Computer-Mediated Communication

Computer-Mediated Communication Online Education and CMC

Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

Trend: Online Education as Long-Term Strategy for Institutions (Babson Survey Research Group) 2015 Survey of Online Learning (academic officers at higher education institutions) Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

Growth of Online Learning and Opinions on Learning Outcomes (Babson 2015 Report) Learning Outcomes in Online Education Compared to Face-to-Face Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

Online Education Delivery “Models” Example: Educause Categorization Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

Ad Hoc Online Learning Not based on institutional policy or strategy; exploratory, based on individual faculty members’ belief that online tools can lead to learning outcomes. Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

Hybrid Courses and the “Flipped” Classroom Blended/hybrid courses combine online and face-to-face classes in a structured manner. “Flipped” classroom refers to online lecture/preparation material, followed by f2f application of material Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

Fully Online Programs Online degree programs from online-only organizations. One of the key innovations in this model is the ‘master course’ designed by experts/faculty, and then taught by numerous section-leaders. Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

School-as-a-Service Partnering between an existing university or institution and an external company for online content, curriculum, and/or student services. Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) Entire courses are scaled to enable (potentially) unlimited numbers of students. All lectures, assignments, materials are handled through online tools and services (including automated tools, e.g. for grading) Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

Using CMC tools for collaboration with real world outcomesSherblom (2010) “Can Computer-Mediated Communication Really Facilitate Learning?” Media Richness Actively engage the medium—Select the medium carefully, explain its purpose in the course, and train students in its use. Recognize that communicators must use different communication strategies in each CMC medium. For example, the interpersonal uncertainty reduction strategies available to participants differ in asynchronous bulletin boards, interactive text messaging, and synchronous virtual realities. Social Presence Provide students explicit instruction and model the communication skills they will need for effective interaction through the medium. Even today's young adults, so-called digital natives, struggle with the use of technology for educational purposes unless they receive adequate instruction and support. Social Information Processing CMC group participants need to explicitly take turns as speakers and listeners, acknowledge having read messages, offer responses about what they are thinking and doing, ask direct questions, provide explicit answers, repeat key words to reference a discussion topic, and respond to a person by name. Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

Using CMC tools for collaboration with real world outcomesSherblom (2010) “Can Computer-Mediated Communication Really Facilitate Learning?” Social Identity An active instructor and supportive CMC classroom culture can foster the communication of positive social identities, reducing the influence of power, gender, and social status differences, and facilitating thoughtful, inclusive deliberation and discussion. In such a classroom culture introverted and disempowered students can come to feel more at ease than they might in a face-to-face classroom. Hyperpersonal Relationships Anonymity can help reduce student communication apprehension. The asynchronous communication lag allows them time to compose their thoughts. The networked nature of CMC encourages active individual engagement in course materials, participation in discussions, and collaborative learning. The hyperpersonal experience of communicating in a virtual world can provide a sense of spatial closeness and comfort while facilitating a re-assessment of roles and learning responsibilities. Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

Example: ISchool MIDS Program (fully online degree, flipped classroom design Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

Synchronous Class Sessions Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

What kinds of CMC tools were most useful for some of our own MIDS (online data science) students? What were some of the limitations of CMC tools in the online classroom experience? Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

Assessing Online Learning Outcomes Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

CMC intrinsically involves taking experiences which may once have been ill-defined and ephemeral, and turning them into data which can be easily stored, studied, and mined. We saw this in an education setting before in the Won et al. reading on head tracking in a virtual classroom. And we saw a darker view of it in the Wired article on Magic Leap, which puts forth the notion that "every virtual world is potentially a total surveillance state“…An obvious hope behind MOOCs is that they can make education more widely available (a breadth issue), but I'm equally enthused by the idea that given enough data, we will find new ways of teaching that are more effective than anything we've tried (or at least been able to codify) in the past -- where each student meets their potential (a depth issue). – James McCauley Having taken CS 188, the introductory artificial intelligence course here that is on edX…Many of the things I noticed while taking the course and took away were points that Reich makes. Given the format of the MOOC, it was quite efficient at teaching how calculations were made. However…there wasn't much room to make you understand the theory in depth. When it came to the midterms and we had to apply the concepts, I felt largely unprepared even though I had aced the homework questions and projects. Education is a difficult area to improve based on data because there isn't a solid formula that ensures that a student learns to his/her max potential. – Allison Yee Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

Peer assessment as a way to leverage affordances of CMC in large-scale learning online https://group5hah.wordpress.com/ Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

Breakdown of Students Enrolled in Online HCI courses (Kulkarni et al. 2015) Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

Peer and Self Assessment in Massive Online Classes http://marketingland.com/ • Key takeaway points from these studies and experiments? • Under what conditions might peer assessment/feedback seem to work best (or worst)? Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

Peer and Self Assessment in Massive Online Classes https://www.caldwell.edu/news/april-fools-2015 Changing role of teachers? Changing role of students? Changing definition of ‘the classroom’? Cheshire & King— Computer-Mediated Communication

Computer-Mediated Communication