The Need for Interpersonal Communications Protocols
. In addition to improving
internet connectivity, these participant mothers also expressed a need to establish interpersonal
communications protocols to ensure communications flow smoothly. Some participants thought
it was important to prevent some individuals from dominating the online conversations as a way
to improve the HyFlex experience. Isabel suggested including more small group discussions with
well-formulated and specific questions so individuals who tend to dominate an entire class
discussion would be confined to the smaller audience of their small group. Isabel explained this
small group approach would allow for more voices to be heard in the span of a given class,
saying:
When you create small groups, that person is under control . . . in a group of three is like
ahh . . . dominator! You can manage that because he’s in a group of three and like, excuse
me . . . right? If no small groups, then they [dominant speakers] dominate the whole
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class . . . it is different. That helps a lot.
Kate shared Isabel’s concern and thought there was a need for communications protocols
because in her experience, when there are online participants, people start talking before the
previous person has ended speaking. When this occurs too frequently it can be a problem. She
said:
I think if anything that would again, go back to that kind of dynamic of conversation in
the, in the, you know, passing the baton in our Zoom calls. Um, but again, I can’t I don’t
know if that would necessarily be gender, or if it’s just a personality thing. We didn’t
have any guys in our program. So that’s another thing. Um, we had some very strong
women, very strong women. Which, you know, is maybe a nature of the program to . . . I
mean, so it’s hard to say. So, like . . . in the conversation . . . like, the conversation that
we’re having right now . . . where, except for if you had like, 12 people, and there’s a
prompt for us to dialogue, and then . . . oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to talk over you kind
of thing, right? Or that the polite pause, or is mostly about talking over one another? And
I’m not sure again, if that part of that is has to do with that you lose the visual clues.
Right. And when somebody is finished talking, that sort of thing.
When online attendees speak over each other, conversations can be confusing. Even if class
meetings are recorded, it is difficult to understand two people talking at the same time. If that
coincides with a slow internet, the result can be garbled, unintelligible audio. Every class
features a mix on introverted and extroverted personalities; some people tend to talk more, and
when airtime is cut short by technological problems, those who tend to speak more can be
perceived as patronizing or dominating the conversation by their peers.
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