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A 20-day computer conference was held in preparation for a face-to-face meeting to produce a computer simulation. The conferencing resulted in the generation of seven different models and was excellent preparation for the subsequent meeting. Computer conferencing appears to hold great value for faculty development in a period of reduced faculty mobility.Sedelow (I976) has pointed out that a computer network has a multitude of elements, and a thorough description and evaluation of the entire person-machine system requires attention to all elements_ Vallee, Johansen, and Spangler (1975) suggest that computer conferencing represents a new and altered form of communication, one in which the users are required to develop new kinds of communicating behavior. If one can conceive of a continuum of interpersonal communication that extends from direct (face-to-face) communication to communication by letter, then it would seem that two major underlying components are the forms of information conveyed and the speed of feedback. With direct communication, the usual verbal content is augmented by voice inflection, facial expression, and gestures, and the process is facilitated by direct feedback. Written communication, on the other hand, lacks all the accouterments of face-to-face communication, tends to be much more formal, and feedback is very slow, influenced by the vagaries of the mail system and the desire of the correspondents not to delay the process. Various media range somewhere in between, including the telephone conference call, twoway interactive television, and computer conferencing.Computer conferencing is a process in which conferees obtain telephone access to a central, often quite remote, computer and communicate with each other by entering messages to an executive program, which then distributes the messages to the appropriate recipients. Requirements are an acoustically coupled terminal, minimal typing ability, and access to a computertelephone network.

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