In George Siemens' video presentation, he claims that one of the main things we need to do to help with the diffusion of distance education is to bridge the comfort gap so that students can feel empowered as they enter the world of DE. I feel that communication has evolved so much over the past few years in the online environment that it could be at the root of the collaboration and global issues. Different people from all over the world can be present in a meeting using some of the new tools of the 21st century. Using iphones, smartphones, laptops, and other technology devices, people can have discussions and share experiences. Voices are just as clear now as if the people are in the room together, skype allows people to look at each other and interact with each other. Tools can be used to help with visualization and communication efforts soon become collaborative efforts, reaching globally.
Jessica Barr blogged about the capabilities of building relationships through remote access prior to meeting someone in a study abroad program. Students felt as theough they had travelled together thanks to the capabilities of this type of communication. This blog can be accessed at http://www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk/conferences/designs-on-elearning-del12-student-showcase-my-digital-life/
Many people travel abroad, create relationships, and complete learning projects with students from other countries, but Jessica is right about how the new remote communcation access can build these relationships as students who have never met F2F can share so many experiences through these new technologies. On the Edutopia blog, http://www.edutopia.org/blog-teaching Jessie Thaler speaks of using a blog for his 8th grade students to write essays and journal entries. He claims that this gives them real motivation to write knowing that others besides their teacher will be reading their work. This will open a whole new door for communication with the students as they comment on their writing, converse with the teachers and peers about the writing, and learn to communicate in different ways. I think this is a great idea and feel that it certainly is an improvement over the handwritten essay, the drop box, and the typed papers.
Hello Karen,
ReplyDeleteDoes the increase in diversity of communication technology automatically mean that ideas will be shared and understood? I agree that there's an increase in communication with distance education that makes it very unique. But are the communication technologies being overlooked as common place, or taken for granted because of the prevalence of social media?
Are we really communicating with each other or just sending our messages into the vast web and hoping to reach an audience? I had the pleasure to skype with classmates last quarter in order to fulfill a class assignment, although I have access to this technology I had not used it to connect with strangers and was very nervous to make my first call to a classmate. Eventually the unfamiliarity wore off and we communicated, but there was still the initial uncomfortable barrier as with face-to-face classroom on the first day.
Hopefully we'll all get a chance to meet at a residency sometime.
Cheers - Shar!
Happy New Year Shar!
DeleteThank you for your insights. You have asked some good questions about communicating. I had some of the same issues before I became more involved with online studies and teaching. It really is amazing how one form of communication replaces another with such ease. For example, I often communicate with students via email - personal responses to individual questions about grades or issues. I was so amazed at how carefully worded my responses had to be - for example, I thought that writing in caps would only highlight the important features or a point I wanted to make. I soon found out this meant that I was shouting at the student. I have since learned the etiquitte of typing and have actually gotten to know the personalities and learning styles of many of the young people just through our written communication. We do skype and use blackboard to collaborate and talk as a group, but with the younger group, the emails and drop boxes are the best way for me to solicit responses. I am enjoying getting to know my classmates through blogs and discussions and appreciate all that I am learning from you through our communication.
I really like the idea of using blogs to have kids write reports. It is something that I can see working even as young as fourth grade. My kids are so hesitant to share their writing - maybe this would be a "safe" way for them to share and interact. I'm going to do this!
ReplyDeleteErin,
ReplyDeleteI think it is a great idea! I use drop boxes for the math jouurnal because they are more willing to write when they know I will be the only one reading it. However, we are trying blogs to solve the problem of the month and I am getting some interesting posts.
I teach in a virtual classroom using Blackboard Collaborate. Recently Collaborate has added the use of iphones and ipads in the classroom. The students "on the go" are now having class on their iphone while riding in the car. It is nice when the students pc crashes or their internet goes down, they can use another form of technology such as an iphone or ipad so they do not miss class. The students are able to collaborate from any where in the world now. I have students that regularly travel to other countries due to their parents jobs and with the use of these collaboration methods, they can still participate in class with other students and get the work done.
ReplyDelete