Perceived Effectiveness of Computer-Mediated Communications and Face-to-Face Communications in Student Software Development Teams
A reorientation is occurring in higher education where course delivery using distance education (DE) creates the potential for programming students to participate in dispersed project teams. Computer-mediated communication systems (CMCS) are being promoted as a means of supporting DE, but findings from research in the business domain raise concerns about whether these will be effective when applied to student project teams. To study this issue, we conducted research in a Business Software Engineering course to learn what students perceive to be the most and least effective aspects of computer-mediated communications relative to face-to-face communications in supporting team projects.