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Alicia Fernandez

Preparing for Distance Learning: Designing An Online Student Orientation Course - 0 views

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    This paper describes the analysis undertaken to design a 1-credit-hour online orientation course for students new to online learning. An instructional design team, as a part of an advanced instructional design course, worked with a university-based client. The client identified specific problem areas encountered by novice students of online courses and the team designed a comprehensive program to meet those needs. Analysis of the data revealed surprising differences in expectations between instructors of online courses and their students of what an orientation to online learning should include. The team also conducted a task analysis to aid in further identifying the skills, knowledge and attitudes required by students for success in online courses. Findings indicated that there is a need for online learners to understand the time commitment required of an online course and possess or develop strong time management skills. Because of small sample size, results cannot be generalized beyond the respondents. The authors found a mismatch in the perception of instructor technical skills versus student technical skill. Based on their findings, the paper provides recommendations on the appropriate design, development and implementation of an orientation to online learning.
  •  
    This paper describes the analysis undertaken to design a 1-credit-hour online orientation course for students new to online learning. An instructional design team, as a part of an advanced instructional design course, worked with a university-based client. The client identified specific problem areas encountered by novice students of online courses and the team designed a comprehensive program to meet those needs. Analysis of the data revealed surprising differences in expectations between instructors of online courses and their students of what an orientation to online learning should include. The team also conducted a task analysis to aid in further identifying the skills, knowledge and attitudes required by students for success in online courses. Findings indicated that there is a need for online learners to understand the time commitment required of an online course and possess or develop strong time management skills. Because of small sample size, results cannot be generalized beyond the respondents. The authors found a mismatch in the perception of instructor technical skills versus student technical skill. Based on their findings, the paper provides recommendations on the appropriate design, development and implementation of an orientation to online learning.
alexandra m. pickett

Transformation via Online Learning - 4 views

  • original target audience,
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      who is your target?
    • Alicia Fernandez
       
      Nontraditional, commuter, reentry are terms assigned to my target student population, which I refer to as adult learners. Adult learners are difficult to categorize, as the determinants are often arbitrary. Their demographic variables cut across a wide swath of the population.  Ross Gordon (2011) refers to a set of shared characteristics which include: delayed entry or reentry to college, employment, and family and community responsibilities. They are also primarily part-time students. The group is typically described to be between the ages of 25-64.  Reference  Ross-Gordon, J. (2011). Research on adult learners: supporting the needs of a student population that longer nontraditional. Association of American Colleges and Universities.  (Previously bookmarked in Diigo)
  • adult online students
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      what assumptions are you making about this population?
    • Alicia Fernandez
       
      I am assuming that adult online learners meet the six assumptions of Knowles' Andragogy learning theory. Traditional college students are often still formulating self-concepts and are involved in much more socialization on campus. Adult students are usually not seeking the social component and are driven by the immediate application of acquired skills and knowledge to life outside of the classroom.  The University of Central Florida (UCF) drilled down into the age demographics of their adult student population and extrapolated generational data. Hartmann et al. (2005) reported results of a survey of nearly 1,500 online learners at UCF that shed light on generational differences in attitudes and expectations among students born during 1946- 1964 (the cohort authors nicknamed 'Baby Boomers'), students born during 1965-1980('Generation X') and others born during 1981-1994 (the so-called 'NetGen' students). The results noted that there were substantial differences between the cohorts as far as learning engagement, interaction value, and whether they changed their approach to learning as a result of their online experience.  Hartmann, J., Patsy, M. & Chuck, D. (2005). Preparing the academy of today for the learner of tomorrow. In D. G. Oblinger & J. L. Oblinger (Eds.), Educating the Net Generation, pp. 6.1-6.15. Washington, DC: EDUCAUSE. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/research-and-publications/books/educating-net-generation/preparing-academy-today-learner-tomorrow  (Bookmarked in Diigo)
  • students who attend fully online
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      not sure what you mean. these numbers are fully online students.
    • Alicia Fernandez
       
      Are these students that solely attend online classes?  Do they attend classes on campus as well?
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  • traditional and non-traditional students i
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      This perspective/distinction is very interesting/curious to me. I don't distinguish. I guess you mean traditional age college students vs. older "adult" students. In my mind they are all adults and they are all online students. Just an observation of my own perspective. : )
    • Alicia Fernandez
       
      The literature I have reviewed indicates that younger age college students may not like the lack of social interaction and find the online classroom's demands of extensive writing too laborious.  I have also found a distance difference between the two groups in my own experience. Of course this is a broad generalization and there are exceptions.  
  • If undergrads enroll in online courses and do not actively participate, this will impact the development of critical thinking skills and meaningful learning outcomes for all students
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      in my experience this "undergrad" or age variable is not significant. : )
    • Alicia Fernandez
       
      I think the maturity of the student matters greatly as far as motivation and level of participation. This would impact lower level undergrad courses much more. However, your experience proves that andragogy is not always defined by age. 
  • Jun 12th, 2014
  • Aug17
  • Satisfied. I am thrilled that I persevered and was able to complete the course. My Moodle course is far from stellar but I am pretty happy with the results of my maiden voyage.
  • I know that I have learned that social presence and teaching presences are as important as cognitive presence. More to the point, I learned that as an online student my reluctance to focus on the social aspects of the online classroom may have inhibited community building.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      Hi Alicia! Nice blog! don't forget to self assess each post!
  • Morrison, D. (2014, February 28). Best methods and tools for online educators to give students helpful and meaningful feedback. Online Learning Insights. Retrieved from http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2014/02/28/best-methods-and-tools-for-online-educators-to-give-students-helpful-and-meaningful-feedback/
Irene Watts-Politza

Teachers' Invisible Presence in Net-based Distance Education | Hult | The International... - 0 views

  • The stance taken in this paper, then, is constructivist – that conversation is learning in the making.
  • Any conversation, that is, draws on heteroglossia (Bakhtin’s neologism) – pools of different ideas whose elements, when exchanged, foster learning. According to Bakhtin, every utterance has a double significance. It is an expression of a 'unitary [common] language' used to conduct the conversation and, at the same time, it builds on the 'social and historical' differences embedded in the heteroglossia (1981, p. 272).
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      This is what happens in a discussion thread.
  • Yuri Lotman,
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  • described conversations as multi-authored texts rather than as multi-voiced heteroglossia (see Bakhtin, 1994,
  • texts “fulfill at least two basic functions:
  • fulfilled best when the codes of the speaker and the listener most completely coincide and, consequently, when the text has the maximum degree of univocality” (1988, p. 34). The generation of new meanings occurs when there are differences between the speaker and the listener. Texts used in educational exchanges cease:
  • online adult education is not the delivery of texts but, rather, the creation and insertion of ‘thinking devices’ into conversation.
  • For this article we have concentrated on teacher and student views of teachers’ role orientations in online courses.
  • our intention has been to identify and clarify teaching ‘saliences’ that have emerged in online adult education in Sweden. In a wider sense, however, our analysis is also a response to the question: ‘Whatever happened to teaching in the learning society?’
  • the posting data support the claim that the teachers adopted an initiating role.
  • Greater activity:
  • Greater influence on topic:
  • Faster response times:
  • When asked about their views, all students felt that teachers played a central role in supporting Net-based learning. Indeed, some of them suggested that moderation in online settings of adult education is more important than in face-to-face settings.
  • Orientations to Teaching
  • Activity Orientation
  • In this perspective, teachers gave students tasks that activated them and, thereby, fostered their understanding of subject matter.
  • offered students tips about articles, books and Internet sites
  • Some students spoke about being activated by stimulating tasks that led them to engage with the Web and libraries, with one of them adding ‘seeking by your self is a pre-condition for learning.’ Active searching also meant that students came into contact with information which extended their learning beyond the task itself.
  • None of the teachers, however, was entirely satisfied with their dialogic or conference practice. Levels of engagement, dialogue, and initiative-taking were not as high as they had hoped. In response, they tried to promote conversation by encouraging students to react to each other’s postings, by organising tasks where cooperation and interaction was needed, or by introducing new aspects and questions when discussion faltered.
  • Further, teachers reported that they also tried to act as models of good behaviour by giving swift replies to student postings and by making their own postings appropriate yet concise.
  • In contrast to the teachers most of the student group were satisfied with the course conversations.
  • A few
  • felt that sharing different aspects of the subject matter with the teacher and fellow students raised fresh questions. It made them reach beyond the book, evoking learning and thinking along new pathways. Even if they thought that well-chosen tasks were the most effective way of fostering dialogue, they also expected the course leader to participate fully, developing new themes if student postings declined, and remaining alert to student proposals that might enhance the interchange of ideas and knowledge.
  • Many students emphasised the importance of teaching that corroborated or validated their learning.
  • None of the teachers, however, spontaneously offered this view as their primary role or orientation. Nevertheless, when asked whether they had any correspondence with students through private mailboxes rather than ‘conferences’ and ‘cafes,’ some of them said that they occasionally responded privately to correct misinterpretations.
  • This task raises many questions about teaching, highlighting the difference, for example, between instructionist and constructionist paradigms for learning (Wilensky, 1991). Would a too well-planned course be instructionist, thus constraining student influence and the pursuit of democracy? In their postings, teachers in this study felt that there was no necessary contradiction – that well-planned courses could, indeed, strengthen student influence. Nevertheless, busy distance education students, according to the teachers, often appreciate instructionist courses with clearly stated activities and tasks, even if the students are left with limited opportunities to ‘construct their own relationships with the objects of knowledge’ (Wilensky, 1991, p. 202).
  • Teacher’s invisible presence is exemplified in taking a stand-by role and/ or being reluctant to intervene. ‘The [teachers’] silence should be deafening,’ one teacher recommended. Although most of the teachers agreed that well-planned courses do not inhibit course dialogue, the fact that in their own online course deliberations they set aside time to discuss this issue may reflect ambivalence in their stance. The question of when and how teachers should intervene remains impossible to resolve, except in practice.
  • three different aspects of teaching,
  • a second conclusion – that the promotion of learning in an open environment requires an animating or steering presence. Such teaching, however, is not a process of instruction. And for this reason the word teacher may no longer be appropriate. In English, the word tutor is commonly used in adult education, because it has connotations of ‘supervision’ and ‘guardianship’ as well as ‘instruction’ (see Oxford English Dictionary). More recently, Salmon has suggested ‘e-moderating,’ but even moderation carries instructionist connotations – to exercise a controlling influence over; to regulate, restrain, control, rule (OED) – that may not be appropriate to all forms of liberal education. In the context of mainland Europe, the word pedagogue may be appropriate since, etymologically, pedagogue denotes someone engaged in 'drawing out.'
  • Intellectual development, however, can be an intra- as well as an inter-personal phenomenon. That is, learning may not come directly from teachers but rather from their absent or invisible presence. Online pedagogues, therefore, can be present in different ways. They may be present in person, participating in learning conversations. They may constitute an absent presence that, nonetheless, is embodied in the learning resources directed towards students (e.g., the selected readings or activities). Or pedagogues may exist merely as inner voices, inherited from the language of others, that (invisibly) steer the desires, self-regulation, and self-direction of learners. Indeed, this last pedagogic position ‘auto-didacticism,’ has always been central to the post-Enlightenment ideals of liberal adult education.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      Here's the money.
  •  
    Swedish study of university student and professor attitudes toward satisfaction with and definition of teacher presence in online adult learning. Implications for course design with respect to knowing one's audience.
Alicia Fernandez

Wasted on the Young? Comparing the Performance and Attitudes of Younger and Older US Ad... - 0 views

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    This study investigates the counter-intuitive observation that older students tend to thrive better than younger students in online classes. We use a variety of measures to compare performance and attitudes of undergraduates and continuing adult professionals in separate but nearly identical class sections led by the same instructor at a US university during the same nine-month study period. Findings are consistent with theoretical predictions about differences in readiness of younger and older adults for elf-directed learning experiences. Results also suggest that online educators should be proactive in stimulating younger students' participation in class discussions, and should find ways to evaluate explicitly the tacit learning that online discussion can foster.
Alicia Fernandez

The Technology Source Archives - Effective Student Preparation for Online Learning - 0 views

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    This study has engendered several recommendations for the use and design of online orientation courses. Effective student and faculty preparation for the Web-based teaching and learning environment can make a significant impact on student success in their studies, thus increasing retention and curriculum completion.
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    This study has engendered several recommendations for the use and design of online orientation courses. Effective student and faculty preparation for the Web-based teaching and learning environment can make a significant impact on student success in their studies, thus increasing retention and curriculum completion.
Jessica M

Educators: Are Web - based Resources an Effective Means for Increasing Knowledge in Hig... - 0 views

  • Previous research has shown that online instruction has aided in the preparation and retention of special education teachers (Dymond & Bentz, 2006; Knapczyk, Frey, & Wall-Marencik, 2005).
    • Jessica M
       
      Online instruction is research proven to help benefit special education students
  • positively affect attitudes, knowledge
  • lack of training during their preservice years in proper interventions for students with disabilities, including modification, accommodations and assistive technology
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  • outcomes, and perceptions of educating students with disabilities in general education (Carroll, 2003; Cook, 2002; Kirk, 1998; Powers, 1992).
  • For example teacher educators identify time constraints as one of the biggest barriers in providing an effective overall class on how to educate students with disabilities in the general education classroom
  • ill-equipped
  • Assistive Technology Outcomes and BenefitsFocused Issue: The Role of Higher Education in Preparing Education Professionals to Use AT
  •  
    Many facts about students with disabilities and how educators can benefit from online courses and learning to better support the needs of these students. Benefit of taking this course online - community, sharing..
Diane Gusa

Students' Perspectives on Humanizing and Establishing Teacher Presence in an Online Course - 1 views

  • Students' Perspectives on Humanizing and Establishing Teacher Presence in an Online Course
  • The challenge in designing and developing online courses is for faculty members to establish their teaching presence by humanizing the online classroom experience for their students.
  • The data collected from this study, to date, states that students valued the online introductory video and the students prefer the use of an introductory video because of the teacher immediacy behaviors that were perceived.
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  • The students reported that with the introductory video used in this course, they were able to establish a foundation of the teacher/student relationship early in the course and their attitudes (affective learning) about the course were improved.
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    abstract
Diane Gusa

ISJ 27: MYTHS ABOUT ONLINE EDUCATION: - 0 views

  • Online education, on the other hand, is declared to be “a more student-centered, collabora- tive, and egalitarian learning environment” (Weisenberg & Hutton, 1996). In this new paradigm, students become self-motivated managers of their own learning instead of passive bystanders, with the ability to select learning activities that best fit their backgrounds, interests, and careers
  • (Zhang and Nunamaker, 2003), while instructors move away from the roles of an oracle, lecturer, and purveyor of knowledge toward those of a facilitator, guide, and mentor (Bernard et al., 2000; Eastmond, 1996; Leidner & Jarvenpaa, 1995; Murphy & Cifuentes, 2001; Raymond, 2000; Shedletsky & Aitken, 2001; Weisenberg & Hutton, 1996). In essence, it is believed that the online forum breaks down the teacher-student hierarchy (Weisenberg & Hutton, 1996).
  • Our conclusion after reviewing the various points of view on this issue is that the notion of stu- dent-centeredness needs to be further clarified before one can even start determining whether or not the student-centered philosophy is a precondition for effective online IS courses
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  • This myth, somewhat related to myth #2, arises from and also reinforces the belief regarding the (allegedly) changing role of faculty.
  • This myth therefore implies that Page 11 Sarker & Nicholson 65 online education either automatically enables a change, or at the very least, requires a change in attitude/approach of the instructor in order to be effective
  • Our own conclusion is that the “guide” versus “sage” debate reflects deep-rooted assumptions and philosophical beliefs regarding the nature of education, including online education, rather than empirical reality associating pedagogical style and effectiveness of courses delivered over different media. I
alexandra m. pickett

Online Course Design - 0 views

    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      Joy! thank you for making your learning visible to me! I am awed and inspired by the depth of your insights!
  • So establishing teaching presence is what all the designers, Alex, and even I, am doing when we make decisions about the content of the course, the types of activities we want to include, the tools we would like to use, how we want to assess, how we provide channels for providing and managing feedback, how we want to induct students into the course, how we want to wrap up the course….Basically – everything!
  • From planning, to execution, to assessment, to revision. So this is why developing a course is an “iterative process”.
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    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      eureka!!! brilliant!!!
  • And nothing happens by chance. Everything happens by deliberate design. And I am seeing how this is happening.
  • People are important, so… (make decisions, plan activities, evaluate, discard, adapt, iterate, etc.) Thinking is important, so ….(make decisions, plan activities, evaluate, discard, adapt, iterate, etc.) Learning is important, so….. Content knowledge is important, so… Skills are important, so…
  • From this, I have learnt that it is perfectly fine to change your mind, as long as you have solid justification. This was also a useful reminder abot the importance of accurately matching the number of objectives with activities. A designer needs to avoid creating an objective that has no activity, and an activity with no objective, as can sometimes happen through oversight.
  • “You need to rethink lots of things, to be open to possibilities, opportunities to options, then you’re more likely to be successful,” says Alex. This kind of openness does not happen as a matter of course. It has to begin with an awareness. This attitude of being open to possibilities, opportunities and options has to be actively worked upon. I failed to understand this at first. So I found it perplexing that Alex would pursue what I thought was a trivial line of discussion. What do you think is not possible to teach and learn online? I volunteered several bright contributions. I was still unaware of the purpose of this apparently innocuous discussion. Of course now I know better. That discussion was supposed to challenge a closed mind. Because with a closed mind, we render ourselves unable to be open to possibilities, opportunities to options. A closed mind works against innovation, progress, improvement, expansion. This is a new frontier, and therefore the stance which can reap untold benefits and leanings should be “Let’s explore!” So the question we should be asking isn’t “What cannot be done?” but rather “How do I make this possible?”
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      thank you for this observation, joy! thank you for taking the bait and giving us all the opportunity to question our assumptions and to arrive at creativity, innovation and possibilities!! : )
  • I need to be open to possibilities, opportunities, to options. I must put aside my prejudices and temporarily suspend “logical thinking” in favor of creative thinking.
  • But we should never give up on the unwilling ones.
  • The best way to spark change is to let them attend an effective online course.
  • I am beginning to see how “developing a course is a transformative experience”.
  • I don’t think I can return to the classroom and teach anything the same way before.
  • Designing an online course has been, for me, a truly transformative experience. It has allowed me not only to reexamine, reformulate and reassess, but to also move forward to innovate and in some ways, to reinvent myself as a teacher.
  • I was therefore quite relieved Alex confirmed what I had feared. I was packing in too much. Even before even before Alex provided her completely justified feedback that my course was too packed (“for you Joy, less is more!”)
  • An online environment is different from a f2f setting. Being able to state it in a theoretical way is not the same as understanding it and translating it into practice. Of course I knew the theory. But when the time came for application in the design of the online course, my knowledge did not transfer well into practical application. This is one of the main problems when there is a failure of the student to  successfully transfer learning, which is basically one of great challenges of teaching.  So basically, what I did initially did was to replicate my f2f activities directly into my online classroom.
  • As I feared, and Alex confirmed, this large amount of group work puts a strain on the students and also poses too many logistic difficulties. Perhaps one or two group work activities might work, but not several in each module. It is unrealistic. So I have learnt, in a very concrete and hands-on way, that designing for my online classroom in this instance is different from designing for my face-to face classroom.
  • Once again, I am reminded that theory and practice need mutual reinforcement. Understanding the theory is one thing. Transferring the theoretical knowledge into action requires experience, reflection, and feedback from others.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      thank you for making your thinking and learning visible to me!
  • Having experienced a wonderful sense of community, and seeing how it is done, I do feel that I have a fair idea of the basic ingredients that go into creating a sense of community. However, Alex has set a high, high standard, and I don’t know I have the energy to sustain the community building effort, even if I knew how to do it!
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      i have great expectations of you joy! i know you can do it : )
  • this is a process
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      Yes!!! the value to me and to the others in the class is to be able to watch your process. we see how you think and refine and how your ideas change and evolve and that adds to our understanding of you and our own learning.
  • My present ideas never look like version 1! The result is that the ideas I handed up in the proposed learning activities resemble very little of what I actually have now
    • Joan Erickson
       
      Oh Joy, I can relate! By the time Alex reads my submitted writing assignment, my actual course design has already morphed a few times. I've visited your course, it looks great! the activities you set up indicatethat you have high expectations for the participants!
  • Confucius
    • Joan Erickson
       
      wow, Confucious said that? I didn't even know, and I'm Chinese!
  • In short – let the students do the work. This is the best way to learn. This principle, I think, has been demonstrated in this course. And I intend to pursue it in my own course. I see the value of giving the students both structure and space.
  • One of the insights has to do with letting go as a teacher.
  • Reading Sue’s
  • I agree with Sue.
Nicole Gallo

The Truth About Homework - 1 views

  • Carole Ames of Michigan State University points out that it isn’t “quantitative changes in behavior” – such as requiring students to spend more hours in front of books or worksheets – that help children learn better.  Rather, it’s “qualitative changes in the ways students view themselves in relation to the task, engage in the process of learning, and then respond to the learning activities and situation.”  In turn, these attitudes and responses emerge from the way teachers think about learning and, as a result, how they organize their classrooms.  Assigning homework is unlikely to have a positive effect on  any of these variables.  We might say that education is less about how much the teacher covers than about what students can be helped to discover – and more time won’t help to bring about that shift.
    • Nicole Gallo
       
      Developing an online course is not just the transfer of a traditional course to an online platform.  Assigning a video is not providing the student with a relevant experience nor a reason to engage; it can still be viewed through the lens of just homework. 
  • Finally, any theoretical benefit of practice homework must be weighed against the effect it has on students’ interest in learning.  If slogging through worksheets dampens one’s desire to read or think, surely that wouldn’t be worth an incremental improvement in skills.
Danielle Melia

http://www.ega.edu/facweb/irp/Surveysandreports/WebCTConference2003/papersfromconferenc... - 0 views

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    The Effects of Teacher Presence on Student Performance and Attitudes
Joan Erickson

The absolute basics about assessment - 0 views

  • assessment instruments or measures.)
    • Joan Erickson
       
      "assessment instruments or measures"----hmm, have to look it up. What are other assessment measures I can use?
  • analyze
    • Joan Erickson
       
      Don't forget to ask the students to give feedback
  • results
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  • employ the results
    • Joan Erickson
       
      3 R's: results, reflect, refine
  • decide what skills, knowledge, and/or attitudes
  • Assessment is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning
  • performance indicators
  • results
  • consider the results of your assessment.
  • results
  • results
  • results
  • results
  • reflection
  • refinement
Luke Fellows

The Facebook phenomenon: online self-disclosure and uncertainty reduction. - Free Onlin... - 0 views

  • Facebook has begun to transform the way in which individuals perceive relationship development and interpersonal reactions, namely through self-disclosure.
  • A self-disclosure is any message or interaction between individuals that communicates information about oneself to others
  • Uncertainty reduction is the exchange of information between individuals that allows one to form impressions of others and make sense of social situations
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  • The process of uncertainty reduction thus enables individuals to predict another individual's actions, attitudes and behaviors, which can ease anxiety in initial social encounters
  • Facebook ranks higher than any other form of communication technology, including phone and email, and has become the number one choice of communication for university students
  • Self-disclosure is the process of revealing personal information about one's self through verbal communication (Sheldon, 2009). Traditional theories of self-disclosure pertain to face-to-face communication encounters, which suggest that self-disclosure allows others to know more about him or herself
rhondamatrix

Writing Centers, Ethics, and Excessive Research - 1 views

  •  
    I am interested in finding information about writing centers, in particular online writing centers, because that will likely be my area of focus if I end up doing a doctorate program. This particular website is a great compilation of research. It's not a peer-reviewed journal, but it does reference lots of articles to look up later. One of the topics I was most interested in here is students' attitudes and practices regarding research and citation of said research.
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