Based on this discussion, she targeted remarks in class to those points that she felt the students also needed to consider. The instructor also had a good sense of areas that she did not need to treat in class. A communication professor asked students to discuss the building of electronic social communities and other issues relevant to technology through an electronic discussion, thus calling upon them to create a community and social norms as they used the medium itself. Many instructors use electronic discussions as a way of allowing students to elaborate upon discussions that were begun in class, thereby extending the time available for the discussion and allowing others who are more comfortable with mail than spoken discussion to participate. Electronic discussions can be used as tutorials.
Students can receive extra practice in skills needed in a course or can obtain study assistance.
One economics professor used electronic discussions to review before examinations. Students asked questions of each other and this instructor and all got to see the answers Electronic discussions can be used to further the communication skills of students. A theatre instructor in a content writing course posed open-ended discussion questions periodically for students to address through electronic discussion. The assignment was to encourage practice in framing written arguments in an interactive situation. This activity added written dialogue to the instructor's goal of spoken fluency.