I can't believe we have already been in class for a week! The time is flying by, which can sometimes be a great relief, but can also be a great stressor.
I am really interested in using blogging and I am excited about finding out more on how to use the site effectively and efficiently. I was excited to find the "Fish" application and can't resist feeding my "fish" every time I am on my site. I feel bad if I don't feed them! Wow - how cyber life can imitate real life sometimes!
D.S. mentioned how you can't see a person's expressions when you communicate online. That is so true. It can be a really bad thing and I have seen it cause many misunderstandings because one of the important aspects of communication is missing - visual. But sometimes that can be a very good thing - like when you think someone is being absolutely ridiculous and you need a moment to "compose" yourself before responding appropriately :o}
Another problem with online communication is that the filter that many people have in face-to-face communication is gone and people become emboldened to say things they would never say to someone's face. It can give courage in a good way, but it can also deaden the senses to propriety.
The last problem I want to mention is that as students and people in general become more proficient in online communication, they become less proficient in face-to-face talk. I fear that students will not know how to interview for jobs or communicate in the actual, non-virtual world in all the aspects that are necessary. Students may know how to communicate in one form, but not in another.
Not that interviewing for a job is a small thing, but once they have a job, in many cases, most communication will be online anyhow. Even a teacher sometimes doesn't ever get to see to speak with the students. Personally I prefer face to face, maybe I'm old-fashioned, to the point I will walk across campus before I pick up the phone. I only got a cell phone three months ago; I've never called out, and the three calls I received are from my wife, including one asking when I would be home as I drove into the driveway. Haha
ReplyDeleteThat is very funny!
ReplyDeleteI have moved into relying on my texting a lot of the time, knowing that I can send a message at my convenience and the other person can respond at his or her own convenience. Plus sometimes I don't want a long conversation, I just want to give info or ask a question, and texting is very convenient for that.
Maybe I am concerned for no reason - some things die away and are replaced by newer ideas and methods, I just can't imagine face-to-face completely going away. It makes me nervous as I fear the impersonalization of life, separating us from one another and having electronics be our closest friends and companions. It changes life as I know and love it.
Just some thoughts...
Sheryl, I am with you. Face to face still has advantages over online, such as the immediacy of answering questions and being able to read body language to see whether the student is really understanding. However, online has some nice advantages too. I teach in an inner-city community college, and online, we can't see if the person to whom we are speaking has blue hair, prison tattoos, or is of a different race or religion. All of that background "noise" is severely reduced, unless the person feels a desire to tell us (and even then, the other students often forget). It then becomes all about the ideas we are debating and the skills we are hopefully acquiring. I really love that part of it.
ReplyDeleteOh, I should add that the first time I taught online and met my students at the end of the term, one of them told me he thought I would be six feet tall and black. If you've ever met me, you would know how funny that is. I have to say, I was really flattered.
ReplyDeleteInteresting....I like how you took a look on the more downfalls of online communication like blogging! I think you are right though......Face - to - face is extremely important because if we lack those skills and the online world shuts down, we are screwed! In my blog I mentioned that blogging is a great way to get students more interested in writing however, I am a firm believer in pen and paper type of writing as well. Those skills are extremely important in order to survive too. I find it so interesting how kids and even adults consider certain people their friends because they talk online but whenever they are face - to - face everything seems awkward!
ReplyDeleteThat's one of the problems - students don't know how to communicate even to their friends sometimes. I am also a pen and paper freak - or more accurately, a pencil and paper freak, and I always will be. But online does have it many advantages.
ReplyDeleteLike Prof B said, discussions become about ideas and not who said them. But a problem with that is that our physical and cultural attributes are a great part of us, as are our ideas, and separating the two can lead to a great loss of self if we are not careful.