Conversation and community: The potential of electronic conferences for creating intellectual proximity in distributed learning environments

Abstract

As distance-independent technologies increase the flexibility with which students may participate in higher education, they may decrease the opportunities for peer interactions. This report explores electronic conferences as a medium in which community can develop among students. It examines a conference that was set up by graduate professional school students for their own use. Questionnaire data were gathered 9 months and 27 months after the conference was initiated, and the conference content for two corresponding 9-month periods were analyzed using a coding dictionary derived from the literature of professional socialization. Research questions addressed student perceptions of the conference as a communication environment, the role of the conference in the professional school experience, and the differences between individuals who posted entries to the conference and the conference lurkers. The results indicate that students used the conference environment to extend their educational community, with stronger effect for posters than lurkers.