Realistically, my husband and I should be sitting on a balcony overlooking ocean from our cruise ship. Instead, we have had an exhausting day trying to get to our destination. The plan also included reading this week's materials on the plane, typing up my comments en route, and posting the blog from the ship. All of this was a possibility because, of the access to the internet. In the grand scheme of today's disappointment, communication and productivity was a complete failure!
Since late last evening, we have been busy trying to connect with the cruise line to make alternative plans. We knew we were in trouble, because the weather was very poor on our trip to Minneapolis last evening. Therefore, I called the emergency travel assistance hotline to seek some help from the travel assistance team. Many scholars now include cell phone conversations and text messaging as forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC). In the Mediated Immediacy piece, the evidence showed that CMC has the potential to be used in ways that are important for relationship initiation, development, and maintenance. It was our hope to build a relationship, so we could receive assistance. Communication technology should, therefore, facilitate and support communication according to Sivanen and Valo.
The Sivanen and Valo article spoke to issues with CMC as an educational technology. CMC is accomplishing intimacy and encouraging relationships in online settings. This connection is allowing online to be comparable to face-to-face. The Classroom Difference$ report over three-quarters of academic leaders at public institutions report that online is as good as or better than fact-to-face instruction (compared to only 55.4% of private nonprofits and 67.08% of for profits).
As I close, I am thankful that my aunt and uncle have access to the internet, so I can complete my homework. And, may I suggest NEVER taking a Norwegian cruise – their customer support is NONE existant!
Amy,
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear about your travel troubles! I hope you can reach your destination and still salvage part of your vacation. I guess we can use you as an example of online classes, you are traveling and taking courses at that same time. All you need is an internet connection! Cool! I think the real bonus of online classes is that they allow us to keep our day jobs while still completing degrees without breaking the bank or being limited by night classes. The convenience is what I like best about online classes.
Amy: I hope your vacation worked out alright and everyone had a good time. Thanks for this link to Classroom Differences. I think I can use this in my final paper. Appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteYes, I can't imagine my professional or personal life with access to the internet. We are homeless per say (because we were to be on vacation), and we are having our floors refinished. At any rate, we are staying at our neighbors house and she doesn't have the internet. If I sit in the porch, I can get two lines from our house. I look like an eskimo trying to get my homework done in anticipation for the big storm coming our way. I am very interested in access to the internet. As a country we are falling behind with the slower speed to get access - this is going to continue to impact the futrue generations.
ReplyDeleteAmy, your above comment is dead on. As a nation we are falling behind with internet speeds. That is not the only thing we are falling being on. We used to be world leaders in just about everything, now as a nation we are well behind the rest of the world in education, mass transit, social programs, health care and heated porches with Internet access. I do fear for my son's future.
ReplyDeleteMark, I to worry for our future generations. However, I was recently at a workshop and the presenter was doing a ppt with a number of quotes that were funning, but addressing fears and concerns for the future generations coming up. In actuality the quotes were from Socrates, Shakespeare, Churchill, etc. It put me a little at ease, because we all have these fears from generation to generation on some level and the upcoming generations keep going and growing to have similar worries.
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