Traditional v. Online Communication
Traditional communication is different from online
communication because traditional is instant and immediate. Online communication has the flexibility to
be accessed anytime and from anywhere, but there’s a delay that happens because
it’s not face-to-face contact. People
can wait from minutes, to hours, to even days to receive a response from an
email, text message, post, etc. That’s one
of the major drawbacks of online communication.
An advantage of online communication for students is that it
levels the playing field for everyone involved.
Students that tend to be more reserved can avoid the face-to-face
interaction and write what they want without that contact and potential
interruption of someone that has a more gregarious personality. Students can also choose what they want to
respond to, and to what length they want to respond, without fear of offending
the person they’re talking to. I like
that online communication is limitless and conversations can take twists and
turns that you wouldn’t have predicted, which makes for a good discussion among
students.
Some disadvantages of online communication are that there
are no physical cues. It’s hard to
determine whether someone is making a joke and communication can be
misconstrued. For students, it can be
isolating, because there is no peer group of students to bounce ideas off
of. Some students like the direction of
sitting in a classroom with the teacher offering instructions that can then be
clarified in person. An online
environment doesn’t have that option and it can be hard for the student to feel
like they will succeed.
In order to mitigate some of these disadvantages, I like the
idea of creating a community group on some form of social media, or in the LMS
for the school, where people are available to help mentor or ask questions of
other students in the class. I think it
might feel less daunting for students that are struggling because they feel
like they have an outlet that they can seek help from.
If I were to teach a hybrid class, I like the idea of being
able to have in-class discussions with students. It would offer students a chance to interact
and form a sense of community, while students could complete written
assignments at home. Kemp and Grieve (2014) say that “…a follow-up study with a
separate group confirmed that although students appreciated the convenience of
completing written activities online in their own time, they also strongly
preferred to discuss course content with peers in the classroom rather than
online.” I think it enhances student
engagement, creates a more informal environment, and cuts down on the isolation
of an online environment.
Videos are also best viewed online. Whether they be instructional videos or
supplemental material for students to view and then be prepared to discuss in
class. If I were teaching a hybrid
course I’d use videos to help supplement material and provide instruction to
the students and then facilitate the discussion in class.
References
Kemp, N., & Grieve, R.,
(2014). Face-to-face or face-to-screen? Undergraduates’ opinions and
test
performance in classroom vs. online learning.
Frontiers in Psychology 5,
1278.
Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01278/full#h
Comments
Post a Comment