Whether we are near or far from our students, electronic communication is an essential tool. For this discussion, examining the limitations, expectations, problems and concerns of various distance learning communication mediums will be addressed.
BLOG: The benefit of maintaining a blog is that the material is easy to file and easy to retrieve. If my purpose is to keep a record of what has happened in my classroom, this is the way to go. For me, the best use of a blog is to archive--as a digital journal with photos. Blogging creates a digital scrapbook, and many elements can be included, such as weblinks, videos and photos. Some drawbacks to blogging might include that its lack of immediacy. A conversation thread within a blog may or may not have the sense that it's happening in the present. Those comments would also need to be patrolled by the blogger or an administrator to make sure they were appropriate and that the blog host was responding as needed.
EMAIL DISCUSSIONS: Email beats snail mail for convenience, tracking and immediacy, but it can also be fraught with problems. For personal communication, I use email for individuals or small groups of maybe 15 or less. I determine that the email address that I use is in the receiver's contacts so it won't be going to a junk or spam folder. Thanks to banner messages, email can catch the attention of receivers quickly, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily prioritized for response. When thinking as an educator, there are other considerations. Anytime you use email, the sheer volume a receiver may be experiencing may overwhelm them and prevent them from staying up to date. Once I was the administrator for the update emails for the theater group I work with. We tried Mail Chimp but still found receivers regularly missing emails. Another problem people seem to experience with group email is when is it appropriate to "reply" or "reply all"? People seem to have difficulty differentiating between messages that need to go out to everyone and messages that should be directly to the originator or administrator. In addition to large email address systems like gmail, school management software systems can provide privacy and security, including email for student and parents. I don't have current experience with these systems, but I've heard they are effective. I also appreciated these ideas about email organizing strategies.
LIVE CHAT DISCUSSION: Live chat discussions are best for "in the moment" communications. During a Zoom meeting, the chat feature comes in handy when someone is having trouble connecting and needs to make a comment. I particularly appreciated this advice about using Backchannel.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/backchannel-student-voice-blended-classroom-beth-holland
The downside of having chat available during a presentation is the potential for bad manners--side conversations that distract from the presenter. With intentional instruction, I'm confident students can learn when to use the chat feature and when not to. I would also want to develop a live chat system for parents so I could reach out to them or respond to them as needed whenever I was online.
BOTTOM LINE: Each medium of electronic communication is helpful to for a teacher and has its place, but must be managed for effectiveness.
