When you click a Chat Room button, like the one on the left side of this page, you will be transferred to the MSQA On Line Classroom Registration Page.

At the top of the Registration Page you will see a reminder that you must click the "RELOAD" button after you enter the Chat Room. You do not need to click "RELOAD" yet. This is simply a reminder to click "RELOAD" periodically after you enter the Chat Room so you can view the most recent conversations.

At the bottom of the Registration Page, there is a data entry form. You must enter your name and a password. The E-Mail field is optional.

In the Name Field, please enter your first name and your last name. This will help the professor identify you from other students in the class who may have either the same first name or the same last name.

In the Password Field, enter any password that you can remember. The password field is case sensitive, so you will need to remember if you used capital letters or lower case letters. The password field is used by the program to create a special file for you. This special file is used to store any "One on One" conversations that might be sent to you. There is more information about "One on One" conversations further down on this help page. If you exit the Chat Room for any reason (intentional or unintentional), and then decide to return to the Chat Room after a brief period of time, you will need to use the same exact password, or you will not be allowed to use your name as you originally entered it. The password field is erased after several hours, so you do not have to use the same password every day.

The E-Mail Field is an optional field. You may enter your E-Mail address, or you may leave it blank. If you enter your E-Mail address, then anyone in the Chat Room can send you an E-Mail message by simply clicking on your name in the lower left of the Chat Room page. This is very useful when students wish to share information, such as a word processing file. The student can attach a word processing file to the E-Mail message, and the entire package will be sent to you at one time. If you leave the E-Mail address blank, then you will not be able to receive E-Mail from within the Chat Room program.

After you have entered the required information in the data fields on the Registration Page, click the [Enter Chat] button at the bottom of the page (below the data fields), and you will be transferred into the MSQA Chat Room.

MSQA Chat Room

The top half of the Chat Room page contains the Main Control Panel.

The bottom half of the Chat Room page contains the Secondary Control Panel and the Class Room conversations.

When you first enter the Chat Room, you will be automatically sent to the "Auditorium." This is a very large room that will accommodate over 1,000 students. We don't teach classes in the Auditorium. However, between regularly scheduled class times, students frequently meet in the Auditorium to ask each other questions and to exchange ideas. If you want to get to know the other students, then the Auditorium is a good place to hang out. Students can visit the Auditorium 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, in order to meet as many students as possible, we recommend you visit the Auditorium at 9:00 AM, or 1:00 PM, or 7:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time, any day of the week.

After you enter the Auditorium, you must scroll down the screen to the bottom half of the page so you can access the Secondary Control Panel. The lower left side of this panel contains the "Change Rooms" controls. Scroll down through the Class Rooms until you locate the course in which you are registered. For example, if you are registered in QA 601, then scroll down through the Class Rooms until you see QA 601. Click on QA 601 to highlight it. After you have highlighted the room you want, click the [Go There] button. You will be transferred into the classroom with the professor and the other students. After you are in the correct classroom, click the [Reload] button on the Main Control Panel at the top of the page. All current conversations taking place in the classroom will be displayed on the bottom half of the screen. If there are a lot of conversations, you may need to scroll through the messages on the bottom half of the screen in order to read them all.

If you are the first student to arrive for class on a particular day, please be patient. The professor and the other students will show up shortly.

In order to ask a question, or respond to a question, type what you want to say in the Main Control Panel Message block at the top center of the Chat Room page. When you are finished composing your message, click the [Post] button, and your message will be displayed for the entire class to read on the lower half of the screen. If you change your mind, and decide you don't want to send your message, click the [Clear] button and your message will be erased. The Message block works like a standard word processing program. If you reach the end of a line before you finishing typing a word, the word will be automatically moved to the beginning of the next line. You do not need to press the Enter (or Return) key on your keyboard. If you want to insert a blank line in your message, then press the Enter (or Return) key on your keyboard. A blank line will appear in your message. When you finish your message, click the [Post] button. Your message will appear at the bottom of the page, and the Message block will be empty. If you click the [Reload] button instead of the [Post] button, your message will remain in the Message block and it will not appear at the bottom of the page.

Approximately every 2 or 3 minutes, remember to click the [Reload] button on the Main Control Panel at the top of the page. This will refresh your computer screen and display all the new messages since you last clicked the [Reload] button. We have elected to use this method of displaying new messages instead of automatic refreshing. Some internet servers will crash after automatically refreshing a screen many times, and we do not wish to inconvenience our students who may be using one of these servers.

When your class is over and the professor has left the classroom, you have four options:

1. You may remain in the classroom and chat with any other students who decide they also want to stay after class and talk.
2. You can return to the "Auditorium" by highlighting it in the Secondary Control Panel and then clicking the [Go There] button. There may be some students in the Auditorium who are taking other MSQA courses, and you can chat with them.
3. You can enter a Private Room (more information below) to discuss your team project with the other members on your team.
4. You can leave school for the day by clicking the [Leave] button on the Main Control Panel.

One on One Conversations (Whispering in Class)

If you wish to send a message to one person in the Chat Room, without anyone else in the Chat Room knowing you are talking to that person, then click the [1 on 1] button on the Main Control Panel at the top of the screen.

The main Chat Room screen will be temporarily replaced with a Special Message Screen. If you change your mind and decide you don't want to send a "1 on 1" message, then click the [Return to Chat] button at the bottom of the Special Message Screen.

Begin by typing your message in the Message box. After you have completed your message, click on the name of the person you want your message to be sent to. The names of everyone in the Chat Room appear below the Message box. When you click on a person's name, your message will be sent to them, and you will be returned to the Class Room screen. The message you sent will be displayed in RED on the bottom half of the screen with the "1 on 1" label attached to it, along with the name of the recipient of the message.

If you are the recipient of a "1 on 1" message, you will see the "1 on 1" message the next time you click [Reload]. The message will appear in RED with the "1 on 1" label, along with the name of the person who sent you the message. No one else in the Chat Room will know that you received the message. A "1 on 1" message is similar to whispering in class, except you won't be disturbing any of the other students or the professor.

The only two people who will see the "1 on 1" message are the sender and the recipient. One good application of the "1 on 1" message would be to ask your fellow team members to meet with you after class. If they don't have prior commitments, then you can agree on the name of the Private Room, and how long the team meeting will last.

Private Chat Rooms

The Private Chat Rooms are available to students who have been assigned projects to complete as a team. You can meet with the other members on your team in a special Private Chat Room at any time.

From the "Auditorium" Chat Room, scroll down to the Secondary Window on the bottom half of the page. In the text field immediately below the word "Private Room" type in the name of the room you wish to meet in. For example, you could type in "college" or "smith" or "37813942" or anything else. The name you give the room is case sensitive, so make sure everyone on your team knows if any letters are capitalized. The room "smith" is not the same as the room "Smith" which is also different from "SMITH."

If you are the first person to arrive in the room, the room will be created when you click on the [Go There] button. If someone else is already in the room, you will join them when you click on the [Go There] button. Your conversations within a Private Room can't be monitored by other students. In the event that another student accidentally picks the same name for a Private Room that you picked, you will be notified of their arrival in the room as soon as they get there. If this should happen (which is unlikely), then both teams need to pick a new name for their private meeting rooms.

If you decide to use a Private Room, then make sure all your team members know when they are supposed to be in the room, and the exact name of the room. For example, you could contact one another by E-Mail to establish these times and room names.
Remember to click the [Leave] button to exit the Private Room. Private Room files are automatically deleted after a reasonable period of time has elapsed.

E-Mail Messages

If you have a long message you wish to send someone in the Chat Room, or if you wish to send someone a file (a program or a text file), then scroll down to the Secondary Control Panel on the bottom half of the screen.

On the left side of the Secondary Control Panel, there will be a list of names showing who is in the Chat Room. If a person's name is underlined, then they entered their E-Mail address when they signed in to the Chat Room. If their name is not underlined, then they did not enter their E-Mail address, and you can not send them E-Mail from inside the Chat Room program.
Click on the name of the person you wish to send E-Mail. This will load the E-Mail program you normally use with your computer. After you have sent your E-Mail, you will be returned to the Chat Room.

Note: Some E-Mail programs work inside a small window. When you exit the E-Mail program, the Chat Room will reappear in that small window. Click the square button on the upper right of the window to expand the Chat Room to the full size of your computer screen.

Number of Messages Displayed

On the right side of the Main Control Panel at the top of the Chat Room page, there are a series of buttons that allow you to change the number of messages that appear at the bottom of the screen. When you first enter the Chat Room, the default setting is 20 messages. You can change that number by clicking one of the other buttons, and then clicking the [Reload] button.


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