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Online learning has grown dramatically over the last 20 years. This growth has occurred despite online courses having attrition rates persistently higher than in-person courses (Bawa, 2016; Friedhoff, 2019). There are many reasons why students fail to persist in an online environment, but one possible reason is that the nature of online learning can result in students feeling isolated from their instructors and peers (Bolliger & Inan, 2012). While students can feel isolated in in-person courses, it’s more likely to occur in online courses (Erichsen & Bolliger, 2011). One issue is that online courses rely heavily on text communication that lacks the visual components and other communication cues that are present in in-person communication. While an online learning community can be developed using text (see Garrison et al., 2000), it can be difficult and time consuming for many students to do so. If teachers rely exclusively on the communication tools built into their learning management systems (LMS) they would likely default to text. However, instructors are increasingly turning to communication channels outside of the LMS that allow them to more easily develop learning communities (Bender & Dickenson, 2016). If instructors look beyond their LMS, they might be surprised at how many different ways there are to communicate online. Each type of communication has affordances and constraints.

Graham (2006) provides a helpful framework for understanding the different ways that students and instructors can communicate online. Specifically, he explained that each type of communication has three dimensions: (1) Space, (2) Time, and (3) Fidelity.

1. Space refers to where students need to be to communicate. The great thing about online communication is that you have almost unlimited flexibility in space--as long as you have a good internet connection, you can receive and respond to messages.
2. Time refers to the amount of time students have between interactions. High flexibility in time is valuable because students and instructors can communicate when it works for them. It also allows for more reflection between interaction. On the other hand, low flexibility in time can benefit learners in different ways because it allows for more synergy and immediacy.
3. Fidelity refers to the number of communication cues contained in an interaction and the number of senses used to experience the interaction. High fidelity interactions can make it easier for people to develop a sense of community and form connections with others. However, it does remove some flexibility in interactions because people need to be presentable if they are going to be seen by others. In other words, if you have low fidelity interactions you can work in your pajamas, but if you have high fidelity interactions you should probably get dressed. The fidelity of video also makes it harder to skim messages or refer back to specific statements like we can in text.

Using this framework, I will examine the advantages and disadvantages of communicating using text and live video--two of the most common forms of communication. I will then share how video messaging can help to combine the best of both worlds.  I will also discuss how to avoid some of the disadvantages of video messages. The following video provides a brief summary.