A Survey on the Effectiveness of the Internet-Based Facilities in Software Engineering Education Giancarlo Succi, Romana Spasojevic Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB Giancarlo.Succi@enel.ucalgary.ca Abstract This work reports on a study on the effectiveness of the usage of Internet based facilities in 4 graduate and undergraduate classes in software engineering. In the framework of this study it appears that the electronic communication media in engineering classes is effective if used as a complement to the traditional “face-to-face” communication, rather then as a substitute to it. Decision making activities are more effective if performed face–to-face, while Internet is more convenient for task and process oriented activities. Also, differences in the appreciation of Internet exist between graduate and undergraduate students. 1. Introduction In the recent years we have witnessed the changes in communication paths, resulting from the increased use of Internet. Some new ways of getting the information across have developed and some old ones have taken a different form. We recognize that, aside from it being a technical novelty, it is the convenience, the abundance of information available and the speed of obtaining the information, which contributed to its popularity. At the same time, the researchers in education have emphasized the significance of the media in class communication. They also emphasized the potential of self-learning, provided that the appropriate tools and the guidance are present. When we decided to study the topic of internet-based communication in education, we had in mind two objectives: (1) understanding the ways for the application of internet-based facilities in the education of a software engineering class, and (2) understanding students' attitudes towards use of electronic communication media in their education. The study was conducted during the winter semester of the 1997/98 and the fall semester of the 1998/99 school year. The subjects to the study were three graduate classes and one undergraduate class at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. We found that the electronic communication media in engineering classes is effective if used as a complement to the traditional “face-to-face” communication, rather then as a substitute to it. Students preferred to have certain portions of the class activities discussed face–to-face (decision making activities) while they appreciated the convenience of the electronic communication media for the other activities (task and process oriented activities). There was a difference in the way internet-based facilities are accepted by graduate and undergraduate students. Majority of graduate students (72%) felt that the provided communication mechanisms helped their learning process. On the other side, only 38% of undergraduate students agreed with this statement. However, both groups of the students felt that the Internet communication media helped them express themselves better. Similarly to Carrasquel (1999), the instructor noted that he spent more time in the studied courses than in the classes, which follow only the traditional approach. G. Succi, R. Spasojevic (March 2000) “A Survey on the Effectiveness of the Internet-Based Facilities in Software Engineering Education.” Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEET 2000), Austin, TX