A Comparative Analysis of Email and Face-to-Face Communication in an Educational Environment

摘要

Electronic mail (email) is an extremely important medium for web-based education. Due to the unique characteristics of email, there is reason to be concerned that students do not put appropriate care into writing messages that will be sent to others. This paper describes an empirical research project to investigate student perceptions of the amount of thought put into email communications versus traditional face-to-face communication. A survey was developed and administered to 220 students. The results of this survey indicate that students do put more thought into email communication with the instructor and groups of students than they would for strictly verbal communication. A t the same time, most students tend to put about the same amount of thought or less into communication with individual peers. This implies rational use and a good understanding of the limitations of the email medium.