Grounded Guidelines/Case Study: Automotive Engineering
Stated Principles of Use
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Each year cohort of students has an area of the database 'fenced off' for group use, with participant identification and password protection. This situation determines a number of characteristics of the communication, which may or may not be advantageous depending on one's perspective. Participants are able to know the individuals in the group with whom they are communicating, and the participants in the discussion are themselves identified because of the need to log-in. While it appeared to be possible to deposit messages without signing them in any way the expectation was, and the convention had developed, that contributions would be identified. Where messages were posted anonymously this was either as a result of an oversight, or as part of some humorous aside.
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All,
To anonymous, lucky and ungracious German football fan student: England weren't unlucky; we just don't know how to take penalties and aren't very skilled at cheating the ref. Although students could not gain access to the discussion forum web site without logging in (and thus using an approved identification and password), it appeared to be possible for messages to be deposited on the Web without the origin being identified. The convention had developed however that messages should carry a signature. The convention appeared to be accepted, and where this did not happen looked to be an oversight, or the odd occasion where someone was using an alias for some humorous effect. Under usual circumstances therefore, participants had the security of knowing that their messages were only being read by their immediate peers and teachers. They knew also however, that they risked revealing their knowledge, or lack of it, very directly to that same group. This fact would influence the extent to which they used the forum, and the sort of messages which they posted. [Text conference extract] |
Participants therefore have the security of knowing who is reading their messages, but also that they are revealing themselves very directly to a small group of their immediate peers, who may judge or criticise. For some, this is a major inhibiting factor in determining the extent to which, and the purpose for which, they would post messages to the discussion forum. Some students declared that they would not choose to use the discussion forum to explore problems which they were having with the course because they would, by so doing, be exposing their lack of understanding to the other members of the course group.
If you have a problem, you are not going to put it in the discussion where everyone can see it. [Students- focus group discussion] |
The CMC facility was offered to the group to facilitate their general communication, rather than to support any particular task or activity.
