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Online Learning News and Research
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Wednesday, June 26, 2002
http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/JUN02_Issue/article01.html Faculty Perceptions Regarding Issues of Civility in Online Instructional Communication Mary I. Dereshiwsky, Eugene R. Moan and Athanase Gahungu Editor's Note: The debate comparing values of face-to-face vs. online comunication continues. One element is the loss of visual cues that enable teachers to more accurately focus communication. Another relates to possible miscommunication when the contextual cues are not present. A third relates to careless communication practices that violate privacy or unintentionally hurt peoples feelings. Dereshiwsky, Moan and Gahungu identify instructor perceptions of civility and instructional communication, and seeks to identify underlying variables associated to differences of opinion. Introduction “The medium is the message.” Marshall McLuhan’s classic quotation serves as an appropriate metaphor for the challenges of communication faced in different teaching environments. The advent of Web-based and Web-enhanced teaching has been accompanied by concerns about potential misinterpretations of the written word. Without visual and other body language cues, is it possible to accidentally misconstrue good-natured humor as a hostile personal attack, for instance? Can disagreement on issues more easily escalate into flame wars? Is it possible to share private concerns effectively with one’s instructor and/or fellow students if the only means of doing so is an e-mail message? Perhaps most significantly: are there special challenges regarding issues of civility in online instructional communication of which instructors and students need to be aware, and for which they need to be carefully prepared?
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