To me, the advantages of synchronous learning from the participant's perspective are clear:
- Location flexibility
- I can "attend class" from home, from my office, from the airport if I'm traveling at the scheduled hour, and I can wear my pj's if I want to!
- Socialization
- I am not attending a class with a faceless computer automaton. I know my classmates are out there, because I'm chatting with them at least once a week (during our scheduled meeting time), and I have the opportunity to get to know who they are as people.
- I know who my facilitator is. We email, we chat online, I may even hear his or her voice (more on that later), and I interact with the facilitator while I'm taking the class -just like a real classroom!
- Instant feedback
- I don't have to wait two or three days to find out if I got the right answer to a question, the facilitator tells me right then and there. Hooray for instant gratification!
- Real-time audio and video
- This is as close as you can get to an in-person classroom without actually being there. I can hear what the facilitator is saying, I can hear what the class is saying, and I can see what's going on. This is awesome!
A good reference for the advantages of Synchronous learning is this article by Oaks and Rengarajan:
•Oakes, K., & Rengarajan, R. (2002). E-LEARNING. T+D, 56(9), 57. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?hid=114&sid=76487857-7e77-4671-83d9-caa497297925%40sessionmgr112&vid=4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=7347507 .
**EDIT -By Dreama:
Here's a video of the advantages of asynchronous learning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qsoa-S6c3k
I do agree with location flexibility for asynchronous learning, I can also "attend class" in my bedroom, at work, or during recreational activities. However, with asynchronous, I can gather my thoughts or have time to reflect, unlike synchronous learning. To me, the advantages of asynchronous learning are I am not forced to respond immediately. I can receive additional help from my team members. I can use new information learned and apply it to my personal goals or transfer it back to my work experiences. I can discuss issues privately with my facilitator if I need help with any assignment.
ReplyDeleteAsynchronous learning has numerous amounts of advantages, which out weigh synchronous learning. Just to name a few, there are: 1. Learners are given time to reflect before responding to questions. 2. All comments from instructor and students are saved and organized by discussion dates. 3. Self-paced learning (anytime and anywhere education). 4. Student-facilitator correspondence. 5. Online collaborative learning teams.
ReplyDeleteSynchronous learning can be archived for reference as well; I agree that this is a great advantage for any form of online learning!
ReplyDeleteWe can also use learning teams online - just like breakout sessions in a traditional classroom. The facilitator can divide students into separate chat rooms to discuss a topic before bringing everyone back to the main room to report.
From a facilitator's point of view, here are a few more advantages of synchronous learning:
* I don't have to be online every day checking on my students' progress.
* I can provide instant feedback, and get immediate feedback from students as to their understanding, rather than waiting a day or two to find out they "didn't get it".
* Nifty tools! Synchronous learning platforms like www.gototraining.com have some awesome classroom facilitation tools - I'll post about those later. :)
I found an article through EBSCOhost that talks about using Skype to improve synchronous learning. This goes along with the audio/visual components I mentioned above.
ReplyDeleteThis article gave a survey to students in an online class who tried Skype to work on a group project. Here are some highlights from their responses:
"Some learners also note that talking via Skype makes them more aware of the topic, and that abstract topics seem to make more sense than when using Blackboard Collaboration."
"In Skype, typing is not an issue; learners can save all the mental effort to communicate thoughts, raise questions, and seek clarification by listening, thinking, and speaking."
The audio component in synchronous learning helps erase the disadvantage of slow typers and enhances engagement.
Here's the info and a link to the article: (You may have to be signed in through University of Phoenix to reach it)
Cheng-Chang Pan; Michael, S. n. (n.d). Promoting synchronous interaction in an eLearning Environment: cyber-instructors continually seek instructional tools that will hold students' attention, and make online communications more efficient and effective. Skype is the latest one to test.(Synchronous Interaction in eLearning)(Column). T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education), 33(2), 27. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
http://140.234.1.9:8080/EPSessionID=5755f5372aff4d9ea83e6c8745611/EPHost=find.galegroup.com/EPPath/gtx/retrieve.do?contentSet=IAC-Documents&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28ke%2CNone%2C11%29synchronous%3AAnd%3AFQE%3D%28ke%2CNone%2C6%29online%3AAnd%3AFQE%3D%28ke%2CNone%2C8%29learners%3AAnd%3ALQE%3D%28AC%2CNone%2C8%29fulltext%24&sgHitCountType=None&inPS=true&sort=DateDescend&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&tabID=T002&prodId=AONE&searchId=R1¤tPosition=9&userGroupName=apollo&docId=A141437553&docType=IAC
Reference for advantages of asynchronous learning:
ReplyDeleteAssesswave. (2002). Advantages and Disadvantages of Learning in a Hypertext Environment. Retrieved from http://www.accesswave.ca/~hgunn/special/papers/hypertxt/index.html