Distance: Computer Mediated Communcation

It was interested to study two articles that centered on Computer Mediated Communication (CMC). The first article by Randy Garrison was entitled “Computer conferencing: the post-industrial age of distance education.” I thought it would an article about video conferencing. Then I noticed the publication date was 1997, and read that CMC “is characterized by its asynchronous text-based (written) communication” (3).

Similarly, in the article “Group Development in Online Distance Learning Groups” the authors pointed out that when they wrote that in 2003, when they wrote this chapter for the first edition of the Distance Education Handbook “most online group development occurred through asynchronous modes. Today online groups increasingly operate in blended learning environments and use a variety of collaborative, synchronous technologies to communicate and accomplish their work (142).

The changes in technology demonstrate that in the short space of a decade the tools to facilitate computer mediated conversations have dramatically improved.

Garrison focused a significant part of his article on how the differences between “real-time verbal and asynchronous written communication (4). Although a lot of communication done in distance education now is not asynchronous written communication I believe that these distinctions are still important. Garrison states, “It would appear that the asynchronous (i.e. reflective) and precise nature of this means of communication is consistent with higher-order thinking and cognitive development. Since the exchange of messages is less rapid and are stored, learners do not have the burden of remembering the points made by other speakers while waiting for one’s turn to speak. For this reason, it allows time for reflection and, thereby, facilitates learning making connections amongst ideas and constructing coherent knowledge structures” (5).

As I think about asynchronous communications that I am a part of (including this blog) I believe the above statement is true. If I were just verbally responding to these articles I probably would not do so with as much care. Writing down my thoughts enables me to go back and carefully review the articles, selecting quotes that I want to share and structuring my thoughts in a coherent way. All without the time pressure of having people wait to see what I will say. In some ways this type of communication can increase the quality of a dialogue, in that if the quality of comments increases, the quality of the dialogue overall with increase also.

If there are all these advantages to asynchronous written communication, are these advantages taken away when the class becomes a video conferencing class? I don’t think so—this newer technology simply enables other types of learning and bonding to take place. The asynchronous written communication can continue to take place in structured ways (like the assignment that initiated this blog post). In addition, teachers in F2F classes can structure writing assignments, (such as in class last week in which we all responded to this blog post). Although not asynchronous, it still provided the time for reflective writing.

One other thing I want to note from the readings is “when groups work online, anonymity and idea generation are increased Individuals working in large online groups feel a greater sense of anonymity, are less inhibited, and feel freer to express their ideas. They also have a tendency to produce more unique ideas” (143). Again, I think this is a basic principle of learning and group work that need not be confined only to distance learning. However, the ways in which computer mediated communications facilitate bringing large numbers of people into the conversation may make it so this advantage is something important to consider when structuring learning at a distance.