Prescriptive Guidelines for when to Use Synchronous Communication in E-Learning Environments

It is commonly argued that asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) is preferable for promoting reflection and discussing complex ideas in e-learning environments. However, guidelines for when to use synchronous media are unavailable. In order to address this problem, we propose initial prescriptive guidelines for when to support synchronous communication, as a complement to asynchronous communication, in e-learning environments. The guidelines are theoretically grounded as well as empirically grounded through a series of studies on synchronous CMC in e-learning settings conducted between 2003 and 2006. Nevertheless, the guidelines can also be considered to be research hypotheses since they can be tested and further developed in future research. It is acknowledged that the guidelines proposed here can, however, only be hypothesized to be useful until they have undergone thorough evaluation.