EDUCATIONAL CHALLENGES ARISING FROM STUDENT PERCEPTION OF ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION

Contemporary students and instructors have differing views about communication technologies that can impact their learning relationship. We have found that although e-mail is students' primary method for contacting instructors, some students view it as too slow for their academic needs. At the same time, many students do not want to use more immediate, and consequently, more personal communications technologies such as instant messaging. Meanwhile, instructors are relying more than ever on electronic communication, such as e-mail, ‘blogs,' instant messaging, and newsgroups to create virtual online environments that replace or supplement traditional classrooms. Thus, instructors must find appropriate technologies that satisfy both educational and student requirements. Unfortunately, instructional needs, such as the ability to create transcripts of communication, can conflict with those of students, such as a desire for anonymity. As a consequence, technologies designed to enhance communication can inadvertently be disruptive and create barriers to effective education. We conducted a survey on student's use of e-mail, instant messaging, and other text-based communication technologies to accurately ascertain contemporary attitudes towards these tools and determine their impact on the educational environment. Our results identify currently existing problems, such as differing attitudes about ‘spam,' for which further study is needed.