Paper Authors

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Session # 1793

Creating More Time in a Day: Effective Use of e-Communication to Enhance Student Learning and Optimize Instructor Time

J. Ledlie Klosky, Matthew R. Morris, Dawn E. Conniff United States Military Academy

Abstract The communication landscape grows increasingly complex with each passing year. Since teaching is, at its root, communication, it is essential that we understand the available technologies and the implications of each new mode as it emerges. In this paper, the authors examine the complex and evolving communications opportunities provided by a variety of technologies, paying particular attention to the emergence of Instant Messaging (IM) and its cousins. Uses and misuses of this suddenly ubiquitous technology are discussed, and student attitudes are surveyed. Student use profiles and communication preferences are discussed as well as anecdotal cases from a recent semester where e-communications were used extensively as a means of student – professor interaction. Lastly, the appropriate uses of a number of communication modes (i.e. phone, e-mail, in-person, etc) are discussed and the advantages and disadvantages of each are compared and contrasted with regard to meeting the learning goals and accommodating participant locations.

Introduction The communication landscape grows increasingly complex with each passing year. Since teaching is, at its root, communication, it is essential that we understand the available technologies and the implications of each new mode as it emerges. One strongly gaining mode in terms of student use is America Online’s Instant Messenger (IM) and its cousins, which are basically text-based messaging with embedded file-sharing capabilities. Aarons (2003) suggests strongly that IM is well on its way to replacing telephone and e-mail as the fundamental communication mode for persons with internet connections. Further, IM appeals mainly to younger users, and overall usage is up from 39 million in 2000 to 52 million in 2002 (Madden, 2003). Using these services is often referred to as “chatting”, and if you hear one student saying that she has chatted with another student, it is highly likely that she is speaking of a virtual, or IM-based “chat”. The emergence of these text-messaging systems as a basic, even preferred, method of communication among young people is an important occurrence, and most engineering instructors have yet to fully grasp the possibilities offered in terms of student interaction. However, when contemplating the use of any new technology, it is important to moderate enthusiasm with careful consideration of the limitations of that technology, and to think about how existing, well-established technologies might accomplish the same tasks with less effort. This paper presents a short discussion of observed student attitudes and preferences,

Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education

• Citation

• Format
  • APA
  • APA - LaTeX bibitem
  • MLA
  • MLA - LaTeX bibitem
  • Bibtex
  • EndNote - RIS

Morris, M., & Conniff, D., & Klosky, J. L. (2004, June), Creating More Time In A Day: Effective Use Of E Communication To Enhance Student Learning And Optimize Instructor Time Paper presented at 2004 Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--13249