Communicate 1.1.1 – Definitions of Communication Quest

• How have your individual communication skills changed as with the innovations in technology?  Before I used email frequently, I tended to be longer with my verbal communication.  In fact, a lot of times I was attracted to my writing style, and frequently used literary language to communicate.  With email I have learned to be more concise and focused.  Instead of paragraphs, I tend to communicate in sentences.  Whereas I would previously offer explanations with my emails, now I give a one sentence context if necessary, and then one direct question.  Or if I am the one answering the question a one to two sentence answer.  I generally find that people don't want to read long explanations with the new technology. 
• How have advancements in technology altered classroom communication? Will these change further? As we get more used to technology and the limits/benefits (still haven't decided yet) of the technology still dictate what gets written and how it is written, I expect that effective communication will get shorter and more direct.  Whereas long-winded communication will continue to go out of style even more.  I am amazed when I read a 19th century text with my students (i.e. just finished Dickens with 10th graders) at what people would read only 100 to 200 years ago.  Now this type of literature has less of a real market, and I suspect that the same will happen with other forms of communication.  With the competing mediums for our attention.  Essentially, people have the easy option to just log off, delete, or click on something else, so we need to learn to get the point out there as soon as possible.