Conferencing

Conferencing

Karen Power, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Definitions and background

Increased access to computer technology has lead to a rise in online communication being used for conferencing among groups of individuals with similar interests and/or goals (Passig and Sharbat, 2000). “Computer conferencing is structured communication among multiple participants from multiple sites, often involving group discussions and different access levels among categories of users” (Maher and Jacob, 2006, p.128). Maher and Jacob (2006) stated that asynchronous conferencing occurs when “multiple participants from multiple sites” (p.128) engage in online group conversations, in which they have the ability to read and write messages at any time, as they respond to and interact with each other. Computer conferencing can occur in a variety of platforms such as electronic bulletin boards, e-mail, and chat rooms (Quilter and Chester, 2001).

Beginning in the 1970’s, delivering curriculum via computers has been a part of the “higher educational agenda” (Nicholson, 2011, p. 39). Over the past twenty-five years, conferencing has been the focus of numerous pedagogical studies that have examined its use as a teaching tool (McIntosh, Braul, and Chao, 2003). The constructivist learning theory recognizes the importance of students constructing their own meaning of information. (NG and Murphy, 2005) and educational researchers have ascertained that such constructed meaning occurs readily and effectively, when teams of individuals share knowledge and work together. (Peters and Hewitt, 2010). Researchers have discovered that conferencing provides a valuable forum for such collaboration and interaction, and thus it has become especially popular in distance education (Lawlor, 2006).