The virtual window

A second theme that appears to illustrate how learners experience learning in the OLLE is the virtual window (Figure 11). The virtual window reflects an apparent sense of being visible to others as if being looked at through a widow. Learners seem to experience a sense of being on show, as if their identity is revealed and their actions are known to others. The experience of the window appears to be one way, however, as learners seem to feel they are not able to look back through the window and see who is on the other side. Their posting behaviour may be inhibited as a result.

142 Factors that appear to contribute to the experience of the virtual window are:

i. knowing others and being visible

ii. the absence of non-verbal reassurance in the online environment

iii. the sense of permanence associated with posting written comments on discussion boards in comparison to making verbal ones.

iv. The lack of opportunity to offer or receive non-verbal re-assurance

Although the concept of the virtual window was expressed by other learners in the study, it seemed most significant in the interviews with John and Grace. I have therefore chosen to present the concept of the virtual window based on the interviews of these two participants and in order to reflect the significance of the concept in their learning experience. As John and Grace’s experiences also seem to reveal nuances within the concept of the virtual window, using the experience of two participants here also allows me to illustrate the key elements of the virtual window that appeared to have an impact on the experience of learning in the OLLE. For both these learners, their

relationships with others seem to have increased their feelings of vulnerability in the OLLE. John appeared to be inhibited in the OLLE because he was studying with a colleague so he was visible through the window because his identity was known. Grace appeared to be inhibited because she did not know all the other learners in the OLLE but she felt visible to them. Both learners therefore experienced the virtual window in the OLLE based on identity revelation. Yu and Liu (2009) also found that learners behave differently in relation to identity revelation. I go on to discuss this point in more detail in Chapter 5.0.

As previously discussed under the virtual mask theme, not knowing other learners may benefit learners in the OLLE. However if the mask is removed and identities are revealed because learners know each other, the virtual window may emerge. The loss of anonymity may lead to a sense of

143 exposure because learning actions can be seen by others. In this way the virtual window may inhibit learners’ willingness to contribute to discussions in the OLLE.

John: Looking back, I probably felt that I should have put something on the message board

but I felt if I put something wrong into it, then probably one of my colleagues, coz a colleague was doing it at work, would have felt well “John’s knowledge is probably not the best.” I don’t know; it must be down to a confidence thing really.

For John the virtual window seemed to be heightened when his anonymity was compromised. This potentially emphasises the importance of the protection of the virtual mask in facilitating learner contributions to online discussions.

Learners appear to be aware of the impact of identity revelation on their learning behaviour. Being visible through the virtual window seems to have an impact learners’ contribution decisions at a conscious level.

Interviewer: Do you think that this feeling was affected by the fact you said there was a

colleague on the course?

John: Yeah. This colleague...I think with her being on the course as well, she made some

good points. Some of her points were very good. I just felt, if I’d put something that probably wasn’t correct, she might think, “Well why has John put that on? Seems a bit of a silly thing to say. ”

Interviewer: If nobody had known you on the course would that have been different?

John: Yes it probably would have been. I suppose for example, if I had been Student 001 then

it probably wouldn’t have affected me; I probably would have inputted a bit more.

It seems then that being visible through the virtual window may influence the experience of the OLLE as a safe learning environment and learners who feel unsafe because their identity is revealed may choose not to participate in discussion as a consequence.

Grace also appeared to experience the virtual window; not because she could be seen by those who knew her but because she didn’t know who was looking back through the window. It seems she felt

144 her identify was revealed to people she didn’t know. Grace appeared to lack the confidence to post because learners she did not know could see her posts on the discussion board and this inhibited her posting behaviour.

Grace’s ability to post confidently appeared to develop over time and the opportunity to engage in an individual online asynchronous dialogue with a tutor appeared to help her overcome the sense of being visible and build her confidence in sharing ideas online with others.

Grace: I know I personally felt, more confident putting things in the personal journal as I

knew it was only the tutor who had access to that. Whereas the discussion board, it took me not an awful lot of time, but it does take a little while, just to build the confidence to post on there because there’s lots more people that you don’t know, who are commenting and who are also looking at your remarks that you’re putting on there. But you literally needed to get your confidence up to sort of start putting things on the discussion board.

It seems learners were also concerned that their unskilful comments would be on show through the virtual window. They appeared concerned that the usual non-verbal mechanisms to mediate the limitations of verbal communication were not available in the OLLE. Although lack of opportunity for non-verbal re-assurance in the OLLE seemed to increase learner sense of visibility, learners also expressed concern about the impact their posts might have on others. Learners apparently wished to avoid harming others with harsh comments.

Grace: But it’s also part of how things sound when you try to, you know. If you're in a

classroom and somebody says something and you might say “What about this?” with your tone of voice, you can make it sound as though you're not being critical; you're not criticising their idea. But sometimes when you're writing about it, it can be, not always sound how you meant it to sound. So I was probably a bit aware of that.

Learners expressed additional concerns about their ability to comment appropriately without non- verbal affirmation of their peers. It seems not seeing the reaction of others through the virtual window also presents a challenge to posting in the OLLE.

145

John: It’s quite bizarre in a sense that this was the first course I’d ever actually studied online.

So if for example, we were having a lecture and there were other people in the room and a question was asked, sometimes, if you were a bit unsure, you may hold back what you feel the answer might be coz you want to be one of the people giving a positive response. In the room, you can then vocalise what you feel the answer might be. That’s probably where confidence comes from. Whereas sitting at a computer obviously you can’t see the lecturer and you can’t see the people in the room. You can’t really get any non-verbal clues back. For example, if a lecturer asks a certain question, if you gave an answer you’d probably look around, more for support or for non-verbal clues like nodding your head, probably

murmuring ‘yes’ and looking with interest in regards to what you're saying. Whereas when you're on the internet, you can’t really garner what kind of opinion your answers gained.

The permanent nature of comments and posts in the OLLE also seemed to present a challenge to the learners' willingness to post. Learners had an apparent sense of the enduring nature of their posts and the knowledge that their ‘mistakes’ would be visible for a long period of time lead them to be reluctant to contribute.

John: Studying online, I did enjoy it but there were one or two draw backs...Once you’ve

inputted your idea on the message board or learning journal, you can’t retrieve it. You can’t say “Well I want to change my mind.” Once you’ve sent the message to the board, you might think, if you go back to it later on, you might think “Well now I’ve done a little bit more research I can’t go back and amend my answer.”