Which is a better choice for student-faculty interaction: synchronous or asynchronous communication?

The use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) technology has dramatically changed the ways for students to interact with their professors, especially for communications occurring outside of the classroom. A recent study investigated the impact of offering virtual office hours by using instant messaging (IM) software for student-faculty interaction. The study found that participants in classes that offered virtual office hours reported higher levels of satisfaction with office hours than students in classes that offered only traditional face-to-face office hours. Also revealed, however, was that students’ use of virtual office hours is not significantly different from their use of traditional office hours. The study further reported that students prefer asynchronous tools such as email to communicate with the professor. This paper extends this line of research by studying the use of email to enhance student-faculty interaction. Participants in the study are drawn from undergraduate students enrolled in on-campus MIS courses at a public university in the U.S. Southeast. The findings suggested that students who were offered an email-turnaround-time guarantee reported significantly higher level of satisfaction on getting help outside of the classroom than the participants who were not offered such a guarantee. The study also found that, when participants were offered both virtual office hours and an email-turnaround-time guarantee, they prefer the latter for communication. The implications of the findings are discussed.