Participation in class and in online discussions: Gender differences

Gender differences between participation in face-to-face and web-based classroom discussions were examined, by comparing the men-women actual participation ratio to the men-women attendance (or login) ratio. It was found that men over-proportionally spoke at the face-to-face classroom whereas women over-proportionally posted messages in the web-based conference. Two alternative explanations are discussed. It is suggested that either women prefer written communication more than men do, or that women prefer written communication over spoken communication. Nonetheless, despite some advantages of virtual discussions, especially for women, the online environment is apparently not attractive enough for either gender. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.