|
Anxiety | |
| Although the term "anxiety" may have a negative connotation, a certain level of anxiety actually helps to improve performance. However, too much anxiety and performance suffers. This is a well-known hypothesized curvilinear relationship with which students experiencing test anxiety have personal familiarity! High anxiety is most likely to impair performance if the task involved is both complex and difficult. In fact, highly anxious students may set difficult goals that are less likely to succeed. Getting them to set realistic goals will lower their anxiety. Although anxiety can lower performance, it can actually be an advantage in some situations. Anxious individuals display superior performance if the learning environment is reassuring. Although negative feedback will decrease the anxious person's performance, the anxious person will actually learn better than the non-anxious person if positive feedback is given, regardless of task difficulty. The most widely used instrument to measure anxiety is the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. This instrument differentiates between anxiety as a personality trait (a stable predisposition) or as a transitory state invoked under certain conditions. The technology associated with distance education, as well as the physical separation of instructor and students, can lead to anxiety. Communication apprehension is anxiety associated with real or anticipated communication. One study compared college students with high and low levels of communication apprehension. Those with high levels were significantly less anxious when using asynchronous computer-mediated communication and also participated more, as compared to face-to-face discussion. (See Taylor, J. [1999]. Using asynchronous computer-conferencing to encourage interaction in seminar discussion. In R. Hazemi, S. Hailes, & S. Wilbur (Eds.), The Digital University: Reinventing the Academy. London: Springer-Verlag, p. 219-232.) Another study found that telecourse students, taking a college course involving one-way video and two-way audio, scored higher on emotional stability and trust than their conventional classroom counterparts, as assessed through the 16PF personality inventory. (See Biner, P.M., Bink, M.L., Huffman, M.L., & Dean, R.S. [1995]. Personality characteristics differentiating and predicting the achievement of televised course students and traditional course students. American Journal of Distance Education 9 [2], 46-57.) To help students lower their anxiety, try these strategies:
To raise anxiety to a level that increases motivation and a sense of challenge, try beginning a class or online discussion with an unusual attention-catcher. For example, tell a story or ask a thought-provoking question. |