The most obvious theoretical implication arising from these claims is that the role and application of synchronous text-based computer-mediated communication in education is at least as important as its asynchronous counterpart. The asynchronous mode has been presented as one of the key characteristics of CMC for group support and online educational applications@Cite(RapaportM91a, HarasimLM90b, HiltzSR90a, TuroffM90a). Not only does it provide the convenience of time independence, but it is also reported to foster richer intellectual exchanges@Cite(LevinsonP88a ", p. 115") and to allow variation in the individual cognitive styles of participants@Cite(TuroffM89b ", p. 11"). Synchronous CMC, on the other hand, has been the subject of various studies@Cite(DobosJ85a, SiegelJ86a, WiltonJA88a, PeytonJK88a, WilkinsH91a), but synchronicity, per se, has not been the focal issue.