Collins, M., & Barbour, M. K. (2001, June). Some characteristics of student use of electronic communications in second-year science classes. Paper presented at the annual ED-MEDIA 2001 conference, Tampere, Finland.

1. Some observations on student use
of Electronic Communications in
second-year Biology courses
Michael A.J. Collins
and
Michael K. Barbour
Memorial University of
Newfoundland, Canada

2. A. Introduction
Electronic Messaging (EM) or
Computer-Mediated Communication
(CMC) includes
• electronic mail
• electronic bulletin boards
• electronic talk or chat
• electronic document exchange
(Zack, 1995)

3. B. The courses
Two second-year university non-major,
non-lab Biology courses.
Offered in on-campus lecture, distance
education correspondence, and Web
formats (latter 2040 only).
Biology 2040 (Human Biology)
Biology 2041 (Environmental Science)

4. C. The study
Developed out of a study conducted in
1994 and 1995 (Collins 1995, 1998).
Over a three-year period (1997-1999)
all electronic postings (E-mail and Web
forum) in Biology 2040 and 2041
classes were collected and analyzed.

5. D. Some characteristics of
student use of EM

6. Time of day students used
e-mail and Web forum
40
35
30
25
20 email
15 forum
10
5
0
mdt 4am 8am noon 4pm 8pm

7. While most of e-mail and Web forum
use took place during regular class
hours, over 40% of the use was at
times outside of regular class hours.
Supports Cavalier’s (1992) contention
that EM supports “round-the-clock
dialogue”.

8. Levels of use of e-mail and
mean number of e-mails by course/format
50
45
40
35
30
25 Level of use
20 Mean # of messages
15
10
5
0
40L 40C 40W 41L 41C

9. Students in Web-based format were
more likely to send e-mails than those
in lecture and correspondence sections.
While use of e-mail in the lecture
section lower than in the Web format,
use in correspondence sections was
even lower - a great surprise since this
was the students’ main method of
communication with the instructor!

10. Content analysis of e-mails
Type of Lecture Corresp Web
e-mail
Assign 21.6% 12.3% 10.5%
Tests 26.7% 39.8% 33.1%
System 2.7% 5.3% 20.3%
Content 3.8% 21.7% 9.0%
Admin 16.6% 21.7% 19.5%
Other 6.9% 14.8% 7.5%

11. The main use in all formats was for
messages related to tests.
Second major use for correspondence
and Web sections was for
administrative purposes; second major
use for lecture sections was for
assignments.
Correspondence sections showed
highest percentage for content.

12. E. Relationships between final
scores and EM use

13. Final course grades and e-mail
use by course and format
Course Format Users Non-
users
2040 Lecture 77.3 76.3
2040 Corresp 74.0 76.0
2040 Web 73.9 73.7
2041 Lecture 78.4 77.0
2041 Corresp 81.9 82.5
Totals 77.0 76.2

14. No clear differences between use/non-
use of e-mail and mean final course
scores.
An earlier exploratory study (Collins
2000) suggested that there was a
relationship between Web forum use
and final score. The next analyses
focus on just three Web classes which
used both e-mail and a Web forum.

15. Final course scores and EM use
Us e r s No n -
us e r s
EM M an
e n M an
e n
t y pe
Ema i l 7 3 . 6 0 50 73. 17 41
Wb
e 75. 25 40 71. 96 51
Al l 73. 80 64 72. 41 27
EM

16. While there was no difference between
users and non-users in mean final
scores for e-mail use (+0.43), there was
a slight difference for all EM use
(+1.30).
The largest difference between users
and non-users was for Web forum use
(+3.29).

17. Levels of EM use and
mean course scores
Level E-mail Web All EM
of use forum
V. freq 80.0 85.0 80.0
Freq 77.5 73.4 71.8
Infreq 73.3 74.9 73.8
None 73.2 72.0 72.4

18. For e-mail there was a relationship
between level of use and mean final
course scores, except there was no real
difference between infrequent users
and non-users.
For the Web forum very frequent users
had the highest marks then infrequent,
then frequent, and finally non-users.

19. For all EM very frequent had the
highest marks, then infrequent, then
frequent, and finally non-users.
Overall then there were no absolutely
clear relationships between the
frequency of EM use and final course
scores.

20. Frequency of use of e-mails
and final letter grades
Level of use A and B C, D and F
V. freq 1 0
Freq 2 0
Infreq 39 5
None 29 12
Totals 42 20

21. For e-mail use only students attaining
‘A’s or ‘B’s were very frequent or
frequent users (n=3).
Most ‘A’s and ‘B’s, and all ‘C’s, ‘D’s,
and ‘F’s were either infrequent users or
non-users.

22. Frequency of use of the Web
forum and final letter grades
Level of use A and B C, D and F
V. freq 2 0
Freq 3 0
Infreq 28 7
None 38 13
Totals 71 20

23. There is a clearer relationship for Web
forum use and letter grades attained.
‘A’s were very frequent users, while
only ‘A’s and ‘B’s were frequent users.
‘C’s, ‘D’s, and ‘F’s were either
infrequent users or non-users.

24. ‘A’s were more likely to be users (21 of
42) than ‘B’s (12 of 29), who in turn
were more likely to be users than the
lower letter grades (7 of 20).

25. Frequency of use of all EM and
final letter grade
Level of use A and B C, D and F
V. freq 4 0
Freq 6 1
Infreq 42 11
None 19 8
Totals 71 20

26. The relationship for all EM use is not
quite as clear as for the Web forum.
However, while only 27% of ‘A’s and
‘B’s were non-users, 40% of the other
letter grades were non-users.

27. F. Conclusions

28. The use of Electronic Messaging is
virtually at all hours, allowing for “round-
the-clock” dialogues as Cavalier had
suggested.
The numbers of students using EM vary
between courses and instructional
formats with greater percentages of the
Web course using EM.

29. A surprising finding was that students in
off-campus sections were much less
likely to use EM than on-campus or
Web course students.
There does appear to be a relationship
between EM use/non-use and final
letter grades with ‘A’s and ‘B’s more
likely to be users, and to be very
frequent or frequent users.

30. ‘C’s, ‘D’s, and ‘F’s are more likely to be
non EM users, and if they are users to
be infrequent ones.
These findings seem to confirm
Chickering and Gamson’s assertion that
“interaction” is a key mechanism in
enhancing learning, if student use of
EM can be interpreted as a form of
interaction.

31. One way would be through the medium
of Electronic Messaging which could be
particularly useful in large lecture
classes and in distance education
settings.