An illustration of the model

In order to associate the theoretical aspect of the model with practical application, we have chosen to illustrate the model and its steps using a set of messages originating from the various chat rooms connected to a Cégep@distance mathematics course. There was a chat room dedicated to pedagogy, another used for introducing the students, and a final one for socializing, called student café. To encourage the students to participate in the chat room, the tutor uses e-mail regularly in order to stimulate them. It is important to note that the tutor, who guided the students in this course via e-mail and the chat room, had no knowledge of the five-step model, but used it intuitively.

By clicking "Analysis of a course by the model" in each of the five steps, you will access several extracts that illustrate the relevance of the model. With a simple click, several messages give access to animation skills, additional explanations, analysis of the dynamic that is developing in the chat room, or questions.

Note. The students’ messages are presented integrally, with their mistakes in English, as they appear in the chat rooms. We discuss this aspect, the quality of the English language, during the presentation of the fifth step of the model when the students give their comments concerning on-line learning.
To protect the confidentiality of students who participated in the chat rooms or who contacted their tutor via Messaging, their first names have been changed.

Certain skills = how-to, process, way of doing, speaking, that shows ability, finesse.