Communicate 1.1.1 Definitions of Communication

• How have your individual communication skills changed as with the innovations in technology?

I'm am definitely guilty of texting way too much!  I am pretty much constantly texting someone and it annoys my husband a lot.  It's just so convenient and with my two young kids I can't complete a conversation anyways or sometimes I need a quiet home so it's much easier to text my friends and family.  I think that I communicate more though because I really dislike talking on the phone so I actually keep up with people better with the ability to text.  I am part of a few different social media outlets and do use private messaging there.  I think it's a great informal way to make new friends without the awkward phone number exchange.  When I meet a new neighbor or something I can just friend them on Facebook and send a message if I want to invite them over for a glass of wine.  I'm not a huge participant in commenting publicly on people's posts as I don't really want people I don't know to see the comment.

• How have advancements in technology altered classroom communication? Will these change further?

Schools are constantly faced with the dilemma of allowing cell phones at school.  Obviously there's no way to keep them out but they can be hugely distracting to students.  At the same time, they can be really useful learning tools but teachers are very timid to use them either due to lack of administrative support or because they feel it may be a slippery slope to overuse in ways that are not course related.  While reading the 101 Email Etiquette Tips I realized that students really need formal training on how to write an email.  I once had students participate in a contest of sorts and they had to send an email to a book editor.  I hadn't really considered that I would need to tell them to use complete sentences that begin with a capital letter and end in punctuation!  Many of their emails were composed like text messages.  I quickly learned that they would need specific instruction on email etiquette.  Technology will definitely change further in regards to classroom communication.  There are so many tools available now that didn't even exist 5 or 10 years ago.  I've been out of the formal classroom for only 3 years and the idea of using Pinterest in the classroom is new to me.  I don't think that many of us can even predict where we're headed.