Why should I switch on my camera? Developing the cognitive skills of compassionate communications for online group/teamwork management
IntroductionAssociated with learning and social isolation from each other during the pandemic-driven transition to online platforms in Higher Education (HE), many students were, and remain, reluctant to turn on their video cameras to be present with each other during their online meetings.Using the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1113098/full |
| _version_ | 1797754530899689472 |
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| author | J. M. P. V. K. Jayasundara J. M. P. V. K. Jayasundara Theo Gilbert Saskia Kersten Li Meng |
| author_facet | J. M. P. V. K. Jayasundara J. M. P. V. K. Jayasundara Theo Gilbert Saskia Kersten Li Meng |
| author_sort | J. M. P. V. K. Jayasundara |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionAssociated with learning and social isolation from each other during the pandemic-driven transition to online platforms in Higher Education (HE), many students were, and remain, reluctant to turn on their video cameras to be present with each other during their online meetings.Using the Compassionate Mind Foundation's definition of compassion, not as an emotion, but as a psychobiological motivation to take wise action to help when self or others struggle, this comparative study examined (a) the deployment by students during online, task-focused group/team meetings, of taught verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that were explicitly compassionate and (b) the effects of these strategies on each other's social and learning experiences in these meetings, compared to when they did not use them.MethodsTwenty-four STEM students from a sample of five Sri Lankan universities, were mixed, then divided into six groups of four students per group. This mixed-methods study, video-recorded and analyzed each group's task-focused group meetings before, then after, an online interactive 90-min training session (the intervention) in the Cognitive Skills of Compassionate Communications (CSCC) for groups/teams.ResultsUsing R, SPSS and Microsoft Excel to analyse the quantitative data, a statistically significant improvement in students' screen-gaze attentiveness was identified after the CSCC intervention. The qualitative data analysis explained this and other behavioral changes that were shown to enhance students' social and learning experiences in their online meetings.Given the strong historical and political drivers of current divisions across Sri Lankan student communities, these findings call for more urgent research on compassion as a cognitive competence for accelerating group/team cohesion and criticality across HE, and beyond. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T17:34:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-902b6348424f48ebb4b3ac3ac85e733c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T17:34:44Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-902b6348424f48ebb4b3ac3ac85e733c2023-08-04T12:18:43ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782023-08-011410.3389/fpsyg.2023.11130981113098Why should I switch on my camera? Developing the cognitive skills of compassionate communications for online group/teamwork managementJ. M. P. V. K. Jayasundara0J. M. P. V. K. Jayasundara1Theo Gilbert2Saskia Kersten3Li Meng4Department of English Language and Linguistics, School of Creative Arts, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United KingdomDepartment of English Language Teaching, Uva Wellassa University, Badulla, Sri LankaThe Learning and Teaching Innovation Centre, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United KingdomDepartment III—English and American Studies, Institute of English Philology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, GermanySchool of Physics, Engineering and Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United KingdomIntroductionAssociated with learning and social isolation from each other during the pandemic-driven transition to online platforms in Higher Education (HE), many students were, and remain, reluctant to turn on their video cameras to be present with each other during their online meetings.Using the Compassionate Mind Foundation's definition of compassion, not as an emotion, but as a psychobiological motivation to take wise action to help when self or others struggle, this comparative study examined (a) the deployment by students during online, task-focused group/team meetings, of taught verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that were explicitly compassionate and (b) the effects of these strategies on each other's social and learning experiences in these meetings, compared to when they did not use them.MethodsTwenty-four STEM students from a sample of five Sri Lankan universities, were mixed, then divided into six groups of four students per group. This mixed-methods study, video-recorded and analyzed each group's task-focused group meetings before, then after, an online interactive 90-min training session (the intervention) in the Cognitive Skills of Compassionate Communications (CSCC) for groups/teams.ResultsUsing R, SPSS and Microsoft Excel to analyse the quantitative data, a statistically significant improvement in students' screen-gaze attentiveness was identified after the CSCC intervention. The qualitative data analysis explained this and other behavioral changes that were shown to enhance students' social and learning experiences in their online meetings.Given the strong historical and political drivers of current divisions across Sri Lankan student communities, these findings call for more urgent research on compassion as a cognitive competence for accelerating group/team cohesion and criticality across HE, and beyond.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1113098/fullcompassionate communicationteam/group workonlinesocial experiencelearning experience |
| spellingShingle | J. M. P. V. K. Jayasundara J. M. P. V. K. Jayasundara Theo Gilbert Saskia Kersten Li Meng Why should I switch on my camera? Developing the cognitive skills of compassionate communications for online group/teamwork management Frontiers in Psychology compassionate communication team/group work online social experience learning experience |
| title | Why should I switch on my camera? Developing the cognitive skills of compassionate communications for online group/teamwork management |
| title_full | Why should I switch on my camera? Developing the cognitive skills of compassionate communications for online group/teamwork management |
| title_fullStr | Why should I switch on my camera? Developing the cognitive skills of compassionate communications for online group/teamwork management |
| title_full_unstemmed | Why should I switch on my camera? Developing the cognitive skills of compassionate communications for online group/teamwork management |
| title_short | Why should I switch on my camera? Developing the cognitive skills of compassionate communications for online group/teamwork management |
| title_sort | why should i switch on my camera developing the cognitive skills of compassionate communications for online group teamwork management |
| topic | compassionate communication team/group work online social experience learning experience |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1113098/full |
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