More Advantages of CMC

 Changes the role of the instructor to that of

a facilitator, interaction is more student-
driven
 Students become guides for each other in a
decentralized lab-classroom
 All students participate equally
 Written records of the discussions
(transcripts) can be saved and used for
follow-up activities in the traditional
classroom
 Implications: Materials Design
 Technology-Led Approach: the technological
capabilities of tools provide the foundation for the
design of pedagogical tasks
Problems:
 Learning objectives are determined by the technical
features of the tool.
 The role of the learner or the learning process may be
neglected
 The rejection of a technology-driven approach to
pedagogical design does not necessarily imply a
Theory-Driven Approach
 Principles for Materials Design
1. Identify the features that distinguish CMC from
other communication media in general (increased
access to interaction and the emergence of a new
communication medium)
2. Identify the constraints brought about by the
specific environment in which CMC takes place
3. Analyze the potential pedagogical benefits of the
instructional activities implemented in CMC
 What are the biggest problems with
synchronous CMC?
The discussion tends to lose focus
because of many side discussions.
Some students cannot jump in because
they are slow typists.
Responses get out of sequence.
Failing to provide a chance for all
students to participate equally implicitly
censors some of the participants.
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 How can we solve these problems?

The solution to this is to have a

prepared set of questions, subjects to
discuss, etc. and have a fixed order for
the students to respond in.
Allow a certain “open time” for
students to chat with each other. This
allows the students who are less familiar
with the technology to practice.
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 Also,it provides an opportunity for
students who are more familiar with the
technology to introduce some of the
abbreviation and emoticons used in chat
to their less experienced peers.
Explain the procedure for participation:
i.e. that comments or responses have to
be done in a sequence.

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 Impose order on the discussion when
required. The teacher’s role in a chat also
includes that of moderator. Whereas in
face-to-face one’s authority can be
underlined by raising one’s voice, in chat
you can use upper case to make your
point more forcefully.

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 What are the biggest problems with asynchronous CMC?

• The levels of participation are usually very

poor with CMC for the following reasons. The
asynchronous nature encourages people to
give participation a lower priority.
Posts to the discussion boards need to be
frequent for people to maintain an interest in
the boards, and so if the level participation
drops below a certain degree, no further
postings take place.
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 How can we solve these problems?

Raise the profile of postings by using

discussion board software that also sends
emails to the users' email account (and so
is a combination discussion board and
mailbase).
Make the discussion time-dependent, so
that participants cannot procrastinate.
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  Regularly structure the discussion threads
using some of the following actions:
Cut and paste discussion threads that
diverge or are repeating discussions
elsewhere, so that each thread corresponds
to one topic.
Identify specific points within the threads
to prompt particular discussions, eliciting
answers to specific questions.

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 Which CMC should we use?

The major factor in selecting a CMC medium is

“should the communication be synchronous or
asynchronous?” This decision should be based on the
following criteria:
Can all of the participants meet at the same time?
Is the activity time -dependent (i.e. to fit in with a
teaching program)? If so, then a synchronous medium
is most appropriate.
Are the participants part-time students/spread across
time zones?
Is the subject matter one which requires in-depth
11 analysis and response? If so, then an asynchronous