Instant Messaging

I thought I'd have a little experimentation with this before I blogged about it. So, I'm on Facebook and I saw that my friend who lives in the USA was online.  I quickly flicked her an instant message and this is how the conversation goes:

Me: Hey, Adda, How's it going?
Adda: Are you at home?
Me: Yep, just got in from a girls night out
Adda: Get the phone ready, I'm going to call you
Me: ready
End of IM conversation
Start of 'phone conversation.

So, how do I judge the success of my IM? I suppose it shows me a couple of things; first of all, the purpose of my IM and the medium I chose to access the IM through is primarily social, and I got in touch with my friend - so yes successful. Secondly, communication needs - there is a lot of information gained by facial cues, tone of voice, pacing of speech, incidental speech noises etc that get lost through IM so straightforward IM seems to be at a disadvantage for social conversations - therefore not so successful.

I also had a quick check with some young people I know (and I know that makes me sound absolutely ancient, but I wanted to check whether IM use was a generational thing). A few years ago msn was the bane of my life, particularly with teenage daughters in the house, however I suddenly realised I never hear about msn any more. Asking them about it, the answer was 'Nah, it's more of a younger persons thing, I use Facebook chat', so I asked an even younger person and that answer was 'Nah, prefer to skype or facetime'. So, msn was out, but other forms of IM were very much in use. Further questioning revealed some interesting things about the way IM is used between my family and their friends (some of those things are synthesised below).

Now, I know my sample size isn't exactly massive but IM seems to be evolving into something a bit richer, with the advent of technology to allow visual interaction as well. How do I then apply some of my findings to it's use in education settings? I've had some initial thoughts:
1.  It's useful for quick questions and information between students and teachers (but only if you have the technology to back it up). It needs planning, the teacher has to inform students when they'll be online, and students have to take that into account, particularly if doing homework.
1b. Therefore, it's useful for teachers to assess the effectiveness of their instructions/teaching - if everyone needs the same help/clarification then that could be an area for change or further teaching.
2. It also needs a specific purpose, so probably good for remote learning with the teacher in the background to assist and clarify with online units (again planning and co-ordination considerations apply).
Looking at the post Rom made about technology for teachers, I suspect that is a place where IM could evolve in education, particularly in relation to remote teaching and learning.
3. Between students for questions, clarification and co-operative learning.
I think I may have overlooked this third application of IM in education before speaking to people who are using it, it seems to be more common than I realised.

So, sadly my age was showing in my use (or lack of) and my assumptions about IM. My family use it extensively for educational purposes between themselves and their peers - and value it's use.