Basic Set-up. Preliminary equipment for both student and instructor include computers with sufficient memory, modems or direct connections to the University network (SONNET), and mail and networking software. (Information on configurations needed at Ohio State is in Appendix A, and information on computer labs where students can access the setup they need for the various forms of electronic class discussion below is in Appendix B.)

Electronic Discussion Formats. Once the basic support hardware and software are in place, there are several ways in which one can set up an electronic discussion. Among the more common are:

Nickname Files: The regular mail software program being used by the instructor can be used to create a "nickname," which is a label given to a list of addresses. (Some programs call this the "broadcast" function.) For example, the instructor can type or paste in all the electronic addresses of his or her students and create a nickname such as "English 112." The addresses are then stored and when the instructor wants to send to the whole class, he or she simply types "English 112" on the recipient line and the message goes to all the students whose addresses were originally entered. (Further instructions on creating nicknames for Ohio State users are in Appendix C.) While this is a quick and convenient way for the instructor to communicate with the students, it does not allow the students to communicate with each other. To overcome this disadvantage, the instructor can serve as the receiving point and forward all messages back to the nickname. Even when the instructor monitors the incoming mail steadily, however, using the nickname arrangement for interactive exchange slows down the process. The advantage is that using a nickname is perhaps the easiest way to begin an exchange and is certainly the quickest if a one-time, rather than whole-term, discussion is being undertaken. Many instructors say that they started their first electronic discussion with a nickname and went to other forms after they had some experience with using the nickname function. They find that nicknames are more suited to one-way communication.

Newsgroups: Similar to electronic bulletin boards, newsgroups are files of postings that are accessed through a newserver computer. The newsgroup is established by the instructor through the management of the computer (See Appendix D for further information on newsgroups at Ohio State) and students check for new postings or make new postings by using newsreader software, which is installed on the computer that they are using. Newsgroups are relatively easy to use, but require that the student and teacher go outside their normal electronic mail program to use. They also are public and thus even those outside the class have access to the discussion. Nuisance comments can result.

Listservers: Listservers use software that creates a shared mail environment among a specified group of "subscribers." An instructor can request that a listserver be set up from the computer management (See Appendix E for Ohio State procedures). A list name is assigned and the instructor can subscribe the students or ask them to subscribe themselves by sending a subscription message. Once this has been accomplished all subscribers can send messages to the list name. These messages will be received in the regular mail box of the other subscribers. The instructor can either actively moderate the listserver discussion by first viewing the messages before they are sent to subscribers or can have an open list in which all postings automatically go to subscribers on the list. Listservers are a little more complicated to establish and use than nickname files, but once established, they are very convenient and they have useful functions that can be accessed, such as archiving old messages for retrieval.

Web-Based Alternatives: Using certain kinds of conferencing software, instructors can establish discussion environments on their personal or course homepage on the World Wide Web. (These applications are not yet routinely supported at Ohio State.) Students go to a certain part of the page where they can enter a discussion that can take place either in real time or delayed time. The process is more convenient to both the faculty and student user, and other functions on the page, such as readings or the course syllabus, can be accessed from the same location.

Desktop Video or Audio Conferencing: Some web-based alternatives also support desktop audio or video conferencing, and they can be used without web applications as well. Since these programs work best with very small groups and all of the participants must use a workstation that has not only the software but additional hardware (a video camera and/or microphone), these applications are currently not feasible for course applications in which all of the participants must be seen and heard. Also, the technology for these applications is prone to problems and is still being improved. For one-way transmission, such as bringing an expert opinion to the group without the expert seeing the group, or perhaps small group work, desktop video conferencing offers more advantages than it presently does for whole class discussion.