Let Your Fingers Do the Talking: Conducting Class with “Chat”

Abstract

Communication skills development is an essential aspect of any educational experience. This is especially true for programs preparing students to pursue careers in business. Current educational practices tend to emphasize public speaking and report writing skills. In today's business climate, however, the ability to interact electronically and communicate effectively is becoming increasingly important. Students should therefore be provided with opportunities to develop and enhance electronic communication skills. But will the message in the medium detract from the other pedagogical purposes of the communication? This study applies a quasi-experimental design, with synchronous “chat” as the experimental condition, to examine this question in the context of case study analyses and class discussions.