Experiment substituting in-class discussions with Email discussions

This paper describes the results of a one year experiment in which class discussions were held online, by exchanging electronic mail messages. This experiment was conducted for the computer ethics portion of a two semester software engineering course. The experiment was motivated by the question of whether class discussion could be effectively moved to an online format and how the dynamics would change with such a move. It was hoped that the online format could alleviate some of the problems of open-ended in-class discussions, such as domination by a few members and too many silent class members. It was found that there are several advantages to online discussions, making email a useful tool for enhancing class material. Furthermore, the experiment indicated that in-class discussions can be moved to the online format for small classes (ten students or less) of motivated students. The evidence did not support moving large classes to the online format. It also did not support moving classes of any size to the online format if the students are not motivated. In-class discussions provide more opportunities for facilitators to engage students than online discussions do. In conclusion, the online format requires greater instruction time and increased ingenuity in motivating students. While no inherent obstacle requires discussions to be in-class, limited resources make the online format impractical for most discussion situations.