Blog Post 3
I think that using social media to connect a community of learners can be useful, but I do not think it can currently compare to the benefits of face-to-face communication. In my opinion, social media cannot create an environment where an individual can truly feel satisfied with the amount of social interaction they are receiving through an online course. My biased opinion is partly based on my belief that mirroring the emotions of others provides more empathy within an interaction. I also believe that more empathy will usually create an overall stronger emotional reaction for both parties. Therefore, if a positive emotional reaction is stronger, then the bond between two people will be greater. If you cannot see someone’s face and body language, it is much harder to mirror that emotion.
I do think it can be useful for a learner to interact with other classmates through websites such as slack and hypothesis in order to share information and ideas about the course work, but I think that a learner needs a support system outside of the online world in order to stay away from feeling socially isolated when taking full-time online studies. If online courses want to provide community and connectedness, I think they need to provide learners with a reasonable amount of time to make connections with people outside of the online world. Another solution to defeating social isolation would be to require online learners, in the same course, to meet in person to discuss and/or work on assignments. That solution, however, is creating a situation where an online course is no longer asynchronous. However, due to the fact that many students are currently taking online courses because they are asynchronous, this may cause a lower enrollment rate in online courses. I may not have a sound solution to this problem and also carry a very strong personal bias against using social media to minimize social isolation, but I am always open to learning more about the topic and being corrected if the research is out there that provides a different perspective.