Being an Online Learner and Online Communication

During the last week I have the opportunity to share experiences with about twenty colleges around the world. All of them linked to Laureate International Universities Network.

What I value most of this opportunity is that we share an online classroom as a global community, where we express our own points of view while learning a specific subject: In this case being online learners and online communicator.

Due to most of the online classroom communication takes place in the online classroom in a written format and without the benefit of seeing a person’s body language or hearing a person’s voice, it is easy to misjudge or misinterpret the intent or tone of a communication or the motivation for an action. As I had previous experience in online learning environments, my expectations were correct:  people in the online classroom are different from me, even if I am able to speak the same language.

I found very useful during this first week the Laureate’s 10 best practices for online communication that I cited as follow:

1. Use formatting wisely in e-mail and discussion: TYPING IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS IS EQUIVALENT TO SHOUTING. Shouting at your readers makes them more likely to skim over what you have to say, or ignore you altogether. I prefer to use bold and italics sparingly in e-mail to indicate urgency.
2. Include identifying information on all e-mails: I used to include a signature block with my formal name, my institution, and my contact information.
3. Pay attention to spelling and grammar: The quality of any writing makes a certain impression on others. Therefore, lend e-mails and discussion posts the same attention to detail you would devote to any published work.
4. Keep your responses concise: It is important for me to re-read and edit out anything that is not directly applicable to my response. While it is helpful, for me, to provide context for my readers by including the original e-mail in my reply. At the same time, it is important to avoid burying the response in layer-upon-layer of previous correspondence.
5. Use the subject line: For each e-mail and threaded discussion post, it is relevant to provide a clear subject line so that recipients immediately know the point of my message.
6. Be professional, respectful, and thoughtful in all communication: Laureate considers online courses to be a professional experience. As a result, students are expected to practice professional standards in all communications.
7. Think "Global Community": The Laureate Network is an international community. I recognize that I communicate with people from different countries, cultures, and who speak different languages. What may be acceptable in one culture may not be acceptable in another.
8. Exercise humor in moderation: Without the benefit of facial expressions, body language, and hearing tone of voice, any joke may be viewed as criticism. Subtler forms of humor, such as sarcasm and irony, are especially difficult to convey online.
9. Read your message carefully before sending it: Any communication online via e-mail or in discussion areas are recorded and archived. It is important for me that anything I say online can be easily forwarded, avoid making statements I would not want to become public knowledge.
10. Do not solicit: Soliciting is generally prohibited on university campuses, and online classrooms are no exception.

By keeping these simple rules, I have a marvelous experience with my colleges. We share points of view in several subjects like: keeping the motivation during blended learning, how to avoid cheating online, the remarks of some Laureate Universities in teaching online, the goals of teaching mathematics in blended environments, and many others more.