Synchronous computer mediated communication refers to software that requires users to be on-line at the same time and permits an illusion of real time communication. Many softwares enable asynchronous communication, often at a speed which seems instantaneous, indeed much of the earlier work on the use of email in education applauds the instant nature of the feedback. However, anyone who has spent fruitless moments waiting for an email response will no longer be impressed by this once much vaunted aspect. Synchronous CMC softwares may well include an asynchronous facility such as MOO mail or ICQ messaging that encourages the user to leave notes for users not on line at the time.
Participants are present in the conversation.
This presence makes an interesting difference in the nature of the synchronous CMC experience. Late 90 s educators scrabble to stay within the job market by being aware of and involved in flexible delivery, pushed either by an interest in the possibilities the mode has to offer or by a buck conscious administration greedy for enrolments in an increasingly competitive educational market place. Flexible delivery has become quite embroiled with developing aspirations for the use of the internet in the industrialised countries of the world and the notion of on-line delivery and educational learning environments. The first category is described as the largest in that it includes the individual varieties of cmc softwares - email, web pages, file transfer and conferencers. The power of unintegrated systems is then that the operator and educator can assemble and configure a number of elements to creaate the desired environment.