Get Your Students Hired
Does anyone else have concerns about the level to which we encourage micro blogging?
I find it difficult already to get students out of the habit of being too brief in their online communications so I worry that this will counteract my efforts. Students today are too used to a world of texting and tweeting that their established discussion boards end up the same way. It could be reinforcing bad habits.
Marcia,
You make a great point about translation. I really had not thought of that! I do use the idea of brevity in my course. I find students use too many words in formal business or technical writing. I use the limited characters as a way to limit word use. This does NOT include using abbreviations or shortened forms of words. It does make students work at eliminating words. I do have expectations set when we use this type of learning.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
As is mentioned in several connected posts, I wonder about brevity in the condensation and abbreviation of words. Brevity in writing can be a good thing; often students may see that they are to write in a pompous manner in order to seem educated.
The abbreviation used in texting and tweeting can be seen as a social register of language; in some cases this could be seen as a pidgin. I wonder if these ideas in other languages are developed from root languages or if Western languages such as English are filtering onto a type of international text and tweet talk.
If communication is achieved, a language or register of a language can seem to be working. Even before the shortened written communication used socially over the last few decades came to prominence, the philosophy of deconstruction presented a number of ideas including the idea that it can be difficult to determine the exact meaning of a term out of context. It is possible that abbreviation could add to communication clutter, or, in some cases, it might be more specific, particularly with the addition of numbers to letters in abbreviations.
Hector,
True, I use the tool to help students develop more suscinct communication. When teaching technical writing, students tend to use too many words when they don't have to. This tools helps them clean their word usage.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
George,
If brevity is an issue with you then don't use tools that encourage that type of brevity. I use this type of tool as my students need to work on communicating well in a brief manner. It works with that. You have to have the tools that meet your course objectives.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Hi Morissa,
I share your concern and also would be worried about the implications of using a Microblog in my class could have concerning grammar and spelling which are already areas students may be weak at.
Hector Morales
Yes, it certainly can lead to brevity. This can be harmful or effective depending on the environment. It can impact, may even injure expression. Can everything be reduced to a soundbyte or tweet? It can contribute to superficiality and undermine substantive thought or debate, especially if there is complexity. Not all questions, communication, issues can be addressed with a mono-syllabic approach.
Linda,
I agree with you. I too have concerns. Here is my most disconcerting thoughts about writing. Students are so conditioned to write 400 words, 500 words that they don't think about they words they use they just fill space with poorly designed writing that meets the word requirements. We work and require them in the business world to write more concisely and practice brevity and we get texting language. I just want them to stop using unneeded words! ( Sorry, you touched a nerve with me).
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I too have concerns about the brevity of my students communications. Too often they are using short cuts and texting language in our email connections and I'm afraid this practice is spreading to their professional communications as well. While texting and microbloggin have a place, I think we have to be very clear when to use it, when it's appropriate and why there are differences.
Morissa,
You make a great observation. If you created a rubric that really explains the expectations and model those expectations I think that would go a long ways to prevent brevity. Sometimes, I want students to be brief as they are wordy and say nothing!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson