Just a few months ago many teachers never had reason to consider the concepts synchronous instruction and asynchronous instruction. Yet, suddenly, these terms have become part of the everyday lexicon of virtually every teacher at every level of education. Do we have students discuss this reading passage as a whole group during a zoom session (synchronous)? Or do we have them read, consider, and post their thoughts in a discussion forum on their own timeframe (asynchronous)?
The decision may seem arbitrary. For most teachers it is probably made by considering the time available, the need to keep students engaged in a live session, or just the teacher's gut feeling for what will work well with their students. Although these decision making strategies are a place to start, there is a more intentional way of deciding when to choose synchronous vs asynchronous activities.
Let’s consider an example. For a film studies course I am currently teaching, I found an excellent online textbook. My students have been working in groups of 5 to discuss ideas from readings, to take notes on films, and to try to answer the big questions of the course. With this new online textbook I want them to read a chapter and collaborate on producing answers to guiding questions of varying levels of depth. Some of the guiding questions address simple vocabulary and comprehension. Others address deeper topics such as why the filmmaker chose a naturalistic style to help convey the themes of the film.
So, do I have them work together on this activity in real-time during a Zoom session? Do I instead have them contribute to a discussion board, each at their own pace? And how do I decide this, other than on a whim? According to Stefan Hrastinski, one of the main factors in guiding this decision should be the level of complexity of the issues being addressed.
When the students are being asked to reflect on complex issues, an asynchronous activity will provide more time for students to reflect upon the material. Also, unlike with synchronous activities, students will not feel pressure to provide immediate responses before their ideas are fully formed. These factors make asynchronous collaboration the most impactful method to use when the concepts are complex and would benefit from time to reflect or conduct further research. Discussion boards and blogs are two ways to facilitate this type of activity.
On the other hand, synchronous methods can be more appropriate when the issues are less complex, when getting acquainted is a priority, or when students are planning tasks. Synchronous collaboration can be text based (such as in a realtime group text chat), or can be a video conference (Zoom, Google Meets, etc.)
In my film studies example above, there are both simple topics (reading comprehension) and more complex topics (the big ideas of the course). This combination may make it seem as though we've returned to a toss-up between the two methods of collaboration. However, the goal of the instruction in this case favors the more complex issues. The entire purpose of the course is for students to considering the big questions of the course. This makes an asynchronous form of instruction/collaboration preferred in this situation.
Blogs and discussion forums have already been mentioned as methods of asynchronous learning. In my example (collaborating around the big ideas of an online reading activity) I choose to implement a service called hypothes.is. This is a collaborative online annotating tool that allows people to highlight and take notes directly on any web based material. Individuals can also be part of collaborative groups in hypothes.is and can see each others' notes and reply to them.
According to the ed tech blog Pedagogical Playground, "There are four types of annotations on Hypothesis: highlights(these are private within a group), annotations (highlighting text + commenting), page notes (commenting on the page without highlighting), and replies to annotations and page notes."
Source: http://pedagogyplayground.com/methods-toolbox/annotating-readings-with-hypothesis/
This collaborative annotating tool provides a powerful environment for the kind of work I want my students to complete. It allows students to engage with the text and with each other in a way that fosters reflection on the reading, allows them to capture those thoughts within the with source material, provides the benefit of seeing the thoughts of their group mates, and allows them to discuss the big ideas presented to them. All of this is done in a way that does not demand immediate (and potentially surface-level) responses to the issues presented.
I can also see, however, a function for synchronous work in my example activity. After their collaboration around the big ideas, I ask students to take their carefully considered, collaborative, deep thinking and present it to the larger group. For that stage of the learning activity we have moved into the territory of planning tasks (a specialty of synchronous collaboration). And because the complexity of thought required for this activity (the specialty of asynchronous collaboration) has already been completed, synchronous work is a perfect fit here.
A Google Slides presentation that students collaborate on in real time
For this part of the activity I have students work in a shared Google Slides Document while all group members participated in a Zoom session. This could easily take place in a breakout room during a synchronous live session with the entire class or could be completed at a time all group members agree to on their own. The benefits of synchronous communication for this activity will allow a much more efficient planning and organization of the complex ideas they have already generated asynchronously.
Now that we are in the world of virtual instruction, now that we are presented with options for synchronous and asynchronous instruction on a daily basis, it is time to be intentional about those instructional choices. To do so, match the method of collaboration with the level of complexity of the material, with the amount of planning students will be engaged in, and (most importantly) with the instructional goals of the lesson.
ReferencesHrastinski, S. (2008, November 17). Asynchronous and Synchronous E-Learning. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2008/11/asynchronous-and-synchronous-elearningWieck, L. (2019, February 18). Annotating Readings with Hypothesis. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from http://pedagogyplayground.com/methods-toolbox/annotating-readings-with-hypothesis/