Many people have participated into lots of virtual( 虚拟的) meetings these years. Some research shows this change might not influence productivity. A new study, though, suggests the opposite.
In the study, 602 participants were paired and asked to come up with creative uses for a product. They worked together either in person or virtually and were ranked based on the total number and degree of creativity of their ideas. Finally, they presented their best ideas. Among the groups, virtual pairs came up with fewer ideas, suggesting that face-to-face interaction produces greater creativity.
"Based on feedback from companies, we ran this experiment to solve the challenge of keeping creativity in online work environments," said lead researcher Melanie Brucks. "While video meetings closely copy face-to-face interactions unlike other virtual communication methods such as phone calls or emails, I was surprised to discover meaningful disparities between face to face and video interactions for idea generation. "
When objects were placed in both the virtual and physical rooms, the virtual pairs spent more time looking directly at each other rather than letting them looking around the whole scene. Eyeing the whole environment were connected with increased idea generation. However, the screen takes up most of our interactions. Our look changes less. "Looking around might be seen as rude, so we have to focus on the screen," said Brucks.
Like most educators, Brucks has taught online in the past three years, and she noticed some benefits of this modern method as well. Her students were more likely to take turns speaking and shyer students spoke up more often, felt less anxious than in a large classroom. Brucks found that one solution to improve creative ideas generation might be turning off the camera, as students felt "freer" and more creative when asked to do so. And this advice might also work well in the workplace.
However, virtual communication can' t take place of face-to-face teamwork. Face-to- face teams are the best way to produce winning ideas. Perhaps school will finally find a balance between the two forms. This could involve a completely new learning model, which can allow students to attend in-person or online classes based on their own needs and situations. In this way, students would have the opportunity to connect with their peers face-to-face during certain days for increased creativity while also benefiting from the convenience of online learning on other days.
