2: COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATION

Rhona Magee
Senior Lecturer
Educational DevelopmentServices

Steve Wheeler
Training Manager
RATIO Project

University of Plymouth, UK
 

Key Words: Telematics, Flexible Learning,Convergence, Computer Mediated Communication, Electronic Conferencing.

In the first article in this ITIN serieson telematics in learning, we explored the concept of telematics and examinedthe capabilities ofone of the more popular converging technologies,video conferencing (Wheeler, 1997).  This second article examinesthe benefitsand limitations of using computers ascommunication tools.  Computers are playing an ever increasing rolein the delivery of education and training, and as we movedeeper into the age of information, they are the point at which numeroustechnologies andapplications converge.

In particular, the growth of the Internetand the dramatic rise in the number of courses being offered 'online' demonstratesthe
important role that networked computerswill play in education in future years. These courses rely on a numberof emerging
technologies such as electronic mail,the World Wide Web, video, audio and text based computer conferencing systems. This paperexamines the influence of a single aspectof networking computers in education: the role of computer-mediated communication(CMC).

What is computer-mediated communication?

CMC  refers to "any written interactionthat is generated and transmitted with the use of computer technology"(DeWitt, 1996).  It canprovide a number of facilities includingelectronic mail and real-time chat capabilities which can be used to deliverinstruction, or toconduct online seminars and collaborativeworking on documents and projects. CMC can also be used to facilitate groupdiscussions and to enable interactionsbetween tutors and learners, irrespective of time and place constraints. Although the power ofCMC in teaching and learning has beenadvocated by a minority of lecturers and researchers for some years, thecombination of thepopularity of the Internet and the shiftin pedagogical thinking from teacher centred to a learner centred approachesis only nowleading to increased interest in thismode of communication.

The Historical Context

CMC was first used in the late 1960's whenthe Advanced Research Project Agency in the USA built a network consistingof foursupercomputers and called it ARPANET.The programmers who used these computers developed very simple programswhichallowed them to send and receive onlinemessages. The range of applications which now rely on CMC now includes,but is notlimited to: E-mail, Internet Relay Chat(IRC), Multiple User Dungeons (MUDs), newsgroups, and computer conferencing.All of these modes of communication havefound a place in education and are defined by Donovan, (1995): 

•  E-mail: an asynchronous method of textcommunication; users have mailboxes and folders where messages can be composed,sent, received and   stored. Most educational institutions offere-mail facilities to their staff and students over the
•  Joint Academic Network (JANET). Theimmediacy and convenience of this mode of communication has led to largescaleadoption by students and researchers around the world.
•  IRC: also known as interactive messaging,is a synchronous form of CMC; all parties to the communication are onlinesimultaneously; each participant can see what all other participants areseeing as it occurs (i.e., typing words or generating graphics or calculationson the screen).
•  MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons or sometimesMulti-User Dimensions) are virtual reality spaces, so that the user experiencesdifferent environments and locations. The MUD concept is being developedfurther into such applications as MUSEs (Multi-User Simulated Environments)which are mainly used for role-playing games, although some more seriousMUDs are used for professional and educational networking.
•  Computer Conferencing: provide a sharedworking environment which is particularly suited to group communicationand collaborative learning.

Educational benefits of CMC

It has been claimed that CMC "can be usedas a powerful tool for group communication and cooperative learning" (Kaye, 1989). Thissection aims to explore the pedagogicalarguments behind this claim.

Freedom from time and place constraints

In her recent book 'Nattering on the Net'Dale Spender writes that online education offers an attractive alternativeto traditional campusbased studies:

"Why would you want to travel all the wayto a university campus, where you can't park: to sit in a stuffy lecturetheatre and listen to adroning monologue on politics, deliveredin a deadening monotone, which reveals that this is the nth year that thesame oldinformation has been given out? Whereare you supposed to take notes, to 'learn'  later?"  (Spender,1995).

This ability to interact with groups atany time or location has particular implications for distance education.Traditionally one of themajor shortcomings of distance educationhas the lack of communication and collaboration between students and tutors.Institutionswhich provide distance education havebeen quick to incorporate CMC into their programmes. For instance, theUK Open Universitynow has 15,000 students regularly usingCMC in some form (Naughton, 1996).  Here students reported a reducedsense of isolationand tutors noted that collaborative learningwas supported.

Clearly, CMC can be used to overcome timeand space boundaries, important for students learning at a distance andalso for theincreasing number of students who arecompleting their studies part-time, students with responsibilities at home,or students whohave to travel into campus.

Optimal pace of learning

CMC encourages learners to progress attheir optimum pace of learning by allowing for both asynchronous and synchronous
interactions.  In particular asynchronous(literally, 'not at the same time') communication is a powerful aspectwhich enables learnersto discuss topics without having to arrangeto be online simultaneously. The flexibility of allowing learners to respondin their owntime means that such systems will be moreappropriate for learners with a variety of learning preferences. Learners are given theopportunity to reflect on material beforebeing required to respond to it, or if they prefer, they may respond immediately. Similarly incampus-based courses, discussions startedin the traditional seminar context can be continued outside the seminarroom.

Support and guidance

Both the NKS Electronic College in Norway(Søby, 1992) and the Open University system provide areas for studentsto gain supportfrom one another and to maintain contactwith their tutors for guidance. The ease and immediacy of communicationsthrough bothasynchronous conferencing and synchronous'chat' facilities reduce isolation and encourage the development of peergroup support,creating a supportive learning environment.This is especially important where online education is used for groupsof students whoare geographically dispersed, and whowould otherwise have experienced difficulty in communicating with one another.

Learner autonomy

The nature of CMC almost inevitably impliesthat the locus of control shifts from the tutor to the learner (Berge &Collins, 1995b).There is a reduced emphasis on the teacheras main source of knowledge.  Instead, teachers take on the role offacilitators oflearning.  For example, in evaluatingtheir use of CMC with students studying for Bachelor of Education at theUniversity of SouthernQueensland (Australia), Naidu, Barrett andOlsen (1995) report that the majority of participating students indicated thatthe shift in the degree of control over their learningfrom the tutor to the learner was a significant outcome of the project. CMC, and conferencing inparticular, is highly suited to co-operativeforms of learning which encourage sharing, greater involvement and bringingof differentperspectives to problem solving. The onlinelearning environment provides a forum for co-operative learning which ismoreaccessible and enjoyable for the students.

Interacting in an online environment

CMC is primarily about interaction. Itis well documented in the literature that the number of teacher-studentcontacts increasesmarkedly in CMC environments (Berge &Collins, 1995b).  Figure 1 illustrates the variety of interactionspossible, includingone-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many.One-to-one communication can be used for learning contracts, apprentices,student-tutor contact, student-expertand between students. One-to-many takes the form of lectures, symposiums,panel discussions,whereas many-to-many are more likely tobe debates, simulations, role plays, case studies, discussions and brainstorming(Naiduet al, 1995).  This variety allowsfor a range of teaching and learning models and experiences.  Forexample, the freedom from placeconstraints and the asynchronous communicationsystem raises the possibility of tutors inviting guest speakers from aroundtheworld to contribute to their courses.Berge & Collins (1995a) describe a study by Cotlar and Shimabukurowho used electronic guestlectures to stimulate thinking and interactionamong their students.

Flexible course structuring

Since material published online is instantlyavailable to all learners, courses are easy (and inexpensive) to modify. The advantagesof such flexibility are clear.  Firstly,courses may change to reflect the pace and abilities and any particularcohort.  Indeed, since thenature of online courses encourages feedbackfrom the learners, courses can be quickly modified in response to suchfeedback.Secondly, learners can find their ownpathway through the course, exploring according to their own needs ratherthan being confinedto a structured route.  CMC activityis not necessarily sequential in nature so students may learn sequentiallyor following severalthreads at once, according to their ownlearning preferences.  Thirdly, unplanned discussions may occur whichmay be relevant to allor a sub-group of the cohort and whichlearners can choose to ignore or participate within. Similarly learnersmay obtain individualattention from the tutor without any detrimentto the pace or direction of the rest of the group.

Skills development

CMC has the advantage of developing skillswhich are important for lifelong learning and career development. The most obvious ofthese are group communication skills.Since the group processes which occur are written, archived and thereforeexplicit, it ispossible for tutors to provide feedbacknot only on the content of for example, final assignments, but also totrack progress and beaware of group dynamics.  Anotherimportant aspect of CMC is that it is text-based. Writing skills are essentialacross the curriculum.Most universities and colleges evaluatetheir students' progress and achievement to a large extent on the basisof the writtenmaterials that they produce for theircoursework or examinations. Any medium which gives students practice indeveloping theirwriting skills is beneficial.

Written records

Text based computer conferencing systemsprovide both the tutors and the learners with a written record of the courseproceedings.The main result of this system is thatlearners are not under pressure to either take notes or join in discussionsas they are in atraditional lecture or seminar situation.They can concentrate on thinking and reflecting with the knowledge thatthey can refer back toprevious materials at any time.

Giving and receiving feedback

Student feedback can be provided in moredetail in on-line education and faster than in traditional distance educationcourses wherestudents may have to wait weeks beforecoursework is returned to them. In conferencing systems it is possible,and usual, forparticipants to give feedback on eachindividual's or group's work and the feedback is shared in an open forum.The speed andconvenience of e-mail can enable individualfeedback to be provided sooner than by traditional methods.

Supporting learners with disabilities

Online education offers a medium whichis easily accessible to learners with disabilities. Mobility can be a majorproblem for manystudents with physical disabilities, howeverthe power of CMC goes further than removing such physical barriers. CMCcan be a greatequaliser, allowing all students a fullerintegration into university life, irrespective of disability (Huckle, 1996).CMC takes fulladvantage of advances in information technologywhich will now allow most learners to communicate. For the visually disabled,wordprocessors can be displayed in large lettersand braille keyboards and text-to-speech functions are readily available.The deaf orpartially deaf student benefits greatlyfrom not having to try to follow fast talking lecturers.  The abilityof CMC students to progress attheir optimum pace also accommodates studentswith dyslexia.

Potential limitations of CMC

Despite the convincing rationale for incorporatingonline learning environments into higher education, there are also somelimitationsof this medium. This section discussesthe potential limitations of CMC and attempts, where possible to offeradvice on  how theselimitations can be minimised or avoided.

Technical skills

Depending on the delivery systems employed,learners (and their tutors) will be required to develop a range of technicalskills in orderto be able to fully participate in a CMCbased course.  Students who have grown up in the electronic age andare bombarded withmultimedia television images, home computersand the Internet may already have all the necessary skills, or be highlymotivated toacquire them.  For others there maybe a resistance to using technologies. It is important that unfamiliarityor anxiety about technologydoes not decrease a learner's motivationfor the subject matter. Most CMC course providers try to help studentsconceptualise theCMC environment by using familiar metaphors. For example, the Open University's FirstClass system shows the electroniccampuswith a 'cafe', and a 'library'. It is through these developments in the technology and system design thatsystems are becoming easierto learn.

Reduction of social cues

Computer interactions are different fromface to face ones, and although CMC encourages communication, there maybe difficultieswith coping with the loss of nonverbalcues.  It is surprisingly easy for text messages to be misinterpretedor for the lacking socialdimension to group processes to lead toa drop in the number of contributions about the task.  Naidu et al(1995) report that studentswere particularly concerned about sendingmessages, and not realising until the next day when several responses totheir originalmessage have been received, that theiroriginal message was ambiguous.  However, it is also noted that thisencouraged studentsto think more carefully about the wordingof their messages, thus contributing to the development of their writingskills.  In addition, thelack of social cues in CMC has led tothe development of emoticons; 'figures created with character symbols onthe keyboard that areused to convey the context in which aline of text is typed'  (Love, 1992)  for example smileys :-)or the wink,  ;-), and netiquette; a basiccode of conduct which is expected of CMCusers (Salmon & Giles, 1996).  For example, typing words in capitalletters will beconstrued by many as shouting.

Individual differences

Much has been written about the importanceof accommodating the learning styles of different kinds of students intolearning
experiences. Educators often ignore thefact that people are different, and differ just as much in their preferencesfor learning andteaching modes as they do in other areasof their life. It may be that amongst self-selected groups who have optedspecifically forCMC-based courses, this is the preferredmode of learning and they will work effectively with this mode of teachingand learning.However, it is unlikely that online educationwill suit every learner.  Similarly, some tutors will find it difficultto adapt to a learningenvironment where they have a reducedsense of control over the proceedings.

Unrealistic expectations

Online education offers rapid and frequentcommunications between tutor and learner and between groups of learners. However, itappears that in some cases students' expectationsof these communications are unrealistic. For example, even though it ispossiblefor a tutor to receive, comment on andreturn a student assignment with feedback in less than 24 hours using electronicmail, it isunlikely that this will be the norm. Similarly,learners may have chosen an online course in order to obtain maximum communicationswith a nominated tutor rather than toparticipate with their peer group. Expectations need to be explored andclarified prior to or earlyon in the course, and clear rationalesgiven to learners about why a certain approach is being adopted.

Student motivation

Motivation in online courses is generallyhigh, whether it is due to enthusiasm about participating in a new technologicalmedium, orthe peer group support which is builtup. However, there are particular problems with motivation which make rejoiningafter anabsence problematic. It may be that thecollaborative learning environment causes feelings of guilt about lettingother groupmembers down, or that it is difficultto catch up with the level of technical expertise required in later stagesof a course.

In a study of using telematics to supportin-service teacher training, Simon (1991) reports that participants whojoined late due totechnical difficulties suffered feelingsof isolation which they found difficult to overcome.  Decreases inmotivation may be also be dueto lack of confidence about participatingin the public and open forums available in online learning environments.There is clearly aneed to investigate and be aware of motivatingfactors in order to support learners through their online courses.

Conclusions and Implications of usingCMC

As we have seen, CMC demonstrates a varietyof benefits, from those based on learning theory to the purely practical. CMC has beenshown to be a practical way of increasingflexibility, improving interaction and promoting collaborative group work.However, it appearsthat those who have already implementedonline courses have drawn upon different aspects of CMC as the rationalefor its use.There is no apparent single, common reasonfor using CMC as opposed to other forms of delivery.
In addition, there are implications ofincorporating CMC into traditional courses. The skills required of theonline tutor are very differentfrom those necessary in traditional coursesor distance courses. The tutor needs to take on the role of a facilitatorand guide ratherthan information provider and learn theskills of successful conference moderating. Like the tutors, learners haveto accept that locusof control has shifted to them and beprepared to take responsibility for own learning. Students will also needsome training in thetechnical skills necessary to participatein the course.Successful integration of CMC into thecurriculum also depends on the design of both the user interface and thecourse itself.  Lewis(1995) identifies a number of disadvantagesof CMC, many of which can be accommodated by good design. For example Lewisstates that communications in conferencescan be difficult to follow and it can take time to sift through informationto find what is
needed. This problems can be overcomeby appropriate organisation of conferences and clear guidelines and whatcan be
discussed in each group. Similarly Lewisnotes that the rate of active participation tends to decline as more peoplejoin in, but thiscan be avoided by splitting participantsinto smaller, optimally sized groups.

There are inevitably resource implicationsof adopting CMC. These are likely to include investment in hardware andsoftware, training,and curriculum development costs. However, CMC is inherently scaleable. Asynchronous learning which worksfor a group of 10students can be made to work for 100 groupsof 10 with the benefit of economies of scale (CMC in HE Newsletter).

It has been shown that there is powerfulevidence to support the adoption of CMC, and in particular of computerconferencing, inhigher education.  Conferencing providesa shared working environment which incorporates the positive characteristicsof flexiblelearning and collaborative group learning.In addition, CMC increases interactivity between students, their peersand their tutors.  Welldesigned conferencing systems have practicaladvantages such as the maintenance of a written record of contributions,flexiblecourse structuring and options to fita variety of learning styles.  Computer mediated communication hasthe potential to developlearners' group communication, writtenand technical skills.

References

Berge, Z., & Collins, M. (1995a) Computer-MediatedCommunication and the Online Classroom in Distance Learning,
Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine,2 (4).
Berge, Z. & Collins, M., (Eds.). (1995b). Computer-Mediated Communication and the Online Classroom: Overview andPerspectives,Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
CMC in HE Newsletter. Issue 4, Nov 1995,Lancaster University.
DeWitt, S. L. (1996) The pedagogy of writingand computer mediated discussion. Teaching in the Community Colleges (Electronic)Journal,  1(2)
Donovan, D. C. (1995) Computer mediatedcommunication and the basic speech course. Interpersonal Computing andTechnology:
An Electronic Journal for the 21st Century.3(3), 32-53.
Huckle, J. (1996) The implications ofthe virtual university for learners with special needs. Paper presentedat the Virtual UniversityImplications for learning and the developmentof student capability. University of London.
Kaye, A. R. (1989) Computer-mediated communicationand distance education: In R. D. Mason and A. R. Kaye (Eds.) Mindweave:Communication, Computers and DistanceEducation, Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Lewis, R. (1995) Tutoring in Open Learning,Framework Press.
Love, C. (1992).  DifferentiatingTraditional and Computer Mediated Communication: An Analysis. Paper presentedat the SpeechCommunication Association Convention,Chicago, November 1992.
Naidu, S. Barrett, J., & Olsen, P.(1995) Improving instructional effectiveness with computer-mediated communication.Association ofLearning Technology- Journal, 3(2), 63-75
Naughton, J. (1996) The Open University:some current developments. Paper presented at the Virtual University? Implicationsforlearning and the development of studentcapability. University of London.
Salmon, G., and Giles, K., (1996) Swimming,Waving and Drowning in Virtual Seas, Conference Proceedings, 6th AnnualEuropeanDistance Education Network Conference,Poitiers, France, July 1996.
Simon, C. (1991) Telematic support forin-service teacher training: In A. R. Kaye (Ed.) Collaborative LearningThrough ComputerConferencing: The Najaden Papers. Berlin:Springer-Verlag.
Søby, M. (1992) Waiting for Electropolis.In A. R. Kaye (Ed.) Collaborative Learning Through Computer Conferencing:The NajadenPapers. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
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Glossary of Terms

CMC - Computer Mediated Communication, communicating with others using the computer as the main medium.
E-Mail - Electronic Mail; Software enablingthe composing, sending, receiving and storage of text based information.
Emoticons - Figures created from existingkeyboard characters, to convey feelings of anger, happiness, etc.
IRC - InterNet Relay Chat; A synchronousversion of CMC.
Netiquette - Expected behaviour and socialconduct for text based communications system users.
Telematics - The convergence of Telecommunicationsand Informatics.
MUD - Multi-User Dungeon; A virtual realitysystem used for learning by simulation.
MUSE - Multi-User Simulated Environments;mainly used for role-playing games, and for professional and educationalnetworking.

This paper was published in the Information Technology in Nursing and Information Management Journal, British ComputerSociety,
Nursing Specialist Group, Volume 9, Issue2, April 1997.