Incorporating Computer-mediated Communication into University Courses: benefits and costs

This article presents the rationale, methods and results of an action research initiative which included Computer-mediated communication (CMC) in three university English Linguistics courses. In a crowded classroom situation where interactivity was limited and the learning environment largely defined by the lecturer, the introduction of an asynchronous dimension to teacher-student communication via an Internet infrastructure software brought an increase in teacher-student dialogue and a broadening of the learning environment. The successful use of CMC with a visually impaired student is also recounted and future research with such students hinted at. The benefits of incorporating CMC in the courses are deduced partly from a quantitative analysis of student answers to a questionnaire, as well as from a qualitative analysis of the lecturer’s personal experience. The costs in terms of personal effort and time are considered to be high, but the overall effect for both students and lecturer is evaluated as extremely positive.