Answer: How have your individual communication skills changed with the innovations in technology? How have advancements in technology altered classroom communication? Will these change further?
The TEDTalk by Sherry Turkle has summed up some of the conversations that I've been having recently with colleagues at work, with people at church, and with my own family. Technology has crept into almost every facet of our lives and has changed us in so many ways. I'm not sure that all of them are good.
With technology tools such as teacher and student email accounts, messaging services such as Remind and Google Classroom, and the advent of smartphones, I find myself communicating in ways that I would have never dreamed of communicating 10 years ago when I was in high school. Occasionally, I would email a teacher if I were absent for more than 1 school day to ensure that I didn't get behind on classwork or to ask a question outside of class. But I would have never dreamed of sending and receiving messages with my teacher at any point during the evening. I certainly wouldn't have expected an immediate response. And yet today I find myself sending or receiving and replying to emails or Remind messages at all hours of the day and even sometimes into the evening.
Technology, specifically smartphones and communication apps, have changed not only the ways in which we communicate, but also the amount of time we spend communicating. And I must confess that while I find myself "communicating" more frequently and for longer periods of time than I ever have, I don't find that I'm any more connected -- truly relationally connected -- to students or colleagues than I used to be. If anything, I feel sometimes that our frequent communication is more shallow.
I find myself repeating information over and over because students missed it the first time because they were distracted by personal technology. I find that parents often avoid those tough conversations that would have once been aired out in a 10 minute parent-teacher conference by exchanging lengthly email conversations. It's easier to avoid tough questions and easier to speak more boldly (or angrily) when you're not standing face to face with the other person. But to be fair, I can't give the parents a hard time... I often avoid difficult phone calls myself by choosing to send an email instead. But my goodness!!! Most of these issues would be worked out so much quicker and with much smaller likelihood of miscommunication if we would have actual conversations!
Written classroom communication has also changed to become more abbreviated and much less formal. "Text talk" has become the norm among the emails that I receive from students (and parents). Any and everything can be abbreviated or represented by a string of "emojis" or a GIF. Spelling and grammar are no longer given thoughtful consideration; autocorrect will fix those. Students struggle with formal writing, discussion board posts, and even creative writing because they fail to include factors such as context, supporting details, and personal reflection.
And lastly, students spend more time texting or posting and less time actually talking to one another. In the microcosm of my classroom, and certainly in the world at large, I'm seeing an increase in students who are lonely or suffer from depression and an increase in cyberbulling that both seem to correlate to an decrease in the amount of time students truly spend together. We are more connected and yet more isolated than we've ever been.
Although most of what I've presented has been negative, I see a tremendous opportunity as well. Now more than ever there is a great need to teach netiquette and effective communication to our students. We currently have more means and methods of communicating information and ideas to students than we ever have. Let's make use of these tools to teach students the importance of meaningful, effective, respectful communication.
As I use the multiple means I now have to communicate with students, I realize that I must model what appropriate and effective communication should look like. I can also use these multiple means of communicating or teaching to share lessons or information about digital citizenship. And finally, I believe that I can use communication tools such as blogs, discussion boards, or even social media to help students demonstrate mastery of their learning and to express themselves. By fostering communication among students in an environment that is "safe" but also has high expectations for the quality and content of communication, I believe I can help students learn to communicate about their learning and to interact respectfully and productively with one another.
The technology continues to change rapidly, and therefore so do the ways these tools are applied. Educators must stay abreast of these changes and be proactive in addressing them. One tool I believe will prove helpful is video chat. I really have enjoyed learning more about synchronous learning tools. I believe that these more auditory and verbal means of communication may prove to be impactful in helping students learn to engage in conversation and to communicate effectively. I hope to use more of these experiences in my own blended classroom.
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