C18. Rice,
R.E. (1992). The study of computers as communication media: A course
overview. In L. Lederman (Ed.), Communication pedagogy (pp.
303-322). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Computers as Communication Media is
designed for senior communication majors and/or Master’s students. It
focuses on how computers and networks can be involved in the creation,
control, content, flow and interpretation of communication processes.
The course emphasizes research and evaluations of computing
applications for communications, including electronic mail, voice
services, computer conferencing, online information databases, videotex
and
teletext, office automation, text processing, hypertext, and optical
media.
Main theoretical themes include: the convergence between computers and
transmission
networks, information society and economics, objective and perceived
characteristics
of media convergence of communication across media forms and content,
implications
of the reprocessibility of (possibly multimedia) documents, and
organizational
theories about adoption, use, and outcomes of computer-mediated
communication. This chapter may help those intending to
teach such a course, or development
their own course on computer-mediated communication, by providing:
- the rationale for a course that specifically focuses on the
roles
computers and telecommunications networks play in human, organizational
and
public communication,
- a description of the methods, contents, and materials use in
that
course,
- a description of the computer laboratory that parallels the
course
content,
- some examples of assignments to evaluate the activities and
performance of the students, the course, and the teacher,
- a step back to consider "online" education and references
and additional sources.
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