How do we Communicate using Technology?

Problem Statement 

Most of our communication now days, the times of pandemic, is using technology. We text, email or use other means of communication (Capraro, Whitfield, Etchells, & Capraro, 2016). The challenge therefore is: How do we communicate using technology in a way that we convey authentic emotions through the medium? This is a life skill and relevant to everyone, whether in schools or work places.

Especially in this time of online schools and online work, it is important that we communicate in a way that we convey our emotions through the tech tools that we use. This would help us to be less mechanized and act as a self regulator. One tends to be less cautious during technology communication as the feedback loop that forms through non-verbal communication is broken. We provide many cues to others through our emotions that express through our facial expression and bodily movement (Whitbourne, 2014).

Project Vision 

Can we communicate online in a way that our emotions are transmitted? This is the driving question for the project. The inspiration for this has come from (Capraro, Whitfield, Etchells, & Capraro, 2016) the STEM project to design a device that will transfer emotions across a chosen form of technological communication.

Our emotional tone is conveyed through word choice, syntax, punctuation, letter case, sentence length and other graphic indicators when we communicate through email or text (Swink, 2013). If we were aware of how we are feeling when writing a text message, perhaps we would be more careful and calm ourselves down before writing ‘that long mail which destroyed the career’!

This kind of a device has universal applications. Within the class, students can use it to be more aware of their own emotional state and its changes through the day. They could use it to become more self reflective in their knowledge about themselves and more sensitive in their engagement with others.

Externally, students could share it as a pilot with individuals from their community, this could be family or a set of professional that work remotely for an organization, the question they could use to drive the inquiry with is ‘would such a device help you to have better professional relationships by self regulating your emotions?’

The Project 

This project would have several steps, and would connect emotions and technology using the body. Emotions activate corresponding body parts in a very concrete way as sensations in the body. In fact intensity of emotions is directly linked to intensity in body sensations and the thoughts in the mind (Ukiomogbe, 2020). Although communication through technology is easy, it leaves out an important component of communication – emotion. (Capraro, Whitfield, Etchells, & Capraro, 2016).

1. Students would first understand emotions. This would be done through their own awareness, discussion with their collaborative group and research. The key areas of inquiry would be (a) emotions, (b) their role in our lives, (c) effect on the body and (d) effect on relationships.

2. Second point of inquiry would be transference of emotions when communication is through technology. Here they would not just have a discussion and do research, they would also reach out to the community via teachers and parent body to understand the impact of online communication in their lives.

3. Third point of inquiry would be to design a device that transfers the emotion email. The objective is to ensure that the email sent carries the emotions one is feeling while writing it. This would be done by the device picking up the physical symptoms of the emotion that one is feeling, such as (a) heart rate, (b) pulse or blood pressure. Emotions are felt in the body as sensation, hence the device can be attached ot the body such as a ring or a bracelet or a necklace (Ukiomogbe, 2020).

4. Students would brainstorm, design, create and experiment with the device creates. Then they would do a field test. The entire design cycle would follow the steps of EBD, Engineering Design Process (Billiar, Hubelbank, Oliva, & Camesano, 2014). They would construct the prototype, evaluate results and then plan further tests.

5. Finally, they would communicate the results with a clear rationale for the task, the design and the final outcome. They would also communicate the effect in the community of having such a device with all who feel a certain handicap with emotional awareness.

Their work would be assessed using a mutually designed rubric to measure all aspects of STEM used in the project with standards from the respective sites. The rubric would also measure the life skills such as collaboration and time management. The students would present an individual and group self reflection of their work as a part of their presentation.

Community Involvement 

The community involvement can be at multiple levels such as (a) classroom (b) teacher community (c) family and (d) professional space. One can initiate partnership with them following a simple driving question, ‘can we improve our relationships using the power of technology to be more aware of our emotions?’ one can see that this is relevant to the community at large as having a scaffolding to manage our emotions, ultimately leading to an improvement in relations is something that would lead to an overall improvement in emotional and hence mental health.

References 

Billiar, K., Hubelbank, J., Oliva, T., &Camesano, T. (2014). Teaching STEM by design. Advances in Engineering Education, 4(1). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1076147.pdf

Capraro, M.M., Whitfield, J.G., Etchells, M.J., &Capraro, R.M. (2016). A companion to interdisciplinary STEM project-based learning: For educators by educators (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Sense Publishers. Retrieved from eBook Central (accessed through LIRN).

Niehoff, M. (2018). 7 real-world issues that can allow students to tackle big challenges. http://www.gettingsmart.com/2018/03/7-real-world-projects-that-allow-students-to-tackle-big-problems/

Swink David. (2013). Don't type at me like that! Email and emotions. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/threat-management/201311/dont-type-me-email-and-emotions

Ukiomogbe J, J. (2020.). Where emotions are felt in the body, according to research. Greatist. https://greatist.com/connect/emotional-body-maps-infographic#infographic

Whitbourne Susan K. (2014). 4 ways to improve your emotional communication. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201412/4-ways-improve-your-emotional-communication