Introduction
Communication in the 21st Century Workplace is an online course offered by the University of California, Irvine via Coursera platform. The paramount objectives of this course are to increase awareness of workplace communication and develop interpersonal skills in terms of modern business environment. The length of the mentioned course is four weeks, while its target audience is people striving to advance their workplace communication. It may be useful for those who want to improve communication with peers, executives, managers, and employees. Among the delivery methods, there are videos of reasonable size, quizzes, and surveys at the end of each of four modules.
Course Evaluation
Communication in the 21st Century Workplace is interactive as it creates a virtual learning environment that is focused primarily on the organization of the interaction between an educator, Patricia Bravo, and learners as well as support for part-time education. The interactive course program and the instructor aid allow organizing the most optimal training. The communication ways involve the direct communication with the instructor and the feedback on the performed tests. As for the collaboration opportunities, the course allows learners to communicate with each other and discuss issues related to studying materials, topics, and other issues. Promoting collaboration, this course helps learners to share their experience and receive valuable knowledge. A learner-centered nature and a distributional approach are two more features that characterize the mentioned course. Providing the opportunity of learning in any convenient manner, time, and pace as well as benefiting the instructor in terms of the idea of distributed instructions and assessment, the course focuses on both learners’ and the instructor’s needs and expectations.
Evaluating the given online course in Badrul Khan’s Web-Based Framework, it is safe to assume that it meets the majority of requirements. In terms of the institutional dimension, the course does not offer essential student services, yet Coursera itself clearly explains how to register and enroll courses of interest. Therefore, any learner may easily access the required course and understand how it works. As noted by the platform, the mentioned course ensures a high-quality of materials and knowledge transferred to students. Even though it cannot be regarded as an academic course equal to those offered in the Universities, it is still important to boost one’s communication awareness. The course guarantees confidentiality of learners’ sensitive data and offers the opportunity for applying for financial aid. In this regard, the course meets the institutional dimension requirements.
Another dimension identified by Khan refers to management that is also met by the given course. For example, it clearly outlines reprint permission and copyright information. Managing any changes in the course syllabus, the system sends notifications via e-mail and announcement page. However, the course fails to provide alternative learning options for those who cannot access or accomplish all the tasks. It is possible to state that the course meets the dimension of management only partially. From the point of the technological dimension, the course requires no specific software and hardware, while the Internet connection is necessary. In case learners have any questions regarding the technological side, they may easily contact the platform support team.
The pedagogical dimension focuses directly on learning and teaching methods and approaches. Communication in the 21st Century Workplace offers an engaging course syllabus and review of the activities and tests to be completed. Based on open and distributional approach, the course allows learners and the instructor to communicate regardless place, time, and learning abilities. It provides clear goals and objectives, so that potential learners may understand what they will receive at the end of the course and how they will improve their knowledge and skills. More to the point, it is possible to note a sense of continuity, since all the materials are organized in step-by-step manner. The course does not provide hyperlinks to other websites, yet all the materials are placed on Coursera.
As for the ethical dimension, Coursera presents its own Code of Ethics, claiming that no personal information will be transferred to third parties. Even though its collects learners names, e-mails, and payment data, the platform assigns a top priority for security and safety of customers. At the same time, the course poses a request for fair completion of tasks and learning in general. Cross-cultural sensitive is another characteristic that should be mentioned: no offensive images or signs are used throughout the course. Thus, ethical assumptions are rather elaborated and apparent.
Evaluating the course in terms of the interface design, one may suggest that it meets all the criteria. It is user-friendly and may be understood intuitively. Due to visual navigation, one can choose sections or lessons, set the duration of lessons, and get acquainted with the capabilities of the course at convenient time and place. After completing the course, learners may check their knowledge and take the final test. As a result of testing, they will immediately see the result with the possibility of detailing for each issue. There is no need to download large videos as they are available online and have reasonable size and length (usually 10-15 minutes). In case of any uncertainties occurring in the course completion, learners may easily access Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section and find answers they need. Another option is to contact the platform’s support team.
The dimension of resource support is not met by the given course. There is no opportunity to access the online library of the University of Irvine, even though the course offered by the above educational institution. However, it seems that for the purposes of this course, it is not necessary to visit any library or study additional materials. The very purpose of attending Communication in the 21st Century Workplace course is to explore the offered materials. Therefore, in spite of the fact that the course does not meet the dimension of resource support, it is still informative and reasonable. The last but not least is the dimension of evaluation. Likewise any educational course, the given one is followed by assessment of acquired knowledge and skills. Namely, the course offers quizzes after each of four modules and only one attempt to complete it within eight hours. In their turn, students may provide feedback on any point of the course and the platform in general.
Conclusion
To conclude, Communication in the 21st Century Workplace provided by the University of California, Irvine via Coursera platform is an online, interactive, learner-oriented, and distributional course available to any learner. It meets almost all dimensions of Badrul Khan’s web-based framework except for resource and institutional ones. Nevertheless, this course presents engaging syllabus, intuitive navigation, and relevant topics in the field of workplace communication that makes it rather relevant and important to modern business communication requirements.