Virtual group problem solving in the basic communication course: lessons for online learning

Skepticism about online instruction oftentimes erroneously blames the electronic medium for shortcomings in instructional design or technique. This essay discusses the performance expectations for to the full online group problem-solving via threaded discussion boards. Four years of administering this assignment in a basic oral communication course yield detailed instructional guidelines that enrich the online learning experience and fulfill general education mandates. Experiences with online cluster problem-solving should encourage educators to adapt to technological innovations in pedagogy.

**********

In the early days of computer-augmented instruction, scholars lamented the dearth of theoretical frameworks for analyzing computer-mediated communication. Dordick (1989) observ that mass communication theories strike one as being inapplicable to the communication environments created via computer and traditional interpersonal communication theories fail to account sufficiently for asynchronous communication. contemplation and discussion about online education still remains disturbingly anachronistic in a certain number of quarters. At a recent regional talk in communication studies, an audience member asked panelists who had just made presentations upon online speech instruction: "Don't you think that more [i]or[/i] less courses simply are not meant to be taught online?" The question is problematic for sum of two units reasons. First, the online medium can enable or limit instruction, on the contrary neither effect is necessarily or causally related to the instructional medium itself. An equivalent question might be: "Don't you think that a certain number of subjects just aren't meant to be the topics of poetry?" The automatic, unreflective answer would be "yes"--until an inventive bard composes a beautiful poem upon that topic. Second, the question already has been answered through information technology (IT) specialists and not educators. Information technologists and private enterprise already have ventur where many educators feared to tread. An of the best quality case in point is the rapid progres being made in digitized instructional composings known as learning objects. more [i]or[/i] less of the richest repositories of these online course resources are proprietary, despite public access repositories like as MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching; www.merlot.org).

While educators reflect upon whether certain courses or activities should be taught online, in many cases these true courses or components already are being tendered Educators confront a choice: to engage in philosophical debates about what should be taught online, or to behave proactively by dint of recognizing the availability of the online medium and design pedagogically unbroken instructional materials. If educators do not pace forward and participate actively in discussing online course contented and design, then ultimately the quality of online courses will be in the hands of the technicians and commercial interests. Effective online education will come up as a partnership among educators, IT dexterouss and software/educational product marketers. Educators ne to come into this discussion to help shape online education; otherwise, teachers and ultimately pupils will be in the position of accepting what they are given rather than crafting what could emerge

Denial that certain courses can be taught online may throw back a limit on imagination as plenteous as a limit on technological capabilities. Oral communication courses, especially those that require live performances of that kind as speeches, seem antithetical to the online instructional format. at the same time colleges and universities across the land are offering online oral performance courses. This essay discusses the techniques engageed in teaching a rather rare bre of the online basic oral communication course, known as the "comprehensive" version because it reach forths beyond public speaking. The comprehensive basic course in this case overspreads public speaking, collaborative group casts and interpersonal communication (interviewing and relationship skills). The wide array of communication skills involved in the course not away challenges and opportunities that could inform the unravelling and refinement of other online courses across academic disciplines.

The online basic communication course was first presented in Fall 2001 and has been tendered continuously since that time. Because the course is required in the university's general education curriculum, scholars must fulfill the same requirements regardless of whether the section is online or in a traditional classroom. These requirements also fulfill state guidelines for general education, in the way that consistency across sections has particular importance. This paper addresses the collection problem-solving project. The group throw fulfills three state and institutionally mandated competencies:

* communicate effectively in clumps by adapting and responding to others;

* busy higher-order thinking in problem-solving, which specifies that pupils employ a version of Dewey's (1910/1991) reflective thinking proces (identify moot point criteria for solutions, propose solutions, evaluate solutions, choose solutions, test solutions);