scholarly journals The Influence of Computer Communication Skills on Participation in a Computer Conferencing Course

1996 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Ross
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Computer Conferencing ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Good News ◽  
Marginal Effect ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Computer Communication ◽  
Computer Mediated

Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) courses are attracting students with weak computer communication skills. This study examined what happened to these students when they enrolled in a CMC course that required high levels of peer interaction. It was anticipated that students with weaker skills would miss important instructional events, have lower levels of task-relevant contributions, have less influence on group products, and engage in less demanding learning activities. But lack of technical skill had a marginal effect on participation, much less than prior knowledge of course content. The generalizability of this good news is limited by several contextual factors that supported participation of students with weak communication skills: student maturity, provision of a CMC coach, the ethos emerging from the structure and content of the course, and the low skill threshold required for participation.

What Factors Promote Sustained Online Discussions and Collaborative Learning in a Web-Based Course?

2011 ◽  
pp. 192-211
Author(s):  
Xinchun Wang
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Interactive Learning ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Online Discussion Group

Although the pedagogical advantages of online interactive learning are well known, much needs to be done in instructional design of applicable collaborative learning tasks that motivate sustained student participation and interaction. This study investigates the factors that encourage student interaction and collaboration in both process and product oriented computer mediated communication (CMC) tasks in a Web-based course that adopts interactive learning tasks as its core learning activities. The analysis of a post course survey questionnaire collected from three online classes suggest that among others, the structure of the online discussion, group size and group cohesion, strictly enforced deadlines, direct link of interactive learning activities to the assessment, and the differences in process and product driven interactive learning tasks are some of the important factors that influence participation and contribute to sustained online interaction and collaboration.

What Factors Promote Sustained Online Discussions and Collaborative Learning in a Web-Based Course?

2011 ◽  
pp. 3084-3103
Author(s):  
Xinchun Wang
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Interactive Learning ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Online Discussion Group

Although the pedagogical advantages of online interactive learning are well known, much needs to be done in instructional design of applicable collaborative learning tasks that motivate sustained student participation and interaction. This study investigates the factors that encourage student interaction and collaboration in both process and product oriented computer mediated communication (CMC) tasks in a Web-based course that adopts interactive learning tasks as its core learning activities. The analysis of a post course survey questionnaire collected from three online classes suggest that among others, the structure of the online discussion, group size and group cohesion, strictly enforced deadlines, direct link of interactive learning activities to the assessment, and the differences in process and product driven interactive learning tasks are some of the important factors that influence participation and contribute to sustained online interaction and collaboration.

Computer Mediated Communication and Student Learning in Large Introductory Sociology Classes

2005 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric R. Wright ◽  
Anthony H. Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Introductory Sociology ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Online Group

Over the past several years, scholars of teaching and learning have demonstrated the potential of collaborative learning strategies for improving student learning. This paper examines the use of computer-mediated communication to promote collaborative student learning in large introductory sociology courses. Specifically, we summarize a project we conducted during the 2000-2001 academic year in which we added online collaborative learning activities to the curriculum of two large sections of introductory sociology. Drawing on Novak et al.'s (1999) Just-In-Time Teaching methods, we developed online activities to help prepare students for subsequent in-class work and to cultivate a sense of group solidarity among smaller teams within the larger class. The results suggest that student engagement in the online group learning activities was strongly predictive of better student academic achievement on the biweekly quizzes, cumulative final exam, and course paper. These findings highlight the potential value of online group work for fostering collaborative learning environments in large lecture courses as well as for enhancing student learning.

Navigating choppy discourses: A conceptual framework for understanding synchronous text-based computer-mediated communication

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-193
Author(s):  
Janaina Minelli de Oliveira ◽  
Vanessa Esteve-González
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Common View ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Information And Communication

AbstractThis paper presents an investigation into patterns of interaction in synchronous, text-based computer-mediated communication (SCMC) with a focus on participation. The data constitute a corpus of 3,785 words from a series of interactions between student teachers performing learning activities in a three-dimensional online environment. Drawing on a systemic functional grammar perspective of language, we aim to develop a conceptual framework for understanding participation as made up of interactional patterns in students’ linguistic exchanges while performing learning activities. Our findings show that verbal negotiation that creates a shared understanding of what the group should accomplish or a common view of how to perform the activity is more frequent than strict activity organization. We argue that there are features of CMC signaling higher levels of complexity than those ordinarily found in face to face or written communication. The three broad interactional features identified – blending, turn-taking collaboration and delay endurance – corroborate our claim. This paper presents evidence that participation in text-based SCMC with learning purposes demands a disposition for collaboration and solidarity, a capacity to endure delay, and the ability to manage a conglomerate of information and communication tools without instructions on how-to processes.

scholarly journals Bridging the Gap between Human Communications and Distance-Learning Activities

2011 ◽  
pp. 102-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sébastien George
Keyword(s):  
Distance Learning ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Communication Tools ◽  
Communication Services ◽  
Research Issues ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Interesting Approach

This chapter introduces context-aware computer-mediated communication for distance learning systems. It argues that linking deeply communication to learning activities offers an interesting approach to develop the efficiency of systems in facilitating and increasing discussions between learners. To make this link, the author bases his work on various theories, such as communication theories, situated cognition theory, and activity theory. This theoretical study leads to research issues concerning a contextual forum model. The description of the computing implementation of this model aims at giving researchers some possible uses and recommendations in dealing with context-sensitive communication tools. Finally, the chapter mentions futures trends and suggests emerging research opportunities within the field of communication services that are able to adapt dynamically to the user’s activity.

Interactions Online

2011 ◽  
pp. 1259-1267
Author(s):  
Susan Wegmann
Keyword(s):  
Online Courses ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Discussion Board ◽  
Mediated Learning ◽  
Online Classes ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Writing Theory ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Teachers And Students

Success in online courses depends on quality interactions (Li & Akins, 2005; Shovein, Huston, Fox, & Damazo, 2005; Vrasidas, 2002). Interaction is “a continually emerging process, as communication in its most inclusive sense” (Simpson & Galbo, 1986). Pena-Shaff, Altman, and Stephenson (2005) found that students who interact more in online classes tend to feel a greater amount of satisfaction and even engage more deeply in course content. In fact, recent studies have shown that the most efficient computer-mediated learning occurs when teachers and students assume a connected stance (Wegmann, 2006; Wegmann & Mc- Cauley, 2007), or one in which students and teachers participate in the following types of behaviors online: initiate personally meaningful questions about the text, wonder, or initiate unique topics for discussion. The following reports on one study that analyzed students’ discussion board interactions, surveys of students’ perceptions, and e-mail interviews of selected participants. Following is a discussion of three areas of literature pertinent to the study: nature of interactions, computer-mediated communication, reading and writing theory.

Real-Time Computer-Mediated Conferencing versus Electronic Mail

1985 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 380-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vitaly Dubrovsky
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Electronic Mail ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Computer Conferencing ◽  
Consensus Development ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Cognitive Difficulties ◽  
Computer Mediated

Electronic mail-like systems are becoming a popular way of conferencing in organizations, while real-time computer conferencing (RTCC) facilities are virtually ignored. It is the suggestion of this paper that in a computerized organizational environment for group decisions made through consensus development, RTCC may have some advantages over electronic mail-like conferencing. The experimental study comparing RTCC and electronic mail as modes of computer-mediated communication during group decision making is described. The post-experimental preferences-difficulties questionnaire revealed that: (1) a majority of the participants clearly preferred face-to-face communication to computer-mediated (76% vs. 22%) and RTCC to electronic mail (93% vs. 7%); (2) since 79% of the participants were willing to give up their own opinion and simply agree in order to get away from the discussion, because communication via computer is frustrating, it is possible that the quality of the decisions may suffer due to the deficiences of the computer media; (3) The participants encountered significant cognitive difficulties in both modes of computer conferencing. These difficulties are addressed in the design recommendations for both RTCC and electronic mail.

Social Networking for Interpersonal Life: A Competence-Based Approach to the Rich Get Richer Hypothesis

2020 ◽  
pp. 089443932090950
Author(s):  
Brandon C. Bouchillon
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Real World ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Good News ◽  
Interpersonal Competence ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Skill Sets ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Over Time

Online and offline interactions are thought to draw from separate but complementary skill sets. This explains why individuals who are competent interpersonally tend to get more out of social networking. At least part of what they already know about interacting applies online. But whether computer-based competence has some bearing on real-world interactional capability is still open to debate. The present study tested associations between computer-mediated communication (CMC) competence and interpersonal competence over time. Results indicate that CMC competence was related to interpersonal competence and interpersonal contributed back to CMC competence. The forms of competence become mutually reinforcing. Using Facebook contributed to CMC competence as well, but not to interpersonal competence, at least not directly. Facebook use was related to interpersonal competence indirectly, through increasing CMC competence over time. Social networking is associated with feeling more capable of interacting through computers, and online proficiency has some application in the real world. This is good news for a withdrawn society that has become less competent socially. Developing either form of competence should contribute to its counterpart.

What Factors Promote Sustained Online Discussions and Collaborative Learning in a Web-Based Course?

2009 ◽  
pp. 1410-1430
Author(s):  
Xinchun Wang
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Interactive Learning ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Online Discussion Group

Although the pedagogical advantages of online interactive learning are well known, much needs to be done in instructional design of applicable collaborative learning tasks that motivate sustained student participation and interaction. This study investigates the factors that encourage student interaction and collaboration in both process and product oriented computer mediated communication (CMC) tasks in a Web-based course that adopts interactive learning tasks as its core learning activities. The analysis of a post course survey questionnaire collected from three online classes suggest that among others, the structure of the online discussion, group size and group cohesion, strictly enforced deadlines, direct link of interactive learning activities to the assessment, and the differences in process and product driven interactive learning tasks are some of the important factors that influence participation and contribute to sustained online interaction and collaboration.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document