The use of IRC in the classroon requires a high level of hardware available to the teacher (one computer for a classrom is not enough) and also requires a lot of planning and rescheduling for real time meetings of teachers and students that live in different time zones. This is why the IRC is not used regularly by many teachers, and most of the individual students that use the IRC are those that can use it from their homes.
KIDLINK IRC is much underused.
Of the 444 kids registered for IRC 75 are over age and are being deleted.
277 adults and 69 sites are registered. 236 are subscribed to the KIDIRC-COORD.
The IRC team consists of 5 adults: (Lely, Laurie, John, Tryggvi and Hannah) and 10 kids. The team works very well together and meets regularly for team meetings. The young team members are concerned about the low volume of activity on IRC. They are trying to find ways to promote this tool.
The IRC team is kept busy trying to make KIDLINK IRC a nice and safe place for kids. Talking directly to the kids seems to be the best way to settle problems.
"How to make KIDLINK IRC easier to use" is always an issue and the team is discussing how to make the registration process shorter and simpler. Perhaps as students answer the 4 KIDLINK questions they can be given an IRC password. This will not work for site registrations but solutions for this problem are being sought.
The IRC team is supporting new users by providing help files and on-line tutorials. The KIDLINK IRC rules will be few and very simple ones. The teachers that use the IRC in their classrooms are expected to explain those rules and the netiquette to the students as well as monitor the chat.
KIDLINK IRC is the proud host of some 'regulars' such as Writers' Corner, KIDCLUB, ARKI meetings and KIDFORUM and KIDPROJ activities.
Some people representing educational organizations on the Internet have asked for cooperation for using our IRC.
The idea of a KIDLINK MOO or MUD has been suggested.
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