Computer Mediated Communication

1. Computer Mediated Communication Berrin Doğusoy Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

2. Overview • What is Computer Mediated Communication(CMC)? • What is CAI? • What is an online community? • What are the impacts onlinecommunities on learning? • Example of an intercultural online community Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

3. Computer Mediated Communication • Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) is any form of communication between two or more individual people who interact and/or influence each other via separate computers through the Internet or a network connection - using social software. CMC does not include the methods by which two computers communicate, but rather how people communicate via computers. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

4. Why CMC? Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

5. CMC • CMC promotes self-discipline and requires students to take more responsibility for their own learning. Using CMC, instructors can vary a course's instructional design to include everything from structured projects to open projects in which students are free to work on "messy"--but authentic--problem solving. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

6. CMC • Moreover, CMC promotes an equalization of users. Because CMC is, at present, primarily text-only, the consequent reduction in social cues leads to a protective ignorance surrounding a person's social roles, rank, and status.Further, it is impossible to know if another person took several hours to draft a one screen response, or several minutes. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

7. CMC • Traditional classroom interaction places the teacher at the center of all activities as transmitter of knowledge and orchestrator of student interaction. • Even if students engage in collaborative small group tasks, the teacher is usually around and monitors students’ progress while providing input on how to solve a particular task—a condition which may hinder “reflection and facilitative interaction”. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

8. CMC • Computer mediated technology provides tools that are useful in promoting collaborative learning activities that can mediate communication between learners. • Furthermore, asynchronous discussions allow students, in groups, to collaborate with each other in an exchange of opinions, experiences, and interpretations of course content. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

9. TYPES? Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

10. Asyncronous Communication • Asynchronous activities are independent of real-time and are comprised of activities, such as, viewing a web page, composing an Electronic Mail (e-mail), watching a video clip, or dowloading a file. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

11. Asyncronous CMC CMC can includeanything that is text -based, uses ICT as a technological base and can be used for twoway transmission of ideas. Examples of CMC can include: • emails • mailbases • shared network group folders • discussion boards (or fora/forums) • frequently updated hyperlinked webpages. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

12. Asyncronous CMC • Benefits of asynchronous discussions include opportunities to think about course content and to address a diverse set of topics in more depth than can be done in class or in asynchronous environment, thus allowing students to conceptualize a topic from multiple viewpoints and to contribute to each other’s understanding (Weasenforth et all, 2002). Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

13. Synchronous Communication • Synchronous activities occur concurrently between two or more users including such real-time applications as chat rooms or instant messaging which allow users to interact simultaneously through text, audio, and video with other users located anywhere in the world. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

14. Syncronous CMC Synchronous CMC includes: • Chat • Instant messaging Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

15. Synchronous CMC Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

16. What are the biggest problems with synchronous CMC? • Multiple threads of discussion are created which become too difficult to follow for some students, particularly true of those students who are communicating in another language other than their first language. • Students on a slow connection always lag slightly behind in the discussion. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

17. What are the biggest problems with synchronous CMC? • The discussion tends to lose focus because of many side discussions. • Some students cannot jump in because they are slow typists. • Responses get out of sequence. • Failing to provide a platform for all students to participate equally implicitly censors some of the participants. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

18. How can we solve these problems? • The solution to this is to have a prepared set of questions, subjects to discuss, etc. and have a fixed order for the students to respond in. • Allow a certain “open time” for students to chat with each other. This allows the students who are less familiar with the technology to practice. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

19. Also,it provides an opportunity for students who are more familiar with the technology to introduce some of the abbreviation and emoticons used in chat to their less experienced peers. • Explain the procedure for participation: i.e. that comments or responses have to be done in a sequence. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

20. Impose order on the discussion when required. The lecturer’s role in a chat also includes that of moderator. Whereas in face-to-face one’s authority can be underlined by raising one’s voice, in chat you can use upper case to make your point more forcefully. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

21. Asynchronous CMC Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

22. What are the biggest problems with asynchronous CMC? The levels of participation are usually very poor with CMC for the following reasons. • Posts to the discussion boards need to be frequent for people to maintain an interest in the boards, and so if the level participation drops below a certain degree, no further postings take place. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

23. What are the biggest problems with asynchronous CMC? • Checking the discussion board for posts requires learning to incorporate an additional activity to one's routine, which often means people don’t take part. • The asynchronous nature encourages people to give participation a lower priority. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

24. How can we solve these problems? • Raise the profile of postings by using discussion board software that also sends emails to the users' email account (and so is a combination discussion board and mailbase). • Make the discussion time -dependent, so that participants cannot procrastinate. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

25. Regularly structure the discussion threads using some of the following actions: • Cut and paste discussion threads that diverge or are repeating discussions elsewhere, so that each thread corresponds to one topic. • Identify specific points within the threads to prompt particular discussions, eliciting answers to specific questions. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

26. Which CMC should we use? • The major factor in selecting a CMC medium is “should the communication be synchronous or asynchronous?” This decision should be based on the following criteria: Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

27. Can all of the participants meet at the same time? • Is the activity time -dependent (i.e. to fit in with a teaching program)? If so, then a synchronous medium is most appropriate. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

28. Are the participants part-time students/spread across time zones? • Is the subject matter one which requires in-depth analysis and response? If so, then an asynchronous medium is most appropriate. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

29. The use of CMC • Educators often categorize the use of instructional CMC in three ways: • For conferencing • Informatics • Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

30. The use of CMC • Informatics (repositories or maintainers of organized information) include library online public access catalogs (OPACs), interactive access to remote databases, program/data archive sites (e.g., archives of files for pictures, sound, text, movies), campus-wide information systems, wide-area information systems, and information managers. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

31. CAI • Computer assisted instruction (CAI) refers to instruction or remediation presented on a computer. • Computer-assisted instruction improves instruction for students with disabilities because students receive immediate feedback and do not continue to practice the wrong skills. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

32. CAI • Computers capture the students’ attention because the programs are interactive and engage the students’ spirit of competitiveness to increase their scores. Also, computer assisted instruction moves at the students’ pace and usually does not move ahead until they have mastered the skill. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

33. Online Discussions • Online discussions are “a key feature of computer conferencing” (Murphy and Collins 1997). Currently, both asynchronous and synchronous computer conferencing have been widely used in distance learning courses. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

34. When online discussion becomes part of learning activities in both asynchronous learning courses and primarily face-to-face courses, does it promote active student learning? Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

35. Harasim (1990) suggests several key differences between computer-mediatedand face-to-face discussions: • time dependence, place dependence, the structure of communication and richness of communication. Also, Larkin-Hein (2001) said, “The use of online discussion groups offers a relatively new avenue through which the learnercan take an active role in the learning process.” Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

36. Althaus (1997) stated that, “In theory, online discussions help more students learn better by placing them in an intellectual environment that encourages active, thoughtful, and equal participation from all comers”. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

37. Healso examines whether supplementing face-to-face discussion with computer-mediated discussion (CMD) enhances the academic performance of undergraduate students in large lecture classes. 142 undergraduates were involved in this study which found that a combination of face-to-face and computer-mediated discussion provides a superior learning environment compared to the traditional classroom alone. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

38. Thomas’ (2002) study of online discussion assumed that the nature of computer-mediated communication impacts on students’ learning. This study found that online discussion forums promote high levels of cognitive engagement and critical thinking. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

39. However, the virtual learning space of an online forum does not promote the coherent and interactive dialogue necessary for conversational modes of learning. To overcome theincoherence, the role of moderator and facilitator of discussion is important in the online discussion forum. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

40. Jilid Community Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

41. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENT Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

42. Literature • Althaus, S. “Computer-mediated communication in the university classroom: an experiment with on-line discussions,” Communication Education, (46), July 1997, pp. 158-174. • Aviv, R., Educational Performance of ALN Via Content Analysis. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 4 (2), 2000. http://www.sloanc.org/publications/jaln/v4n2/v4n2_aviv.asp • Berge, Z. (1995). ‘Computer-Mediated Communication and the OnlineClassroom: Overview andPerspectives’, Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine / Volume 2, Number 2/ February 1, 1995 / Page 6 • Campos, M., Laferriere, T., and Harasim, L., The Post-Secondary Networked Classroom:Renewal of Teaching Practices and Social Interaction. Journal of Asynchronous LearningNetworks, 5 (2); 36-52, 2001. Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

43. Harasim, L. M. (1990)“Online education: an environment for collaboration and intellectual amplification,” In Harasim, L. M. (Ed).“Online education: perspectives on a new environment, “ NY: Praeger Publishing, pp. 39-64. • Johnson, D.W. and Johnson, R.T., Cooperation and the Use of Technology. In: Jonassen, D.H. (Ed.), Handbook of Research for Educational Communications and Technology, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1017-1044, 1996. • Larkin-Hein, T. “On-line discussions: a key to enhancing student motivation and understanding?, “ 31th SEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, October 10-13, 2001, Rno, NV, pp. F2G-6 to F2G-12 • Murphy, K. L. and Collins, M. P. “Development of communication conventions in instructional electronic chats,” [Online] http://www.emoderators.com/papers/aera97a.html [March 7, 2003] Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning

44. Thomas, M. J. W. “Learning within incoherent structures: the space of online discussion forums,” Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 2002, pp. 351-366. • Weasenforth, D., Biesenbach-Lucas, S, and Meloni, C., Realizing Constructivist Objectives Through Collaborative Technologies: Threaded Discussions. Language Learning & Technology, Special Issue, 6 (3): 58-86, 2002. • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-mediated_communication • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_community Current Issues in Technology Enhanced Learning