http://www.dartmouth.edu/~webteach/articles/discussion.html

Providing an online discussion component to a university class can have a number of benefits and also create new issues to contend with.

Benefits

• Class preparation


• Participation from students who don’t want to speak up in class


• Sensitive issues

Drawbacks

• Too much participation


• Not enough participation

There are several kinds of discussions, both synchronous (chat) and asynchronous (discussion groups). How they are set up (single topic/threaded discussion) and what rules are established can influence who participates, what they contribute and how often they post.