Traditional wisdom suggests that talk is the medium, or conduit, through
which information travels between participants. Verbal interaction makes
it possible for members to (1) distribute and pool information, (2) catch and
remedy errors, and (3) influence each other (227).
This traditional view of communication reminds me very much of this class itself. Although we are not in a typical classroom setting where we are able to verbally interact in order to transfer information; we are able to freely write to convey ideas (distribute and pool info), agree or disagree with each others' posts (catch and remedy errors), and get clearer pictures or ideas from one another (influence each other). Griffin states in the text that Hirokawa believed that "communication plays a more active role in crafting quality decisions... regards group discussion as a tool or instrument that group members use to create the social reality in which decisions are made (like social constructionists)" (227). Although we aren't necessarily making decisions in this class (with the exception of our decision to disclose information), our discussions are used as instruments to help us understand our social reality.
1 comment:
This is only the 3 term I've had students blog (or blogged myself, for that matter). The first time was Winter 2008 and the second Summer 2008. In the past, I used WebCT's discussion boards. I'm finding that students like blogging better because they're more able to freely interact with each other, as you put it. In the past classes, students said they learned quite a bit from others' blogs, often finding out something they'd missed or glossed over in the readings. So the blogs provide a way for students to enrich their learning experience, both as producers (bloggers) and consumers (blog readers).
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