Communication Tools

Communication Tools: Keeping It Simple

In choosing my communication tools for my LMS course site, I strive to use tools that are i) simple to use, and ii) offer significant pedagogical value to the course. From scholarly literature and my personal experience taking various online courses, I have settled into using “forum” and “chat” as my two tools.

As an educator who has worked in an inner city school for over a decade, it is important to point out that, although most students now have access to the internet at home, a significant number of students are from families who cannot afford high-speed internet services. As a result, although I can expect students to use a LMS as a supplementary component to their courses, it is also very important to build a LMS that would not have a very high demand for internet capacities from my students. This is a big consideration when I am choosing the various synchronous and asynchronous communication tools – I need to keep the communication tools simple to allow every student access to the LMS at a reasonable speed. This is the reason why I have chosen the synchronous chat function, as well as the asynchronous forum function in my Moodle site.

Chat (Synchronous Communication Tool)

Introduction:

One feature from a f2f class that was very difficult to duplicate in an online setting is the spontaneous communication between the instructor and his/her students. Instructors from the earlier generation online courses can only communicate with students through a synchronous messaging, which, even under the best intentions, can postpone a student from having a question answered and explained for days. With chat in Moodle, this problem is eliminated.

Why I chose it?

Chat is something that is extremely familiar to the present generation of students, who regularly participate in online operations similar to the chat function in Moodle (e.g. MSN, ICQ, QQ, various chat functions in a web-mail account, etc). While having a chat function in Moodle does not necessarily increase the novelty factor from a student’s standpoint, it is highly unlikely that they would feel reluctant to participate. In addition, chatting allows the instructor and students to synchronous exchange ideas. Students can ask questions, and the instructor and other students can provide instant feedback/answers.

What chat brings to the educational experience?

Chat brings a real-time, synchronous channel of exchange between staff, students, and the course’s content. In addition, it builds a collaborative learning community outside of the classroom. Some students who are reluctant to speak publicly in a classroom may be more comfortable sharing his/her ideas in a chat session. With an appropriate level of direction and facilitation, students can be encouraged into becoming active, collaborative members of a learning network, thus motivating them to take more of an ownership to their learning.

Limitations

Although chat is fairly common among the student population now, chatting in English may still prove to be too challenging or intimidating a task for students who speak English as an additional language. Students with particular learning disabilities may also find the spontaneous, often fast-paced format of chat very difficult to follow. In addition, because of the spontaneous and somewhat fast-pace nature of chat, the chance that discussion can evolve into a higher level of reasoning (discourse) may be difficult to achieve.

Does it work?

After building a chat session in one of my LMS units, I have tried to enter the chat room to chat. Without another student, I can still post entries into the chat room. However, because there were no other people in the chat room while I was in it, I could not test how spontaneous the chat function is. In addition, it is important to point out that a chat session cannot accommodate too many students while maintaining its functionality. In my LMS set-up, I have created two chat sessions every week to divide my students. During class time, students would be signing up for the chat sessions (students who need to work, play on a school team, etc., can have priority in the sign up process). This would ensure that each chat session has a low enough number of participants that everyone can take part in the discussion, questions, and answers.

Forum (Asynchronous Communication Tool)

Introduction

While chat allows for an instantaneous exchange of ideas, the fast-pace nature of chat prevents ideas from being thoroughly developed and discussed. As a result, the higher level of reasoning, discourse, is difficult to achieve. As Anderson suggests, a teacher’s presence can facilitate discourse (Anderson, 2008). However, a teacher cannot be present, attending to all students, during a chat session. In an asynchronous forum, however, he/she can.

Why I chose it?

To facilitate discourse, a student requires time to reflect and think. To prompt reflection and thinking, the student would often need another person to question his/her initial ideas, challenge any fallacies in his/her argument, and so on. A synchronous exchange of ideas, particularly for younger students, can quickly escalate into an argument that is un-related to the learning. However, when students have a structure provided for them, and have time to construct a response, deeper thinking is possible, and discourse can be achieved with the teacher taking the role of a facilitator. This is the reason why I have chosen a forum as my asynchronous communication tool.

What forum brings to the educational experience?

From the introduction to the course, I specify my expectations for students in the discussion forum. When students know that they have to post every week on their own reflections, they would be “forced” to keep up with the course’s weekly readings and notes. The asynchronous nature of a forum provides the time students need to reflect carefully on what they have learned, and construct their arguments in a concise, logical fashion.

Limitations

When I mandate the students to post their own reflections at least once per week, and respond to at least two of their classmates, some students will inevitably do the bare minimum. The asynchronous nature of a forum means students are not online at the same time, and thus it may be difficult to push students to participate. Also, because communication is not spontaneous, misunderstanding can occur often, and students can get frustrated when their answers are not properly addressed in a timely fashion.

Does it work?

The forum setting in Moodle works flawlessly. What I really like about the forum feature of Moodle is that it allows pictures to be posted, and hyperlinks to be included. This would vastly increase the versatility of the forum, moving it from the traditional text-only format to a much richer format.

Conclusion

I have carefully chosen two communication tools that complement each other. While both chat and forum have their own limitations, together, I think they provide a solid framework to facilitate learning, collaboration, and discourse. The seven principles for good practice in education, as proposed by Chickering and Gamson (1987), are mostly addressed through the implementation of chat and forum.

Reference

Anderson, T. (2008). Teaching in an Online Learning Context. In: Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Athabasca University. Accessed online 20 June 2009

Chickering, A.W. and Gamson, Z.F. (1987). Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 39 (7), p.3 – 7.