Page 299 - Effective group discussion theory and practice by Adams, Katherine H. Brilhart, John K. Galanes, Gloria J

282 Chapter 10

Pena-Shaff and associates compared both BBS and IRC in the classroom; their
findings have important implications for small groups. BBS services allow group
members to post asynchronous messages and are particularly useful when the group
wishes to promote critical thinking and reflection. BBS discussions are generally
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structured, reflective, and focused on the task and topic. The downside to BBS is that
it does not promote collaboration and social interaction. Group members need to be
motivated to use it. In contrast, the synchronous character of text-base “talk,” such as
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IRC, does promote collaboration and works well for brainstorming. IRC is more
informal. Members feel more pressured to reach consensus, yet find it difficult to do
so. The freewheeling nature of chat rooms, which helps members initially explore
issues, also allows members to get offtrack easily. Once offtrack, it is hard to get the
discussion back on track. Thus, although chat rooms allow for interaction in real time
and provide immediate feedback, similar to face-to-face interaction, the talk can be
confusing, with content and flow reflecting “messy” thinking.
Practically speaking, your group first needs to decide whether you want to use an
electronic bulletin board service or a chat room. Your answer depends on whether you
want freewheeling discussion, as is appropriate during problem analysis, idea generation,
brainstorming, and so forth, or critical evaluation, as is appropriate when a group is eval-
uating options and trying to decide something. Either way, effective use of bulletin boards
and chat rooms is improved when members know the guidelines ahead of time and use
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them. Table 10.14 offers some to consider and can be adapted to your own group. 47
We introduced you to different forms of computer conferencing in Chapter 2.
These netconferences are electronically mediated conferences that allow group mem-
Teleconference bers to meet while being located in different places within the same town or world.
A meeting of Your authors, Gloria (living in Missouri) and Kathy (living in California), conference
participants who by phone every two years with their editors (living in New York) in preparation for
commu nicate via their revision of this text. Teleconferences are the most used technology tool for virtual
mediated channels group meetings. Teleconferences take three popular forms: the audio conference,
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such as television, which lets members hear but not see each other; the videoconference, which lets mem-
tele phone, or
computer rather than bers see and hear each other; and the computer conference, which allows members to
face-to-face. send messages to each other that are displayed on computer monitors—like the IRC in
classrooms and the tools found in a site like wiggio (www.wiggio.com/).

TABLE 10.14
Guidelines for 1. Make sure everyone knows where the bulletin board or chat room is located
bulletin board and how to use it.
and chat room use 2. Guarantee that the bulletin board or chat room is private so outsiders cannot
interrupt or see the discussion.
3. Select a group member as a moderator to help ensure discussion equity. This
role can be rotated.
4. Moderators and group members should facilitate a climate of equitable
participation both in asynchronous and synchronous environments.
5. Emoticons need to be used wisely because they can be misread or
misunderstood.
6. Synchronous chatting needs to stay on task.

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