COMM 565 - The Technology Phenomenon of Education

As part of the Technological Phenomenon trilogy, it is also important to recognize how education has evolved. William Sugar, Associate Professor for East Carolina University, explores teaching strategies of the traditional classroom environment as opposed to an online forum. Online professors face different challenges in the online environment such as a distinct set of online student needs and the need to promote interaction in the distance learning environments (p. 366). Sugar believes that teaching in the online environment requires additional preparation time as well as a loss of personal interactions with students. The research revealed mixed reviews with participants feeling some face-to-face activities can be replicated in the online environment and some cannot. While I believe this information to be fact, I believe we have to ask the question of how this impacts the ability to learn and retain information. For example, some students may prefer an online environment while others may prefer the traditional classroom environment since they need that one-on-one interaction with their professors and classmates. This type of analysis and information is important as our society raises up the next generation of communication professionals. Just as the workplace needs to keep in mind the purpose of communication, our educational departments must continually research and examine how technology is affecting the way students learn. How we learn is just as important as what we learn.

One of the professions most affected by technology is that of the journalist. How do communication professionals, specifically journalists, use – or do not use – social media in their roles as news gatherers and disseminators? Researchers conducted a study where 200 business journalists participated in a phone interview that included questions on demographics, uses, and perceived value of social media (Lariscy et al, 2009). Shockingly, 34% considered social media to be of little or no importance in their jobs and approximately 3% find the majority of their information in online sources. The results of the study indicate that journalists embrace the concept of social media rather than actually utilizing the practices of it. These are interesting findings considering so much of our news is consumed through social media such as news apps, Twitter, etc. The consensus of those surveyed was that social media was not very important to the journalists’ overall profession. Fortunately, those conducting the research realize that this thought process needs changing. Social media is becoming more and more prevalent in the role of news building, and, as the authors state, journalists would be smart to be prepared for the day social media may contribute to agenda building. That day is already here.

In her article entitled Online Journalists: Foundations for Research into their Changing Roles, author Jane Singer suggests that instead of gate-keeping disappearing with the invention of the Internet, some journalists see this function as evolving in this new media environment and feel their primary role is “interpreter” as opposed to “gatherers” and “disseminators.” In contrast to the report from Lariscy et al., which states that journalists do not engage with social media in the professional context, Singer argues that journalists use interactive media to gather information as well as disseminate it. This relates to the writer’s responsibility since we can now understand the way journalists view their roles in the new media.

           

Lariscy, R., Avery, E., Sweetser, K., & Howes, P. (2009). An Examination of the Role of Online

Social Media in Journalists’ Source Mix. Public Relations Review: A Global Journal of Research and Comment. 35: 314-316.

Singer, J. (1998). Online Journalists: Foundations for Research into their Changing

Roles. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Volume 4, Issue 1.

            http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.1998.tb00088.x/full

Sugar, W., Martindale, T., & Crawley, F. (2007). One Professor’s Face-to-Face Teaching

Strategies while becoming an Online Instructor. The Quarterly Review of Distance Education. Volume 8(4), p. 365-385.