1. Introduction
Web-based learning depends upon electronic communication. The very nature of the Internet as a medium for
education requires the flow of electronic messages and images from the instructor to the students. Likewise, the
Internet and Higher Education 9 (2006) 217–227students must communicate with the instructor and interact with peers in the class. The instructor and these studentVirtual universities and e-learning will be key components for progressive education in the twenty-first century.
There is evidence that this trend is already well underway. In 1999, it was estimated that one million of the fourteen
million total students in the United States had taken some sort of online course for credit and fully one-third of the
universities in the country had at least one accredited degree program online (Huffstuter & Fields, 2000). By 2003, the
growth rate for online enrollment was 19.8% and predicted to be 24.8% by 2004—faster than the growth of student
enrollment (Oblinger & Hawking, 2005). This is not a passing fad. Over 65% of all public and private for-profit
institutions surveyed agreed that online education is critical to their long-term strategy for success (Allen & Seaman,
2004). Increased consumer demand, improved technology and infrastructure, and the economic benefits of e-learning
all but guarantee the continued growth of web-based education.A comparative analysis of e-mail and face-to-face communication in
an educational environment
Jay M. Lightfoot ⁎
University of Northern Colorado, Monfort College of Business, Greeley, CO 80639, USA
Accepted 21 June 2006
Abstract
Electronic mail (e-mail) is an extremely important medium for Internet-based education. Due to its unique characteristics, there
is reason to be concerned that students do not put appropriate care into writing messages that are sent via e-mail. This has
significant implications for the effectiveness of online learning environments. This paper describes an empirical research project to
investigate the amount of thought students put into e-mail communication versus traditional face-to-face communication. A survey
was administered to 596 undergraduates. The results of this survey indicate that students put significantly more thought into e-mail
communication with the instructor and groups of peers than they do for equivalent face-to-face communication. At the same time,
students tend to put about the same amount of thought into e-mail compared to verbal communication with individual peers.
Finally, the research uncovered some interesting patterns concerning student gender and technology comfort as predictors of
thought put into e-mail communication.
© 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Distance education; Online learning environments; Computer-mediated learning; Social presence theory; E-mail communication⁎ Tel.: +1 970 351 1218; fax: +1 970 315 1119.
E-mail address: jay.lightfoot@unco.edu.
1096-7516/$ - see front matter © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2006.06.002

peers may not be physically located near one another. Because of this, teaching over the Internet requires far more
electronic interaction than traditional face-to-face classroom education.
Electronic mail (e-mail) is the most widespread and commonly used tool for electronic communication (Bafoutsou
& Mentzas, 2001). It has been estimated that 53% of all Americans use e-mail for an average of 29 minutes every day
(Festa, 2001). In business, e-mail is replacing traditional communication media such as letters, faxes, and telephone
calls (Tassabehji & Vakola, 2005). Consequently, it is reasonable to assume that e-mail will be the communication tool
of choice in Internet-based learning environments for the foreseeable future.
E-mail is also a somewhat problematic medium. It is a hybrid form of communication that has been shown to exhibit
characteristics of both oral and written discourse (Crystal, 2001; Davis & Brewer, 1997; Gruber, 2000; Matthews,
2000; Rice, 1995). This combination gives messages sent via e-mail the informal, free-flowing structure of
conversation with the permanence of a written document (Deegan, 2000). The writing style used in e-mail
communication has also been shown to have unique characteristics. Specifically, creative non-standard spelling,
excessive punctuation (Mallon & Oppenheim, 2002), playful use of creative greetings and improvisational language
(Danet, 2001), and extensive use of multiple fonts (Trupe, 2002) are common. The messages sent by e-mail tend to be
more ambiguous and subject to misinterpretation than is commonly realized (Adam, 2002; Kruger, Epley, Parker & Ng,
2005). The combination of unique written and oral elements in e-mail results in messages that are more spontaneous,
less inhibited, and more carefree than traditional written communication (Crystal, 2001; Jonsson, 1998; Naughton,
1999; Rice, 1995). This raises some interesting questions about e-mail as a communication tool in general and its use as
the primary means of communication in Internet-based learning environments in particular.
The current study addresses the problem of carelessly constructed e-mail messages created by students in an
educational environment. The method employed to measure this uses student perceptions concerning the amount of
thought put into crafting e-mail messages as compared to equivalent face-to-face verbal messages. In this usage,
“thought” encompasses the writing style, structure, and content of the e-mail message. It is hypothesized that students
are aware of the unique characteristics of the e-mail medium. They demonstrate this awareness by putting more thought
into the e-mail message and by writing more carefully when the situation deems it appropriate. If this conjecture is
correct, it indicates a mature understanding by students of the limitations (and strengths) of the e-mail medium and an
ability to use it appropriately in a variety of educational situations. The results of this research should be of particular
interest to instructors charged with designing and administering Internet-based courses because failure to recognize
potential communication problems inherent in the general design of these courses could jeopardize the success of the
entire web-based education program. Said another way, “Successful communication depends in part on an ability to
anticipate miscommunication.” (Keysar & Henly, 2002, p. 207).
2. Theoretical framework
The main issues addressed by this research are closely aligned with a branch of communication theory called social
presence theory. Social presence theory was initially proposed by Short, Williams, and Christie (1976) as a means to
explain and predict the media selected by communicators when media of varying social presence were available. In this
context, social presence is defined as the perceived subjective quality of the medium to transmit the awareness of
another person in an interaction (Rice, 1993; Short et al., 1976; Walther & Burgoon, 1992). Social presence can be
described as “the degree to which a person is perceived as ‘real’ in mediated communication” (Richardson & Swan,
2003, p. 70). Numerous factors influence the perception of social presence including (but not limited to) posture, facial
expression, and eye contact in face-to-face interaction, and the word selection, pitch, volume, and pacing of the words
that make up the communication (Short et al., 1976). As used in the theory, social presence is a subjective attribute of
the medium as perceived by individuals; consequently, different communicators could judge the social presence of a
medium to be different in identical situations (Baskin & Barker, 2004; Gunawardena, 1995; Perse, Burton, Kovner,
Lears, & Sen, 1992; Young 1999).
In their seminal research, Short et al. hypnotized that communicators are aware, on some level, of the social presence
of media for specific contexts and situations. Further, they believed that communicators avoid specific media in
situations where the social presence of the medium is inadequate for the task (Short et al., 1976). The rationale for this
reaction on the part of the communicator is that media with a high social presence, such as face-to-face interaction,
contain numerous overt and hidden communication channels. As the variety and number of communication channels
218 J.M. Lightfoot / Internet and Higher Education 9 (2006) 217–227and social cues are reduced, as happens with the e-mail medium, the social presence of the media is perceived to