Communication Process of a Class Held Online

Taking a course online vs. In a classroom is going to require an exceptionally more focused and deliberate approach to communicating with peers, team members on projects, and with the instructor. While collaboration in person is easy to accomplish, the use of the communications tools online will need to be scheduled with more accuracy and also with a clear expectations of what will be accomplished. In addition it's going to be very important to figure out which communication tool works best for each specific project or need. The use of e-mail or online chat sessions is going to be fine for immediate questions and answers, yet for reviewing complex documents and for collaborating, there is going to need to be more expanded online forums and approaches to getting work done. Traditionally the technologies used for online courses has assumed a one-to-many broadcast strategy where the instructor sends course materials, comments and video sessions of courses to students (Greener, 178). For this communication class to be effective it is however going to need to use these forms of one-way communication to support collaboration and more interactive discussion. The design goals of Web 2.0 technologies (O'Reilly, 36) shown in Figure 1 of the Appendix are beginning to be adopted throughout many social networking and online teaching tools (Greener, 178). Communication in this online class will be much more effective if these tools based on Web 2.0 design objectives are used. The ability to collaborate more, interact and converse more will be possible. Technology use in this class needs to enable create conversation and communication so more can be achieved.

Appendices

Figure 1: Web 2.0 Explained (O'Reilly, 36)

References

Susan Greener. "Talking online: reflecting on online communication tools. " Campus - Wide Information Systems 26.3 (2009): 178.

Tim O'Reilly. "Web 2.0: Stuck on a Name or Hooked on Value?" Dr. Dobb's Journal. 34 -- 36. 1 Jul 2006