ABSTRACT
Computer conferencing differs from e-mail in a number of ways, but essentially an e-mail sent to a computer conference can be seen by anyone in the conference who in turn can respond with a message and so on. The online tutor cannot assume that a particular student has read a message or discover that student has become inactive, without checking back against the 'History' of a message, to see if the student is listed as a reader. If conferences log on for half an hour a day then it will take up to two weeks to replicate a one hour's tutorial online. Nevertheless synchronous conferencing has an immediacy which is an attractive alternative to the rather ponderous nature of asynchronous conferencing. It is obviously less suitable for international conferences spanning several time zones but may be particularly appropriate for online campus situations or commercial training schemes where students can log in and out of 'chat' ad lib.
