Building learning communities between remote classrooms using synchronous and asynchronous technology
What?
In the emergent session 1, our team discussed about how to build learning communities between remote classrooms using synchronous and asynchronous technology. The question was how we felt in the online room or on the screens in terms of connectivity. Several people talked they felt connected through a video conference and a side chat. One of the peers pointed out that the more flexible the instructors and the more they are willing to connect, the more learners feel connected. I totally agree with this idea. In addition to flexibility of instructors and willingness of connecting with learners, the small group discussion can be one of the helpful ways to build learning communities. Smaller groups can help people find their voice while people tent to pull back and listen in a big group. However, the one of the challenges for group discussion is the high frequency of silence between learners and teachers should fill this silence which can be challenging for teachers to manage online learning as well. Also, the other challenge is that who will control during the conversations without instructors. On the other hand, the mixture of synchronous video conference and asynchronous discussion using bulletin board can be one of the ways to promote learners’ engagement in online only courses. Only participating in asynchronous discussion can result in the kind of insolation that learners not feel connected with their peers and teachers, even though there are pros and cons of asynchronous and synchronous discussion. One of the peers told that he read something about the groups of students from China and the US who were working on a data set of water qualities between the two countries. Even though there are some interesting things, the time zone changes can be difficult. He is looking at collaboration between two remote communities. In the other’s idea, in which using the lit circles (everyone has a particular job) in the small groups would encourage participation and build community in an online class like icebreakers or some goal setting and giving learners some guideline can be useful for remote learners.
So What?
My main interests were related to online discussion when I pursued my masters especially, asynchronous discussion using bulletin board that can promote learners’ engagement in learning and learner-learners interaction or teacher-learners interaction. As I had only experience of asynchronous discussion, taking this course (online, blended and distributed learning) provide me to learn how attractive this synchronous technology is. I assumed that providing students both synchronous and asynchronous discussion in online courses would be helpful for promoting learners’ social presence as well as learners engagement. There are pros and cons of both synchronous and asynchronous discussion. First, students can have more time to think about their thoughts deeply when they participate in asynchronous discussion, while impromptu discussion in synchronous video conference can be a challenge for organizing their thoughts. However, participating synchronous video conference can give more ways to connect with their peers and instructors, while asynchronous discussion without physical contact can lead to make learners feel isolated.Â
Now What?
I would like to research this topic more, which is building learning communities using synchronous and asynchronous technology and focus on international students online learning experience. I wondered how they feel about connecting with other learners and instructors. Also, I wondered if synchronous online meeting can help them to feel more connected during the courses or if there are some challenges to participate in synchronous interactive session. I would like to research international students’ perceptions about online learning experiences using the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework (Arbaugh, Bangert, & Cleveland-Innes, 2010) focusing on teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence.
ReferencesÂ
The Community of Inquiry main websiteÂ