I have been reflecting about what it says that we want to communicate in 144 characters or less. It seems like just another way for us (people?, Americans?, I'm identifying with the anonymous "they" here, I suppose) to have instant gratification. I want to know what you think, but I don't want to work to understand it or have it be difficult to grasp. So, I want you to say it in the least amount of space possible, 144 characters. Really, what deep, thoughtful, insightful comments can you make in 144 characters? Perhaps if I was on Twitter I would see some examples. Since I only read tweets that get re-posted to other media sources, I probably have a bad sampling. But the good ones I've read are comedic (which I love), not really places of quality communication. Perhaps it is as the introvert I am speaking, a dislike of small talk prevents me from appreciating the place of 144 character communication.
On one of the blogs I read he regularly embeds tweet-ability for his pithy comments. It drives me nuts. It tells me what I'm supposed to take away from his post (in case I am not a capable enough reader to sort that out for myself); it tells me he thinks I'm too lazy to highlight, ctrl c, ctrl v to share it; it tells me I don't really need to read the whole post, I could get the idea if I just read 2-3 144 character posts. I do try to give him the benefit of the doubt, that's not really what he thinks. This allows me to keep reading his posts.
So perhaps 144 character posts have merit in conversational sense, but it worth considering what we are communicating about what thoughtfulness is in communication if we are limiting your characters to 144. I am all for brevity, parsimony, and being concise, but there is a point at which we are too limited to communicate the depth of what we are thinking about. So I think before using tools in learning settings that limit us in this way we need to be careful in our consideration of what we want our students to learn about communication.
I'm thinking about this as an avid Tweeter. I definitely felt like I was limited at first by Twitter's 140 character limit--how can you have a real conversation with someone that way? But over time, I've built some real friendships with fellow educators all over the world, 140 characters at a time.
ReplyDeleteI really do agree with you on this though, Luralyn: we have to be mindful of the meta-message we send to students in the teaching methods we choose. (That's true in f2f courses too, I think.) Lecturing sends a message beyond the content of the lecture. Showing a film clip shows a message beyond the content. Using a message board in an online course has a message beyond the content. Assigning people to write blog posts has a message beyond the content. (Hmmmm...wait a minute...) :-)
We aren't *just* teaching content, after all. We're (hopefully) shaping who our students will be as people, and how they will act--and why! That's a weighty responsibility!
My 2¢...
dm
I am thinking that perhaps the meta-messages in online education are bigger than those in f2f, because the communication is so limited without f2f contact to judge meanings and interpretations.
DeleteI think having us blog means you expect us to be more vulnerable than we have to be in any other educational context, because we have to say more (than just a discussion post) and we have to say it publicly.
I have no doubt it is possible to build friendships over Twitter. I just don't want to do it. Plus you made me write about something I was thinking about, and this was it.
With limited space
ReplyDeletewe may resort instead to
creativity.
Perhaps a new rule:
all of our on-line comments
must be in haiku
Creativity,
DeleteIt is possible, I guess,
But seriously?
You ask so much here.
Focused on the wrong thing now.
I need to get sleep.
Thanks for your comments, Luralyn, I share in your wondering about the value of "conversations" that are limited in length and depth.
ReplyDeleteApparently they can predict heart disease rates from language use analysis of twitter on a county level. From Psych Science Feb 2015.
ReplyDelete