I recently complete a qualitative case study concerning the effective use of communication during periods of organizational change. One of the central themes that developed during my analysis was the use of different communication modality for conveying different type of information. The findings indicated voice-to-voice modality of communication was best for nuanced or complicated information that had long-term consequences. E-mail communications was preferred for information less nuance and complicated or related to day-to-day operations. Although this does not directly relate to how we operate within our classrooms, I believe some of the findings correlate to the online classroom setting.

I have found that voice-to-voice communication can help students when they struggle with complicated concepts or assignments, and when we need to communicate the overarching goals of the course. The subtle nuances and inflections in our voices can help students, implicitly, understand the material in a more holistic manner. For more mundane and specific questions posed by students, e-mail communication might suffice.

Many instructors have the experience of receiving long, rambling, and complicated e-mails from students in which we know that a voice-to-voice connection could help simplify the issue the student is experiencing. Likewise, we may have received phone calls during busy periods of grading that were not pressing in which the most effective manner of communication was through e-mail. The first crucial point being we should use the communication modality we believe most effective to deal with the intensity of the student's issue.

I understand that we all have our preferences in how we communicate to our students. I personally prefer e-mail communication as the asynchronous nature of the modality allows me to research the question, and then provide, what I believe, is a correct answer. Other instructors may enjoy the interaction with the student voice-to-voice communication affords. The second curial point is we need to develop communication strategies to interact with our students and provide them with the guidance they expect and need.

Given the diversity of instructors and their preferences for communicating with students, I am curious to hear how you communicate with your students. Do you find that the nature of the assignment effects how you communicate with the student, or does your communication modality choice rest on what you believe will be most effective for the student? I look forward to your feedback.

Thanks,

Eric