Experience shows that online courses naturally lend themselves to more self-disclosure on the part of faculty and students than face-to-face courses do, possibly due to the increased quantity of discussion. Most large lecture courses have little if any discussion, and while smaller classes may have more discussion, it tends to be students answering direct questions from and speaking to the instructor. By contrast, the lack of a physical classroom of chairs all facing the instructor leads to online students speaking directly to one another in discussion. Plus, there are no time limits to discussion, allowing for more and deeper conversation.
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