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Abstract
There are many implications of online education, one of which is enabling an atmosphere of interaction and collaboration between faculty and students. The purpose of this study was to revisit previous research that the current researchers conducted in 2016 to determine if gender differences may influence the tone and focus of online communications. Each of six professors provided copies of student emails involving their respective courses during a particular time period. For the current study, 990 student emails were collected and these were categorized and coded. Of these emails, 425 were authored by male students and565 were authored by female students. The emails for each student were counted as well as the total number of words per email. Then, as in the previous study, the reason for each email was determined on the basis of: Introductory; Uncertainty of course material; Asking for extension; Technical problem (e.g., test or submitting an assignment); Complaining about a grade; Request for reference; Pleasant farewell to course; Thank you. Finally, the emotional tone for each email was evaluated on the basis of: Anger; Stress; Challenging; Appreciation; Sad/importuning; Neutral. The current study also considered additional hypotheses involving these factors, but, with additional consideration given to the gender of the professor. For Hypotheses 1 - 4, only the student gender was considered and analyses using ANOVA and Chi-square were performed as appropriate. The results revealed several significantfindings: "Word Count " was not significant (p = .485), nor was "Number of Emails (p = .461). However, "Reason for Email" was strongly significant (p =. 000) and "Emotional Tone " was moderately significant (p =. 045). For Hypotheses 5 - 8, both student and professor gender were considered and analyses using Chi-square were conducted. These findings include strongly significant results: "Reason for Emails" was highly significant (p = .000) as was "Number of Emails" (p = .000); "Emotional Tone of Emails" (p = .000) and "Word Count" (p=.001) also were highly significant.
Keywords: gender differences; online communication
Gender Differences in Online Communication and the Impact of Faculty Gender
Many studies have demonstrated that gender differences have a significant impact on the behavior of men and women in organizations (Lakshmi & Peter, 2015). While some studies show that these differences are due to...