The "Who's Online" feature allows you to see which students in your course(s) and which staff are currently online. In addition to acting as an instant messenger, it will also alert you to new email.

To access the "Who's Online" feature, you will click on the Communication Tools link in the navigation bar of the main course page.  Next, click on the Who's Online link. A popup window will then appear.

To invite a user to a private chat, click on the name of that person. Next, click on the Send Invitation to Chat link. When you send an invitation to chat, the recipient has the ability to accept or reject the instant message.

If you would like to make yourself invisible to all users, then click on the Make Yourself Invisible link located at the bottom of the popup window.

If you would like to make yourself visible, but reject all instant messages, then click on the Reject Instant Messages link located at the bottom of the popup window.Helpful Tip: If you have a dial-up connection, it is good practice to open the "Who's Online" window and minimize it during exams and quizzes. This keeps your connection active as the function scans for activity every six seconds, preventing your ISP from disconnecting them due to inactivity.