Elluminate

Last Saturday was an Elluminate tutorial. It was very good but still took a while for everyone to feel confident to participate....not sure if this was still due to people being unsure if they should speak in case someone else also did. Would I use Elluminate as a tutor? I ask this as I'm attending a CPD day at OU this week on Elluminate. I think as the time is restricted...1 may be 2 hours....the tutor has to ensure that the subject for discussion is well prepared using questions or activities. In f2f tutorials I feel more can be covered in the 2 hours...this may be because students have awareness of how the tutorial is structured. I wonder if Elluminate could be used as an enhancement to the f2f tutorial. It could also be a tool to use for those students who are unable to attend f2f. For my students in particular they could use it almost as a chat room to give each other support, share ideas etc. Some tutors use Facebook but Elluminate would incorporate students being able to hear each other......I'm warming to it lol!!