Many instructors express concerns to me about the lack of face-to-face communication in online classrooms. I think we can all agree this is a factor to be dealt with (however balanced by the flexibility of the medium), but there are some advantages to online communication. Students are actively expressing their thoughts and ideas in a public realm (at least among their peers) and the option of sinking to the back of the class and fading into anonymity is removed. Far from the criticism that texting has created a "dumbed down" student population, there are signs that we may be on the verge of a "literacy revolution" ( source ) and our incoming students are leading the charge. Persistent writing (posts which can be reviewed over time and do not disappear) for public audiences may encourage students to write with a higher degree of clarity and a more thoughtful approach (for more information, see the Stanford Study of Writing project). The new balance Early research...
Musings from an online instructor