Having seen students visiting my AT to hand-in all sorts of letters (letters of apology, permission, parent approval etc) I asked my AT if email is used for student-teacher-parent communication at all. The answer was surprising. My AT questioned the legitimacy of Email which do not carry pen-stroked signatures.
Several studies quoting students report that using email to communicate with teachersis generally more preferred(Mitra & Steffensmeier, 2000), and that with email, they communicate with teachers more often and more freely (Arend, 2004). Traditional office hours are being replaced with email communication (Dickson & Segars, 1999; Reynolds, 2003), as students can ask brief questions of teachers without having to meet in person. This asynchronous communication allows for greater flexibility for students and teachers, and also provides teachers with an electronic record of student advising and counselling (Partee, 1996). Brown and Pettito (2003) suggest that email is becoming ubiquitous in that, “a majority of academic communities are presuming that students and faculty communicate via email” (p. 26).
How far removed is the practice from thoery....
Several studies quoting students report that using email to communicate with teachersis generally more preferred(Mitra & Steffensmeier, 2000), and that with email, they communicate with teachers more often and more freely (Arend, 2004). Traditional office hours are being replaced with email communication (Dickson & Segars, 1999; Reynolds, 2003), as students can ask brief questions of teachers without having to meet in person. This asynchronous communication allows for greater flexibility for students and teachers, and also provides teachers with an electronic record of student advising and counselling (Partee, 1996). Brown and Pettito (2003) suggest that email is becoming ubiquitous in that, “a majority of academic communities are presuming that students and faculty communicate via email” (p. 26).
How far removed is the practice from thoery....
The research and your personal views demonstrate the usefulness of a simple tool that we most of the time take for granted and overlook the fact that the desired results can be derived by communication and involving students in their projects particularly in secondary schools. However the given research scenarios seemed to be more fit in tertiary level.
ReplyDeleteCommunication is a skill that is supposed to be taught only in English class by following contemporary language and poetry. Like Technology, Languages have been evolved and also the way we communicate with our colleagues. This is imperative that our lifelong learners will learn the effective ways to communicate not only each other but also with the outer world.