Future issues of computer-mediated communication: The results of a delphi study

Although applications of computer-mediated communications (CMC) continue to evolve, most colleges and universities have no plan to prepare for future development. In order to develop such a plan, a vision of the future of CMC needs to be formed. This study attempted to create such a vision by predicting which CMC applications will become prevalent, the resources required to support these applications, and the major obstacles that will need to be overcome. To address these issues, faculty around the world who extensively use CMC in instruction participated in an electronic Delphi study. Findings indicated that future CMC applications will be those that support common classroom activities such as sending and receiving assignments and distributing electronic handouts. Network access, new teaching skills, and additional time to integrate CMC into the classroom were identified as the resources required to support these applications. Faculty resistance to CMC was identified as the major obstacle.