Computer Mediated Communication
Berrin Doğusoy
Current Issues in Technology
Enhanced Learning
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Overview
What is Computer Mediated
Communication (CMC)?
 What is CAI?
 What is an online community?
 What are the impacts online
communities on learning?
 Example of an intercultural online
community

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Computer Mediated Communication

Computer-Mediated Communication
(CMC) is any form of communication
between two or more individual
people who interact and/or influence
each other via separate computers
through the Internet or a network
connection - using social software.
CMC does not include the methods by
which two computers communicate,
but rather how people communicate
via computers.
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Why CMC?
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CMC

CMC promotes self-discipline and requires
students to take more responsibility for
their own learning. Using CMC, instructors
can vary a course's instructional design to
include everything from structured projects
to open projects in which students are free
to work on "messy"--but authentic-problem solving.
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CMC

Moreover, CMC promotes an equalization of
users. Because CMC is, at present,
primarily text-only, the consequent
reduction in social cues leads to a
protective ignorance surrounding a
person's social roles, rank, and status.
Further, it is impossible to know if another
person took several hours to draft a one
screen response, or several minutes.
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CMC
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Traditional classroom interaction places the
teacher at the center of all activities as
transmitter of knowledge and orchestrator
of student interaction.
Even if students engage in collaborative
small group tasks, the teacher is usually
around and monitors students’ progress
while providing input on how to solve a
particular task—a condition which may
hinder “reflection and facilitative
interaction”.
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CMC

Computer mediated technology provides
tools that are useful in promoting
collaborative learning activities that can
mediate communication between learners.

Furthermore, asynchronous discussions
allow students, in groups, to collaborate
with each other in an exchange of
opinions, experiences, and interpretations
of course content.
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TYPES?
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Asyncronous Communication

Asynchronous activities are independent of
real-time and are comprised of activities,
such as, viewing a web page, composing
an Electronic Mail (e-mail), watching a
video clip, or dowloading a file.
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Asyncronous CMC

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CMC can include anything that is text based, uses ICT as a technological base
and can be used for two way transmission
of ideas.
Examples of CMC can include:
emails
mailbases
shared network group folders
discussion boards (or fora/forums)
frequently updated hyperlinked webpages.
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Asyncronous CMC

Benefits of asynchronous discussions
include opportunities to think about course
content and to address a diverse set of
topics in more depth than can be done in
class or in asynchronous environment, thus
allowing students to conceptualize a topic
from multiple viewpoints and to contribute
to each other’s understanding
(Weasenforth et all, 2002).
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Synchronous Communication

Synchronous activities occur concurrently
between two or more users including such
real-time applications as chat rooms or
instant messaging which allow users to
interact simultaneously through text, audio,
and video with other users located
anywhere in the world.
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Syncronous CMC
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Synchronous CMC includes:
Chat
Instant messaging
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Synchronous CMC
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What are the biggest problems
with synchronous CMC?
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Multiple threads of discussion are created
which become too difficult to follow for
some students, particularly true of those
students who are communicating in
another language other than their first
language.
Students on a slow connection always lag
slightly behind in the discussion.
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What are the biggest problems
with synchronous CMC?

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The discussion tends to lose focus because
of many side discussions.
Some students cannot jump in because
they are slow typists.
Responses get out of sequence.
Failing to provide a platform for all students
to participate equally implicitly censors
some of the participants.
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How can we solve these
problems?
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The solution to this is to have a prepared
set of questions, subjects to discuss, etc.
and have a fixed order for the students to
respond in.
Allow a certain “open time” for students to
chat with each other. This allows the
students who are less familiar with the
technology to practice.
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
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Also,it provides an opportunity for students
who are more familiar with the technology
to introduce some of the abbreviation and
emoticons used in chat to their less
experienced peers.
Explain the procedure for participation: i.e.
that comments or responses have to be
done in a sequence.
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
Impose order on the discussion when
required. The lecturer’s role in a chat also
includes that of moderator. Whereas in
face-to-face one’s authority can be
underlined by raising one’s voice, in chat
you can use upper case to make your point
more forcefully.
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Asynchronous CMC
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What are the biggest problems
with asynchronous CMC?
The levels of participation are usually very
poor with CMC for the following reasons.

Posts to the discussion boards need to be
frequent for people to maintain an interest
in the boards, and so if the level
participation drops below a certain degree,
no further postings take place.
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What are the biggest problems
with asynchronous CMC?
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Checking the discussion board for posts
requires learning to incorporate an
additional activity to one's routine, which
often means people don’t take part.
The asynchronous nature encourages
people to give participation a lower priority.
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How can we solve these
problems?

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Raise the profile of postings by using
discussion board software that also sends
emails to the users' email account (and so
is a combination discussion board and
mailbase).
Make the discussion time -dependent, so
that participants cannot procrastinate.
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Regularly structure the discussion threads
using some of the following actions:
Cut and paste discussion threads that
diverge or are repeating discussions
elsewhere, so that each thread
corresponds to one topic.
Identify specific points within the threads
to prompt particular discussions, eliciting
answers to specific questions.
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Which CMC should we use?

The major factor in selecting a CMC
medium is “should the communication be
synchronous or asynchronous?” This
decision should be based on the following
criteria:
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Can all of the participants meet at the
same time?
Is the activity time -dependent (i.e. to fit in
with a teaching program)? If so, then a
synchronous medium is most appropriate.
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Are the participants part-time
students/spread across time zones?
Is the subject matter one which requires
in-depth analysis and response? If so, then
an asynchronous medium is most
appropriate.
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The use of CMC
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Educators often categorize the use of
instructional CMC in three ways:
For conferencing
Informatics
Computer-assisted instruction (CAI)
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The use of CMC
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Informatics (repositories or maintainers of
organized information) include library
online public access catalogs (OPACs),
interactive access to remote databases,
program/data archive sites (e.g., archives
of files for pictures, sound, text, movies),
campus-wide information systems, widearea information systems, and information
managers.
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CAI
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Computer assisted instruction (CAI) refers
to instruction or remediation presented on
a computer.
Computer-assisted instruction improves
instruction for students with disabilities
because students receive immediate
feedback and do not continue to practice
the wrong skills.
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CAI

Computers capture the students’ attention
because the programs are interactive and
engage the students’ spirit of
competitiveness to increase their scores.
Also, computer assisted instruction moves
at the students’ pace and usually does not
move ahead until they have mastered the
skill.
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Online Discussions

Online discussions are “a key feature of
computer conferencing” (Murphy and
Collins 1997). Currently, both asynchronous
and synchronous computer conferencing
have been widely used in distance learning
courses.
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
When online discussion becomes part of
learning activities in both asynchronous
learning courses and primarily face-to-face
courses, does it promote active student
learning?
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
Harasim (1990) suggests several key
differences between computer-mediated
and face-to-face discussions:
time dependence, place dependence, the
structure of communication and richness of
communication.
Also, Larkin-Hein (2001) said, “The use of
online discussion groups offers a relatively
new avenue through which the learner can
take an active role in the learning process.”
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
Althaus (1997) stated that, “In theory,
online discussions help more students learn
better by placing them in an intellectual
environment that encourages active,
thoughtful, and equal participation from all
comers”.
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
He also examines whether supplementing
face-to-face discussion with computermediated discussion (CMD) enhances the
academic performance of undergraduate
students in large lecture classes. 142
undergraduates were involved in this study
which found that a combination of face-toface and computer-mediated discussion
provides a superior learning environment
compared to the traditional classroom
alone.
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
Thomas’ (2002) study of online discussion
assumed that the nature of computermediated communication impacts on
students’ learning. This study found that
online discussion forums promote high
levels of cognitive engagement and critical
thinking.
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
However, the virtual learning space of an
online forum does not promote the
coherent and interactive dialogue
necessary for conversational modes of
learning. To overcome the incoherence, the
role of moderator and facilitator of
discussion is important in the online
discussion forum.
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Jilid Community
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR
PATIENT
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Literature
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Althaus, S. “Computer-mediated communication in the
university classroom: an experiment with on-line
discussions,” Communication Education, (46), July 1997, pp.
158-174.
Aviv, R., Educational Performance of ALN Via Content
Analysis. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 4 (2),
2000.
http://www.sloanc.org/publications/jaln/v4n2/v4n2_aviv.asp
Berge, Z. (1995). ‘Computer-Mediated Communication and
the Online Classroom: Overview and Perspectives’,
Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine / Volume 2,
Number 2/ February 1, 1995 / Page 6
Campos, M., Laferriere, T., and Harasim, L., The PostSecondary Networked Classroom:Renewal of Teaching
Practices and Social Interaction. Journal of Asynchronous
Learning Networks, 5 (2); 36-52, 2001.
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Harasim, L. M. (1990)“Online education: an environment for
collaboration and intellectual amplification,” In Harasim, L.
M. (Ed).“Online education: perspectives on a new
environment, “ NY: Praeger Publishing, pp. 39-64.
Johnson, D.W. and Johnson, R.T., Cooperation and the
Use of Technology. In: Jonassen, D.H. (Ed.), Handbook of
Research for Educational Communications and Technology,
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New York: Simon & Schuster, 1017-1044, 1996.
Larkin-Hein, T. “On-line discussions: a key to enhancing
student motivation and understanding?, “ 31th SEE/IEEE
Frontiers in Education Conference, October 10-13, 2001,
Rno, NV, pp. F2G-6 to F2G-12
Murphy, K. L. and Collins, M. P. “Development of
communication conventions in instructional electronic chats,”
[Online] http://www.emoderators.com/papers/aera97a.html
[March 7, 2003]
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Thomas, M. J. W. “Learning within incoherent structures: the
space of online discussion forums,” Journal of Computer
Assisted Learning, 2002, pp. 351-366.
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Weasenforth, D., Biesenbach-Lucas, S, and Meloni, C.,
Realizing Constructivist Objectives Through Collaborative
Technologies: Threaded Discussions. Language Learning &
Technology, Special Issue, 6 (3): 58-86, 2002.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computermediated_communication
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_community
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