A Place for Better Interaction & Learning
Through Internet, the boundaries of the social interaction have changed. In face-to-face world, each individual
or group we interact has own distinct psychological quality. On the other hand, in an online environment interaction is more complex due to dynamics of cyberspace and the individual characteristics of the students
Dr. Muhammad Umar Farooq
T
hrough Internet, the
boundaries of the social interaction have
changed. In face-toface world, each individual or
gr oup we interact has own distinct
psychological quality. On the other
hand, in an online environment
interaction is more complex due to
dynamics of cyberspace and the
individual characteristics of the
students. In cyberspace
students,
may present their
ideas in a variety of
different ways. In a
virtual
environment, a student
may change identity,
personality,
physical
appearance, even gender.
Generally,
the
username does not
indicate one’s personality. However,
in a virtual classroom students are
required to be truthful about their
identity and they are also required
to do their own work. They identify
themselves when communicating
online and follow the rules of
online etiquette. After providing
basic identity characteristics to etutors, students are free to choose
how they wish their peers to perceive them in the classroom. So, if
a student is a normally shy person
in class and feels uncomfortable
speaking in front of others, he/she
may be more assertive in a virtual
classroom. There are many students who don’t worry about their
physical appearance and are free
to express themselves. A virtual
classroom provides another advantage to some of the students
who don’t want to talk about their
race or age. These characteristics
are not evident in a virtual classroom (unless one shares) and thus
some students feel free of prejudices. Lamy and Hampel (2007:77),
after having an analysis of the previous researches argue that
“students’ participation in synchronous conferencing was comparable
to that in oral class discussion, resulting in more turns and more language produced”. It is not only necessary for e-tutors to be trained in
online teaching, the learners also
need preparation. In e-learning,
students often feel compelled to
engage with these new environments without being properly
equipped with the basic skills required to be successful. “Webbased learning can be used to develop a wide range of academic
skills and to accommodate a variety of approaches to teaching and
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learning” (Bates 2005:142). In fact,
students are expected to have developed cognitive skills such as negotiation of meaning, life-long
learning, reflective thinking and
technical skills such as the basic
use of computer-mediated technology, online social skills, online etiquette, web navigation and web
searching.
Numerous studies and reports
have documented the
tremendous increase
in the development
and delivery of instruction with computermediated communication technologies. Warschauer
(1997:470)
remarked that this rapid growth “arguably
the fastest growth of
any technology in history has caught the
attention of language
teachers”. In fact, most
of the educational institutions,
especially
distance education institutions,
have enthusiastically embraced
these modes for delivering instruction which has resulted in a transformation as Larreamendy-Joerns
and Leinhardt (2006:570) observed
“learning and teaching have moved
from the periphery to the center of
university life”. It is noteworthy
that “most research on learners
and learning conducted over the
last 10 years has focused on the
individual, whether learning alone
or in a group” (Gibson 2003:149).
Though it is a complex field but the
researchers have identified many
learning styles. Lifelong learning