We have conducted numerous surveys looking for cognitive as well affective outcomes. It is clear from students' comments that they consider the electronic exchanges intimate and personal. Most JiTT pages contain a space for students' thoughts and concerns. The concerns are addressed in class to everyone's benefit and they are often followed by multiple email exchanges between the instructor and the student who raised the issue, occasionally followed by a personal visit in the instructor's office. These sentiments are echoed by a large number of JiTT adopters, many of whom consider the enhanced personal interaction with their students one of the primary reasons to adopt the JiTT pedagogy.
Technology is a tool.
The benefits, or harm, derived from it depend on the use. The internet is primarily a communication tool, as is the printing press. The on-going feedback loop provides the instructor with a fairly detailed profile of the student audience, both as a group and as a collection of individual human beings with special needs. The resulting classroom experience gives the students the comfortable feeling that the instructor is aware of their mental state and their needs as they unfold through the semester. While, in principle, this kind of information could be collected on paper, the process would not be as effective.