In all conversations, there exists communication.

Like in all classes, we exchange

information, share our thoughts, and talk with others in general. However, in the midst of this
pandemic, communication has devolved into a somewhat less intimate form. Faces bound in a
screen, voices over speakers, connected to nothing but the internet. But, how did this distance
learning really affected communication between all of us especially in our class setting?
As what I have observed from two of my other classes besides Oral Communication, I
don’t really see that big of a difference regarding the nature, process, elements, models or even
barriers in our daily discussions. Take our Discipline and Ideas in the Social Sciences (DISS)
class for example. The natures of communication (process, occurs between two people or more
and expressed in words or actions) are still present. There will be times where some of us will
debate, and some will react using facial expressions, emoticons, or even butt in the discussion.
For the elements of communication, I am confident to say that it is still complete. We
have the source who encodes their message through speaking, typing, or gesturing something.
The speaker in our class may vary depending on who has control over the lesson, it could be our
teacher, the reporters, or even my fellow classmates. Then of course, the channel, which is any
video-chatting platform that we use. And then there is the receiver who decodes the message that
the speaker is trying to convey and gives a feedback depending on how the message is
understood. This could be everyone in the class that is participating in the discourse.
Meanwhile, all the models of communication can be applied to our class. The Shannon-
Weaver Model might be taking place for some people who don’t catch-up with the topic, or it
could be the Transaction Model where both parties understand each other or Schramm’s Model
where one person’s understanding of the topic is influenced by his “Field of Experience”.
Lastly, the barriers of course would never be absent in any form of communication. In
fact, I can say that there are more barriers in this learning set-up compared to face-to-face
classes. Physical barriers are the most common in this situation. Background noises, slow
internet connection, malfunctioning devices are some of the problems that we encounter at this
time. There are also other barriers that affect our communication.
These observations also happen at our Media and Information Literacy class and any
other classes. Now from my perspective, although the means of communication have changed,
the process of communication remained, and will remain the same as long as we keep sharing
information to others and keep the cycle going.