Twelve Australian and 12 Chinese heritage students from a third‐year university computer ethics subject completed a Readiness for Online Learning Questionnaire; and six students from each of these two groups participated in a student‐facilitated problem‐solving discussion through computer‐mediated communication. The questionnaire comparisons showed that the two groups of students were equally willing to self‐manage their own learning, but that Australian students were significantly more comfortable with e‐learning. The analysis of student postings in the CMC component showed that, collectively, Australian students posted more messages than did the Chinese students. Both groups participated equally in socialisation online; although Chinese heritage students posted a higher number of messages associated with organisational matters; and Australian students posted a larger number of message components associated with intellectual contributions to the discussion. These results are interpreted in a theoretical context and implications for practice are drawn.