Using a Moodle chat for a sales role play scenario has a few strong benefits. The first is that before people send the message to the chat, they are able to edit it and so can be happy with what they are saying. It's a bit less immediate however, when just learning a product. This can help support that learning process. Secondly the chat sessions can be logged and kept for a long period of time, either just for the trainers' access or for the participants too. This provides people with options to go back through the role-play and analyze what was said and reflect on them after the fact.
- We are going to create a chat session in Topic 4. So before we begin, go to the course view page and make sure that editing is turned on.
- Scroll down to Topic 4 and click on the Add an activity.
- Select Chat from the drop-down menu.
- As with all activities and resources, the name field is very important. This is the text that appears on the course view. Type Role-Play: Want to buy a Mahara? into the field Name of this chat room.
- The Introduction text is very important for the chat session. This sets the scene of the chat, so be sure to enter text which explains the scenario that will be role-played and any guidelines that you want participants to follow.
- The Next chat time is a great way to schedule the chat. The chat gets put into the course calendar. Set a time within the next day.
- Repeat sessions allow for holding a chat daily, weekly, or just once. For this chat, choose the second option in the drop down: No repeats publish the specified time only.
- Click on Save and return to course.
- You will now see the chat entry Role-Play has appeared in Topic 4 with a chat icon beside it.
We have now just scheduled a role-play scenario using the Moodle chat session. This appears both on the course view page as demonstrated and on the calendar with the date that we have chosen. The calendar is available as a block that can be added to the course using the same steps as adding the random glossary entry.
However, what if someone misses the chat session? What if someone wants to go back and read the session from before and reflect upon what went well and what could be improved upon?