The Digital Revolution and Communication

Academia in Western culture is seemingly somewhat resistant to change (Jukes and McCain, 2000). An example given by Jukes and McCain pertaining to the rate of change in the United States due to advancements in technology versus the rate of change in the educational system can give people a better understanding of how different schools are from the business world. For example, Western culture is like a freight train. Decade after decade this train becomes faster, more fuel-efficient, and may even acquire a new body design. The rest of the world eventually transitions from a train on the tracks to an automobile and then to a jet plane. Throughout all of these changes, education has remained the reliable-yet-slow train on the tracks. If secretaries ten years ago were transported to this day and age and asked to perform their same job duties in this computer-infiltrated workplace after some brief training, would they succeed? Fortunately, the persistent need for a communication “upgrade” in the classroom has finally arrived in the form of the Virtual Classroom and Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC). Teachers and students alike ar

In 1995, 758,640 students were enrolled in 25,730 CMC given during the 1994-95 school year (Mottet, T., 2000). These classes involved different ways of giving the impression of a real-time face-to-face classroom. They are implementing use of state-of-the-art video and audio communication technology to achieve this sense of “being there.” With all the new digital boundaries, what in terms of a classroom defines “being there?” Educators are not referring to physical location anymore because the VC has done away with time and space restraints. While technology has been increasing classroom boundaries, teachers and students still lack face-to-face communication that enables them to participate in nonverbal communication. Some examples given by Mottet that require enhancement in the VC are: smiling, moving around the classroom, vocal expressions, body posture, eye contact, hand raising, and behavior during class. All of the aforementioned examples let students and teachers become more of a community as opposed to just some people who chat on the Internet. Face-to-face classroom time allows the students to communicate instantaneously to the instructor the effectiveness of the instructor’s lecture, the attentiveness of the student body, comprehension of course material, along with the impressions and feelings about the class itself (Jenkins, R., & Deno, L., 1969). Mottet (2000) concluded, “Instructors’ perceptions of students’ nonverbal responsiveness are positively related to their impressions of students, their perceptions of their teaching effectiveness and satisfaction, their perceptions of teacher-student interpersonal relationships, and their preference for teaching in the interactive classroom as opposed to the face-to-face classroom.” Studies conducted have shown that instructors that use both verbal and nonverbal actions and behaviors help students learn more than just merely using verbal immediacy behaviors (Frymier, A. & Houser, M., 2000). The results of the same study show that the teacher-student relationship includes a relational component. The results of Frymier and Houser’s study mean that communication between teachers and students becomes interpersonal and trust develops. This trust allows students to ask questions, look for feedback, and communicate in class with their instructor without any uncomfortable feelings. A study conducted by Comstock, Rowell, and Bowers (1994) showed that immediacy is related to arousal, which is related to attention, which is related to memory, which is related to cognitive learning. T

Some topics in this essay:
Al Gore, According Witmer, Wide Web, Patterson Gojdycz, Jukes McCain, Virtual Classroom, Rowell Bowers, Jenkins Deno, Lavin Barrows, CMC Teachers, face-to-face classroom, train tracks, teachers students, virtual classroom, world wide web, mottet 2000, allows students, students teachers, rate change, believes cmc, educational system, internet world wide,