Online and face-to-face discussions in the classroom: a study on the experiences of 'active' and 'silent' students

Even though the advantages of online discussions over face-to-face discussion formats has been extensively reported and investigated, the blending of online discussion tools in co-located classroom settings has been considered with far less intensity. In this paper, we report on secondary school students' experiences and preferences concerning two different discussion formats in co-located classroom settings, namely face-to-face (F2F) and synchronous, computer-mediated communication (CMC). In addition, we also differentiate between students that are known to be active participants in F2F classroom discussions and those who usually remain silent. The findings highlight several advantages of CMC over F2F discussions in co-located settings and show that different students ('active' and 'silent') experience F2F and computer-mediated communication differently.