Browsing by Author "Raivio, Johanna"

Employers are constantly increasing their interest towards communication competence and computer-mediated communication. The use of different kinds of technological applications in organizations and educational institutions is growing. The research on these applications is extensive, but is mostly quantitative and focused on synchronous (same-time) communication and learning results. The goal of this thesis was to find out adult students' thoughts and experiences of computer-mediated communication and computer-mediated communication competence in the virtual online classroom. The thesis was a qualitative case study, and it was carried out for a Finnish specialized vocational institute. The data for this thesis was collected by interviewing seven adult students, who had taken part in a virtual online classroom session in the fall of 2013. The class was deployed by using web-conferencing solution, Adobe Connect Pro. The interviews were implemented as theme interviews and the themes were partly based on Spitzberg's (2006) model of computer-mediated communication competence. The data was analyzed by using data-driven content analysis. The results indicated that adult students' perceptions and experience of computer-mediated communication were mainly positive and the use of different communication channels was diverse. The results indicated that the requisite communication competence in the virtual online classroom consisted of knowledge about communication context, skills to communicate in task-oriented and relationship-oriented ways and motivation to learn to use new computer-mediated technologies. In addition, instructors' communication competence was seen important in enhancing the interaction of the virtual classroom. The findings also provided information of students' user experiences of the virtual online classroom; its benefits, challenges and suggestions for improvement. Technology and connection problems in particular were seen as a challenge because they were seen to decrease interaction. This thesis provided information about computer-mediated communication competence in the context of new learning technology. The results can be useful for different kinds of organizations and educational institutions in planning, developing and using virtual technologies in distance education.