Tuesday, September 3, 2013

COMMUNICATIONS THEORY


What I have noticed in regards to online education is it is a different approach to how one can gain an education and still keep up with their busy lifestyle. In a way there is a difference between the way one can educate themselves in a class room vs an online approach. Personally, when I was in a program that required me to attend classes some were too early, and some were too boring. With the advantage of technology and being able to complete your courses online you are able to teach yourself and complete the course at your own pace. The disadvantage I have noticed with online education is one enrolls in an online degree program to complete their degree due to a full time job, or other responsibilities. When the professor hands out weekly deadlines that do not fit with one’s schedule it is very hard to achieve the mark that one would want. The difference with online due to the way technology is mediated is there is no face to face interaction; there are other ways to interact such as email. You do not need to hold a meeting when trying to complete a group project, the disadvantage with this is communication is not always constant; you are always waiting for the other person to respond through email. Due to the improvement in technology email can be delivered right to one’s cell phone so the waiting game is not too long. The differences in the education that you are receiving through online courses is very different to one learning the same thing in a classroom, due to you are trying to teach yourself the program. In a way online education can have its positives and negatives, positive in a way that you can complete assignments on your own time, and you can still keep a fulltime job while trying to gain an education, and negative in a way that if you are not dedicated and cannot take the time to learn the material and teach yourself online education is not for you.
QUESTION 1
The writer of the attached 1, suggests that in the on-line classroom you teach yourself. Is this the case? What drives this perception? What does this suggest about the “feeling” that happens in a face-to-face classroom?
How does learning actually take place? What goes on inside the brain that leads to learning and why might it feel different in the on-line vs. the face-to-face environment?
100 words.
A new technology that has not been adopted by many yet and is still waiting popularity and acceptance its impacts can be predicted on the basis of basic ethics. For example, ethics of social media and communication. Lets suppose a new social website like Facebook is being developed. The ethical issues that can be predicted are of privacy of each user, the apropriateness of the approach of a website in terms of multicultural online community. Technology has sort of invaded the human mind, we have become more expressive and global, rather over expressive. For example, many people wish to share their opinion about current events in the world and this starts a trend of negative and positive feedback which leads to a controversy. What ever type of technology it might be,
no tehcnology is fully, 100% ethical and its ethical soundness can be predicted after disclosing the nature of the social medium.
I work with one of the national experts in privacy and we have had some fascinating conversations. One of which is that no one had any idea about the privacy implications when social network sites were being developed. In fact, there are still serious issues to be resolved. He tends to be a privacy extremist but his point is well-taken, even at the level of what should be obvious, we don’t know what is obvious until long after the technology is developed.
So how do we know what is ethical if we cannot predict even the obvious outcomes?
100 WORDS
Ethics and Culture in communication are two difficult topic to compromise. Social medias have some work in keeping some ethical standard while in operation but members remain vulnerable to some unethical issues. The outcome of social media outlet is not determined during production but during operation. Every social media seem to continue to review their ethical value when members are affected. The cultural aspect varies from one perspective to the other.
For example, communication seems very complex between cultures. One meaning of something on the left could be the opposite or different meaning on the right. I can now safely disagree with some of my cultural doctrine and take in some of the ones learnt from other cultures thereby creating my own out of many. It is a very difficult topic as many of us have gotten to appreciate and respect other cultures even though, It is far more complicated.
Looking at the projected outcome of a newly established social media outlet will still not solve the misery of the complications surrounding the unethical outcome of most established outlets.
READ ATTACHED 3 AND ANSWER QUESTION 3
I think you raise very valid points but, could it also be said that social media is becoming a pseudo culture unto itself? In many respects, social media platforms tend to have their own customs, methodologies and even their own languages. How is this any different from a specific off-line cultural grouping?
100 WORDS
In recent years, a new form of education has emerged as a result of technological developments. This new form is called MOOCS (massive open on-line courses). There are many different opinions about online education. Some people do not approve of it and believe this form of education indicates that the end of universities is at hand. However, many other people believe it is a great phenomenon which provides many people all around the world with the opportunity of studying.
I myself appreciate online education a lot because if such a system did not exist, I would never be able to have academic studies in the field I liked. I and many of my friends are not allowed to enter the universities of our country due to our religious belief, and although my community has established a university for Baha’i students, it has only a few fields due to all limitations and lack of facilities. Also, as I have not gone to military service, I am not allowed to exit the country! So, online education was really a great chance for me to be able to follow my studies in the field I really like.
Among many benefits online education has, I would like to refer to the followings:
First of all, students will be able to choose their desired university and field of study in any part of the world and they are not limited to the place they live in. Second, students can benefit from the flexibility of online education. They can study wherever they are and whenever they are free. Also, as they do not have to attend classes, they can work and study at the same time. Third, in online education, students have more access to their course material, lectures, discussions, etc. while in the traditional form of education students should take notes in the classroom; otherwise they may find it difficult to follow the spoken material in the classroom. Forth, through online education, students can save a lot of money as they do not have to spend money for transportation and accommodation. Fifth, in online education, students have access to their instructors all the time and they can contact with their professors through online chat, email, etc. And finally, as instructors in online education come from different paces with different personal experiences and backgrounds, they can provide students with different perspectives on course materials.
Reference:
http://seacstudentweb.org/top-benefits-of-online-education.php

QUESTION 4
I think Arsalan glosses over one of the most important features of on-line learning–the globalization of high quality education even in the face of social barriers to education. He is a perfect example, studying at a foreign university, within the framework of uncensored materials, despite living in the midst of an oppressive culture. If we look at that one implication, what does it suggest about the future of the planet? This is significant.

No comments:

Post a Comment