tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139380866860511018.post549918084535570286..comments2024-03-28T15:25:37.037+00:00Comments on Improvisation Blog: Is online communication communication?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139380866860511018.post-60285777911909711822013-10-21T03:13:58.729+01:002013-10-21T03:13:58.729+01:00Yes indeed, any form of interaction is very import...Yes indeed, any form of interaction is very important for communication.1300 Numbershttp://vtelecom.com.au/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139380866860511018.post-26379876116246790052013-01-07T09:40:54.400+00:002013-01-07T09:40:54.400+00:00Hi Paul,
What I am saying is that it is harder to ...Hi Paul,<br />What I am saying is that it is harder to determine absences [the learner's 'hinterland' or their constraints which will have a bearing on their utterances] in an online environment. The eyes, body language, etc, all reveal this much more effectively. Face-to-face, we pick up the multiple descriptions given to us and try to determine as complete a picture of the learner as possible - which guides us to act.<br /><br />What I am criticising is a cybernetic view of communication which says that communication is a positive (i.e. present) coordination of utterances: "I say x, you say y, I adjust x to your y, etc". I think this is incorrect. The fact that we think so carefully about what we say before we say it - and that the whole process can be very emotional - is an indication that much more is going on.<br /><br />What I think happens is that teachers wish to have successful communications with learners, and therefore have to strategise their 'moves'. All their possible utterances are laid out before them - how do they select which one? They have to consider the possible utterances of the learner in response. They can only do this by appreciating the constraints that the learner is operating within. This is the 'negative image' of the learner, and is not generally revealed by the 'present' utterances that the learner makes. The learner too will be doing the same kind of calculations with regard to the teacher. <br /><br />Communications media are not equal with regard to the revealing of constraints (or absences) - despite the fact that functionally, each medium can be said to transmit 'messages'.<br /><br />Happy new year!!Mark Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12438712149227569557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139380866860511018.post-2936987311618976322013-01-07T08:22:50.735+00:002013-01-07T08:22:50.735+00:00Hi, Mark. This post is (as ever) very thought-prov...Hi, Mark. This post is (as ever) very thought-provoking. I have been thinking about its implications for teacher practice, and finding a bit of discordance with my own experience (always a good starting point for a spot of learning..). The part which troubles me most is the statement that "the absences of the other person (the unthinkables) cannot be determined". While this is true in its broadest sense, I think that this notion conceals a lot of variety. I am not sure exactly what you mean by 'Absence' here, but I take it to be very broad, i.e. it may be a failure to respond to a specific point, or within a time-frame, or a complete failure to respond. Learners usually come into the experience with radically different expectations of each other, and themselves, and the mismatch between these expectations, and the reality, is (perhaps) what causes most disappointment. Groups and individuals are very variable, and it is part of the role of the teacher (and the organisation) to manage this variety. One commonly adopted method is to clarify ground rules at the outset, and this certainly helps to manage the variety of expectation. Of course, this only provides a partial answer, but a set of such methods can lead to an overall strategy for managing the process. <br />Regards<br />PaulPaul Richardsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14662381641182971958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139380866860511018.post-48917232482929792962013-01-06T00:32:36.884+00:002013-01-06T00:32:36.884+00:00Yes - another aspect to this is that OSS communit...Yes - another aspect to this is that OSS communities also use issue trackers, which provides the Winograd/Flores aspects of triggering action and monitoring commitments of participants. <br /><br />I guess the closest system to this in education is online assessment (though I'm not sure to what extent assessment activity is negotiated and agreed among participants in online courses).Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09360976971169846084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139380866860511018.post-85323302694630089952013-01-05T22:37:04.731+00:002013-01-05T22:37:04.731+00:00Apache is interesting. There's a shared object...Apache is interesting. There's a shared object (a shared absence?) That would fit with your 'communities of purpose'. What it creates is a double-description between the messages that are exchanged on the forum and the actions that are taken in the software. From that a richer picture of the person might emerge. <br /><br />This gives further support to the importance of shared activity as the way in which individuals can learn about each other - or rather, just 'learn'. Mark Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12438712149227569557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139380866860511018.post-12162359092284925822013-01-05T17:04:23.866+00:002013-01-05T17:04:23.866+00:00I think you're coming up against the limits of...I think you're coming up against the limits of the term "community" when looking at communication practice. <br /><br />As I was reading this I was thinking of a community I'm part of which communicates almost exclusively using text messages, which is Apache. This is a large, highly productive organisation with a high level of cohesion and productivity. <br /><br />However, its not the same kind of community as an online course purports to be. I think also something that Apache does is reflect on its norms and reinforce these with a lot of meta-discussions to ensure communication remains effective. Having shared source code as a social object may also play a role in focussing communication, though thats probably something course materials ought to do too. <br /><br />This makes me think of the taxonomy of communities - communities of purpose, of circumstance, of practice, of interest, of inquiry etc. Do communication channels need to carry different meta-information in these different community forms?Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09360976971169846084noreply@blogger.com