Do College Students Participate More in Discussion in Traditional Delivery Courses or in Interactive Telecourses?
An arena of social interaction that has escaped the attention of many faculty members is one in which they participate frequently. In the college classroom, patterns of interaction develop as students and instructors negotiate a definition of the situation (Goffman, 1959, 1961; McHugh, 1968) with regard to classroom norms. Karp and Yoels (1976) first identified the consolidation of responsibility as a major norm in the college classroom. The consolidation of responsibility means that, regardless of class size, a handful of students (five to seven) account for the vast majority of interactions in any given class session. Fritschner (2000), Howard and Baird (2000), Howard and Henney (1998), Howard, Short, and Clark (1996), and Jung, Moore, and Parker (1999) also found the consolidation of responsibility to be an operative norm in traditional delivery college classrooms. Faculty members ought to be concerned with the percentage of students participating in their courses, because there is substantial evidence to suggest that students learn more when they are actively engaged with the material, their instructor, and their classmates (see for example, Astin, 1985; Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1991; Kember & Gow, 1994; McKeachie, 1990; Meyers & Jones, 1993). A second reason for concern is that research suggests that critical thinking is fostered by students’ active participation in learning (Garside, 1996; Smith, 1977). Instructors can also use classroom discussion to lead students through different Do College Students Participate More in Discussion in Traditional Delivery Courses or in Interactive Telecourses?