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Gender
Differences in Online and Face-to-Face
Undergraduate Education Courses
 Context
This
research grew out of two class projects. The assignments
were both rather broad, simply conduct research. These
were both research methodology courses, with one focusing
on qualitative research and the other one on research
in instructional systems technology.
The
Study
I
decided to run a pilot study to look at the differences
between small group interactions in face-to-face (F2F)
classrooms and those in online discussion forums. A
review of the literature suggested that gender plays
an important role in both F2F and online interactions.
Research
Questions
The
literature led me to ask two research questions:
- Do
male students in face-to-face introductory pre-service
teacher education classrooms exhibit controlling behaviors?
- Do
male students in introductory pre-service teacher
education online classrooms exhibit controlling behaviors?
Findings
 Analysis
of transcripts from a face-to-face class suggested that
male participants contributed more for each coding item
in the F2F course than females, except in the average
number of initiated responses and the average length
of initiated responses. Male students also seemed to
dominate F2F interactions by interrupting and positioning
more than their female classmates. Male students interrupted
their conversation partners slightly more than female
students did. The male students in this study also used
positioning, almost four times more than the female
students.
Do
male students in face-to-face introductory pre-service
teacher education classrooms exhibit controlling behaviors?
The data seems to indicate that male students do exhibit
controlling behaviors in this context.
The
data in an online course seem to run counter to those
found in the F2F class. Female students participated
more in the online classes than the male students did.
They contributed more text, initiated more of the postings,
and replied to more postings. By dominating the amount
of text in the online class, female students dominated
the discussions. In addition to the amount of time controlled
by the female participants, they also utilized positioning
more than their male classmates.
Do
male students in introductory pre-service teacher education
online classrooms exhibit controlling behaviors?
Male students do not seem to exhibit controlling behaviors
in the online CMC classroom.
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