***** COOMBS *************** EJC/REC Vol. 3, No. 2, 1993 ***

CMC: THE MEDIUM AND THE MESSAGE


Norman Coombs
Rochester Institute of Technology


        Abstract.  The author reflects upon his
     experiences as one of the first college educators
     to use computer-mediated communication in teaching
     traditional classes in history and distance
     education classes at a technological institution.
     The article calls attention to various ways in
     which CMC has made it easier for students to
     interact in class discussion, making history more
     relevant to their own experiences, as well as ways
     in which the medium has removed certain
     traditional constraints on the process of
     teaching.  Finally, CMC's technical limitations
     are acknowledged along with the prediction that
     CMC will in time revolutionize teaching and
     learning as profoundly as the printing press.

     Computer mediated communication (CMC) is a highly
interactive technology with great potential to impact the
shape of modern education.  The lecture has been the most
common form of communication in the university between
teacher and student.  While the computer can be used to
deliver material in a lecture or monograph format, its
inherent interactive power makes it better suited to a
dialogue or group discussion making the learner a
participant rather than a spectator.  When the computer is
connected to high speed data networks, the student can
increasingly access libraries, databases and other
information sources instantaneously from almost anywhere.
Tomorrow's information technology can bring in an
educational revolution which will put the learner, not the
teacher, in the center of the process and which will
transform the professor from a dispenser of information into
a discussion moderator and skilled resource expert.  In an
age of information overload, the educator will need to
direct the learner in how to find what is relevant and what
to do with raw information to turn it into useful knowledge.

     In the middle 1980s, the Rochester Institute of
Technology began to use computer mediated communication to
enhance its distance education courses.  My original goal,
when I became involved, was to provide the same quality of
education to these distance learners as I felt I did to the
classroom students.  I had no concept that it would change
the nature of what I was doing.  Intuitively, I sensed that
the computer should not be used to transmit lectures, but
that videos were a much better format for a one-way
presentation.  Happily, we found an existing series on
modern American history which combined talking head
professors with lots of documentary footage.  Electronic
mail and computer conferencing were used for the equivalent
of office visits and class discussions.  I strove to make
these duplicate as closely as possible what was happening
between myself and the on-campus students.  However,
gradually it became evident that the online learners were
sharing more, sharing more openly and that we came to know
one another more than was true for the classroom students.
In fact, this has become important enough in my evolving
view of education that I require some of my on-campus
classes to participate in a computer mediated discussion to
involve them in some of these benefits.

     In a computer mediated discussion, there is no stage,
and therefore there is no stage fright.  As one student
commented in the computer conference, "I'm not a great
speaker, so the conference helps me put my thoughts together
and allows me to express them better without having my
tongue twisted."  The computer conference system, VAX Notes,
is an asynchronous format and does not function in "real
time".  This provides time to reflect on what one is reading
and to consider what one is going to say.  Some said that
sometimes they hesitated to speak openly in class for fear
of getting "a crazy look" from the others.  More than one
student said that they shared more in the computer
discussions than in any previous class experience.

     While a few participants complained that the lack of
face-to-face communication was disconcerting, more said they
found it liberating.  People felt they were being judged on
their comments and not on physical external features.  "The
everyday communication barriers are avoided," commented one
student at the end of the course.  He added, "Whether this
barrier is being hearing impaired, being Black, White, or
Green, being shy or not a good speaker, or what have you,
these communication gaps and many others are bridged."  This
insight occurred in the context of a course on African
American history, and the discussion on the computer was
much more open and relaxed than it was for these same
students in the classroom.  This fact makes computer
mediated communication an ideal tool for courses in cultural
diversity and multiculturalism.  It also serves as a unique
context for mainstreaming learners with various physical
disabilities.  Even hearing impaired students, for whom
English is often a second language, find they can
communicate better when there is no pressure.  The small
display on the computer monitor tends to encourage shorter
statements without many compound complex sentences which
assists those with limited English skills.

     In the course of this more open discussion,
participants often shared personal or family stories that
related to the course material.  At a technical university,
students seldom take history courses by choice, and they
regularly forget the material quickly once the exam is over.
However, the more that class material became connected to
their lives, the more meaningful it was for them.  I believe
that affective learning is good education.  In African
American history, students told of their parents'
involvement in civil rights marches and of grandparents
observing lynchings.  In American history, they told of
their parents struggles as immigrants.  This kind of
personal involvement had been rare in my previous classroom
experiences.

     As the teacher, I found that this interactive computer
medium gradually altered my perceptions of the students.
Besides knowing them better because of this increased
interaction, the asynchronous feature of the system
permitted me a double vision of the class.  On one hand, as
I read and sometimes participated in the discussions, I had
a psychological sense of belonging to a group activity.  On
the other hand, when someone caught my attention, I could
focus my time and energy on that one individual without
taking time or attention away from the others.  The feeling
I had was that of a zoom lens on a camera.  At one time, I
had the panoramic picture, and then, a second later, I had a
close up view of one individual.  I gained a greater
realization that different students learn differently and
could take time to focus on individual needs.  One of the
reasons I could give this individual attention is that
computer mediated communication let me keep control of my
time.  I could decide whether to send a one-line email
message or expand in more detail.  When a student is in the
office, it is difficult to control when to reply and for how
long.  CMC let me be interactive without giving control of
my time to others.

     Every medium has its limitations.  At present,
networked computer conferencing and email is primarily text
based.  This means that special math, science and music
symbols are not readily displayed.  It also limits the use
of pictures, maps and other graphic learning materials.  The
technology already exists to provide personal computers and
data networks with multi-media capability, and this
potential will become real in a few short years.  This will
even provide the ability to transmit pictures of people
involved in online discussions together.  At present,
however, some do find the lack of face-to-face communication
limiting.  Often, I found students went out of their way to
express themselves very clearly because of this feature.
They often also asked others for clarification of some point
before engaging in a disagreement or confrontation.

     This narrow bandwidth of communication created two
interesting events in classes this year.  First, during the
Los Angeles riots in the spring of 1992, a woman sent me
email that she had found some comments in the conference
"frightening".  I did not perceive them that way and did not
take her comments seriously enough.  When, a couple weeks
later, she had to come on campus to take an exam, she
arrived with two campus security guards accompanying her.
She was afraid of violence during the exam.  The proctor
calmed her fears and dismissed the guards, and nothing
happened.  Second, one student repeatedly went out of his
way to describe for us his unusual dress and hair styles.
While complaining that people always got upset by his
appearance and judged him unfairly, it seemed that he was
working hard to get a reaction from us.  After classmates
convinced him they were more concerned with his
contributions than with his dress, he even began to discuss
issues in a much less outrageous manner.  In both cases, for
quite different reasons, the narrow communication bandwidth
interfered with the communication.

     The final limitation I have observed in my CMC classes
comes from the asynchronous feature of the system we have
been using.  On one hand, it provides a genuine flex
learning environment which many students greatly appreciate.
On the other hand, some students lack the self discipline to
work without the pressures of time and place.  The system
works best for more mature learners especially those trying
to squeeze learning into a full adult life.

     The real impact of CMC on education is yet to come.
Online information sources are only beginning in most
disciplines.  Even when they exist, they are all too often
expensive, commercial products.  As public library resources
become available online or as affordable site licenses for
university access to commercial databases become available,
educators will have to integrate these into their courses.
Hypertext and hypermedia tools are also on the horizon and
will put new information power at the fingertips of teachers
and students.  At present, the interactive features of CMC
can be used productively in cultural diversity contexts.  It
would also be interesting to experiment with CMC in a
bilingual context.  Here, of course, the bilingual
differences might tend to stand out rather than to
disappear.  However, in an asynchronous setting,
participants would have time to collect their thoughts and
find their words.  This would be an interesting project for
someone in the Canadian education system.

     Five hundred years ago, the printing press
revolutionized education.  Professors stopped dictating
notes to the students and provided them with books instead.
CMC as an interactive medium and networked databases
circling the globe hold the potential to again change the
way we teach and learn.
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                      Copyright 1993
   Communication Institute for Online Scholarship, Inc.