You are here

Taking social interaction for granted

15 January, 2016 - 09:49

It is noteworthy that in a CEL environment, interaction does not just happen, but must be intentionally designed into the instruction. However, most educators take social interaction for granted. The fact remains that social interactions can no more be taken for granted in computer conferences than it can be in face-to-face settings as lecture halls or seminar settings. It follows that the first pitfall refers to taking for granted that social interaction will automatically occur just because technology permits it. Although CEL environments allow a certain degree of social interaction to take place, it is no more a matter of course than it is in face-to-face settings (Peter et al., 2010; Kirkwood, 2010). Therefore, it is prudent to conclude that just providing members of a distributed learning group with more communication media than they already have, neither necessarily fosters nor ensures social interaction. Putdifferently, availability of communication media is necessary- but not sufficient.