1.1.1 Definitions of Communication

How have your individual communication skills changed as with the innovations in technology?
With advancements in technology, I have found myself communicating less over the telephone. I usually only talk on the telephone when I have "time" and that is normally during my daily commute to work. I sometimes take this time to call friends or family members who I have not spoken with in recent days. I have found that they don't always pick up the phone when I call.....and I know why.....they are busy at that moment and do not have time right then to answer my call. I honestly don't blame them. If I were at home with my family, cooking dinner, getting lunches together, baths for my kids, etc., I would not have time to answer the telephone either. So, I use the telephone less frequently for placing phone calls. When I do place phone calls, I use my cell phone while in the car. I would say that the majority of my communication happens via text message. I usually use texting to communicate with friends and family. I also communicate with emails. The majority of my emails are work related, but I do send emails occasionally to friends and family. I also use my cell phone for this purpose.

How have advancements in technology altered classroom communication? Will these change further?
In the classroom, my communication with students has changed over the last few years. I now have students email me assignments and I email them with their assignment grades. I also have students communicate with me about their grades, absences, or assignments via email. So, I would say the biggest change I have seen in classroom communication is email. I have also had students in my classroom who are uncomfortable approaching me (and I promise I'm not scary) and instead of having a face-to-face conversation with me, they will send me an email right before they leave my classroom or they will wait and send me an email from their cell phone later in the school day. These students rarely speak up in the classroom and their electronic device gives them a chance to communicate. I have also witnessed students "plugged in" to their electronic device and their headphones. Our school system recently approved a new initiative called "bring your own technology". Students are supposed to use their own devices for educational purposes only. The problem I have noticed with this is that students are now wearing headphones and listening to music while in their own "world" and not paying attention to the real world all around them. Students are now hiding from each other and also hiding from themselves. Instead of communicating with one another in the classroom, they are keeping to themselves and not interacting or being social. I do not allow headphones in my classroom, but it is a daily struggle to keep this rule in place. Students ask me daily if they can be "rewarded" by wearing headphones. It is crazy to think that their reward would be isolation. I believe this will only get worse as time goes on and there are more advancements in technology. People will become more and more engrossed in the online world and less involved in the real world.