Online Communication and Information Technology Education

Abstract

Blended Learning, a learning facilitation that incorporates different modes of delivery, models of teaching, and learning styles, introduces multiple media to the dialog between the learner and the facilitator.This paper examines online communication as the link between established theory of learning and literature on e-learning in order to better understand the appropriate use of blended learning in an actual Information Technology course.First, previously defined theoretical constructs that utilize communication as a facilitator for learning are considered.Then, using the Interpretivist standpoint, we examine data gathered from focus groups and interviews to gauge the experience of staff and students who were participants in a Blended Learning course.Our results suggest that communication is both a challenge and an enabler for facilitating a successful blended learning course.Blended learning is not simply a matter of the combination of face-to-face and online instruction, but it has to have elements of social interaction.It appears to be important to allow students to bond together and to socialize.Knowing each other eases the communication barriers and reduces the fear of posting messages into an open forum.At its best, online communication can provide study help, social interaction, and a sense of community.We have evidence that when students are required more frequently to cooperate online, they share a common problem and on some level create their own "problem solving" community.However, our data from the first cohort indicates that unguided communication of a Community of Practice can lead to undesirable effects.At the same time, our data from the second cohort indicates that a very structured approach is also undesirable.The ideal situation, it seems, is somewhere in the middle.However, the middle is not easily defined.Because the community depends on the individuals who are the main components of it, it is difficult to predict how the same environment would influence different individuals or different cohorts.Thus, the ultimate responsibility is on the lecturer to listen to the students and engage in continuous dialogue.

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