Confirmatory Message referring to a response initiated by another person where the student is answering in some manner a question or comment previously made. Electronic communication served as a convenient tool for meeting course requirements. Learning to use the computer was in competition with course requirements and teaching requirements for students' attention. Student teachers wanted priority placed on the interpersonal nature of learning to teach that the Powerbooks could not supply. Students attempted to create a different mindset for the reader than simply reporting in using prefatory and ending remarks to messages.
Students read instructor messages as a priority.
Reading other students' summaries of readings was a very low priority.