The topic of reluctant students has been discussed
many times during our classes in this cohort. This is a topic that is very
personal to me as well. Throughout my schooling experience, I was often one of
those reluctant students. It wasn’t that I was necessarily afraid of sharing my
ideas with the class, but the issue of time to formulate what I was going to
share was often a factor. As Reynold Redekopp and Elizabeth Bourbonniere
discussed in the article, students process information and formulate responses
at different speeds. I have often found message boards and blogs to be helpful to
me in sharing my ideas with the class. By using these technology tools, I have
had the time to take in what everyone else is saying, develop my own opinion,
and express myself in a coherent manner.
Some
students may be reluctant to share ideas simply because they are shy. They may
feel uncomfortable speaking in front of their peers. By allowing students to go
online with a screen name that shields their identity, students may be more apt
to freely express their thinking. The only problem that I have ever had with
technological aids being used for conversation is I think that it doesn’t help
students to develop the necessary social skills that we still need in today’s
world. We are still in a world where face to face interactions occur daily and
are often necessary. Since this is the case, I think it is essential that
students learn to develop confidence and communication skills to communicate
with others in person. I think the best methods of instruction that we can
provide our students is a mixture of technology and in person interaction. By
providing our students with both, we are giving the reluctant students a
safeguard for openly expressing themselves, but we are also teaching them how
to become better communicators in person. I know through my own experiences
learning how to and practicing
communicating with others, I have become a faster and more coherent
communicator.
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