Teacher's Communicative Behaviors in Relation to Organizational and Technical Factors in Online University Education

Abstract

The authors present the results of a study of the relationship of the quality of the Internet connection and students’ attendance with the clarity and immediacy of the teacher’s communicative behavior in the process of online university education. The relevance of the problem is due to significant changes currently taking place in the Russian educational environment: the active use of the online training format affects both the content of education and its organization. The study involved 409 undergraduate students (females - 71%, mean age = 20, SD = 2.1). The students’ perceptions of the clarity and immediacy of the teacher’s communicative behaviors in the online training format were measured by tools based on their subjective assessments. In addition, the students evaluated the quality of Internet connection on a five-point scale and indicated how many classes they attended; since these factors are presumably associated with their perceptions of their teacher’s behavior. The results of the study showed a positive correlation between the teacher’s immediacy and the students’ attendance; however, no relationship was found between the clarity of the teacher’s communicative behavior and students’ attendance. It was also found that the quality of the Internet connection is directly related to the teacher’s clarity and immediacy. Moreover, the latter can be perceived both positively and negatively depending on the quality of the Internet connection. The obtained data indicate that the organizational and technical factors are very important for teacher - student interaction in the online training format.