The article presents an analysis of six semester-long computer conferences moderated by university students to discover how students perceived and used the conferences. The two purposes of the conferences were to provide a meaningful, authentic context for preservice teachers to learn about technology and collaborative learning and to provide an opportunity for graduate students to learn to moderate computer conferences in an authentic context. A qualitative analysis of the conference data yielded the following findings: 1) student moderator roles reflect the influence of both instruction and personal communication styles, and 2) participants adopted behaviors that fostered communication in a text-based environment and led to positive attitudes about computer conferencing. We conclude by identifying the critical tasks of moderators and participants in student-moderated computer conferences.
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