An Instructional Paradigm for the Teaching of Computer-mediated Communication Craig D. Howard

A very interesting perspective. Once again IT must draw upon another field of study, this time linguistics. Personally I think my l33t CMC communication skillz are the @%#^*ing best, jk. I had never thought of the fact that while I had numerous lessons in grade schools on the appropriate way to write a letter not one teacher ever taught me how to write a proper email. I think CMC language skills are very important and while the future generations may not have trouble with it I think it would be of great interest and value to study and teach a standard approach to some CMC languages. The obvious beneficiaries of such teaching would be non tech savvy teachers and older generations who have a anxiety or aversion to a language that they don"t understand. The younger generation could also benefit from learning when certain language styles are appropriate for various forms of CMC. The example of a casual email about an assignment from a student to a teacher being a prime example. While the concept seems sound it does seem a little broad. Obviously more research and development of particular curriculums needs to be done, I think that was pointed out in the text. Also important to note is that Howard  points out that this idea is not practical all courses "This paradigm will only be useful for courses which hold communicative skill development as a learning objective.". I suspect that it could also be useful not just in CMC but also companion areas of study, especially as forms and uses of CMC continue to grow and integrate into more aspects of our lives.