ABSTRACT
A number of studies have shown that students are often more willing to participate in educational conversations online than in the classroom (e.g., Beauvois, 1992; Bruce, Peyton, & Batson, 1993; Hudson & Bruckman, 2002; Kern, 1995). However, other studies have shown that online environments have poor student participation (e.g., Davis & Huttenlocher, 1995; Guzdial & Carroll, 2002; Palonen & Hakkarainen, 2000). Why is this the case? What causes participation to vary from one environment to another? To help explore these phenomena, I borrow a concept from social psychology: the bystander effect (Latané & Darley, 1970). Briefly, the bystander effect explains why individuals are less likely to help in an emergency if others are present. While the bystander effect specifically applies to helping behavior in emergency situations, I use this construct as a lens through which to view participation patterns in non-emergency situations such as educational environments (Hudson & Bruckman, 2004), The bystander effect has four key components that inhibit participation: selfawareness, social cues, blocking mechanisms, and diffuse responsibility. Focusing on these mechanisms can help us more fully characterize participation patterns observed in different educational environments and leverage this knowledge in the design of such systems.
