Week Two

Synchronous (i.e. Connect) vs. asynchronous tools (Forums): Which is better at fostering online learning? Why? What are your reasons and evidence for this? Post a direct link here. (400-500 words)

It is important to bring social presence in an online learning environment. It is a factor that contributes building a community of learners (Garrison, Anderson, and Archer, 2000). Tu and McIsaac (2002) defined social presence as “the degree of feeling, perception, and reaction to another intellectual entity in the computer-mediated communication (CMC) environment” (p. 146). The purpose of educational experience is more than the development of a social community; the goal is to achieve defined learning outcomes and promote cognitive development (Garrison and Cleveland-Innes, 2005).

Design and organization, facilitating discourse, and direct instruction are three indicators of teaching presence (Anderson et al. 2001). Both Synchronous and asynchronous tools help in teaching presence. But synchronous communication both learners and teachers need more skills and support to participate in discussions. Learners expectation in asynchronous communication is more and teaching presence is a significant determinate of student satisfaction, perceived learning, and sense of community (Garrison, 2006).

Both Synchronous (i.e. Connect) vs. asynchronous tools (Forums) bring social presence in online learning environment. However, the quality of online discussions is varied in both environments. Some think quality of discussions is richer in synchronous than that of in asynchronous. The primary form of online communication is asynchronous (discussion forums and email). Learner’s experience in asynchronous communication is more reflective to think critically than synchronous communication. Also, learners have the convenience and flexibility as they do not need to meet in a specific time and place. On the other hand, learning is more engaging through real time synchronous discussions (Stodel, Thompson, and MacDonald, 2006, p. 6).

Both interaction and collaboration are more flexible and provide more opportunity to access resources and share with learners through asynchronous tools than synchronous. Oztok, Zingaro, Brett, and Hewitt (2012) stated that asynchronous notes contain more academic language and less social language, are more difficult to read, and are longer compared to private chat in synchronous message. “Many authors highlight the benefits of threaded asynchronous CMC compared to synchronous CMC and face-to-face courses, including time-independent access, opportunities for heightened levels of peer interaction, avoidance of undesirable classroom behavior, and support for multiple learning styles (Morse, 2003)”. Meyer (2003) conveys several time-based advantages of threaded discussions, including increased time-on-task, extra time for reaction, and sufficient opportunities for everyone to contribute to the discussion.

Kuyath (2008) hypothesize that students would perceive more social presence in synchronous chat than in asynchronous media such as email and forum. Overall, some researchers suggest that asynchronous discussion is more preferred for reaction and higher-order processing and other synchronous chat contributes more to cognitive presence and perceived learning (Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2009). In conclusion, I think no single medium is absolutely better than the other but combination of both asynchronous and synchronous would foster better and effective learning.

Reference
Garrison, D.R.; Anderson, T. and Archer, W. (2000). Critical Inquiry in a Text-based Environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. Internet and Higher Education 2(2-3), 87-105.

Kuyath, S. (2008). The Social Presence Of Instant Messaging: Effects On Student Satisfaction, Perceived Learning, And Performance In Distance Education. Ph.D. thesis University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Meyer, K. A. (2003). Face-to-face versus threaded discussions: The role of time and higher-order thinking. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 7, 55-65.

Morse, K. (2003). Does one size fit all? exploring asynchronous learning in a multicultural environment. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 7 , 37-55.

Rockinson-Szapkiw, A. (2009). The Impact Of Asynchronous And Synchronous Instruction And Discussion On Cognitive Presence, Social Presence, Teaching Presence, And Learning. Ph.D. thesis Regent University.

Stodel, E.J.; Thompson, T.L.; and MacDonald, C.J. (2006). Learners’ perspective on What is Missing from Online Learning: Interpretations through the Community of Inquiry Framework. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning.

Tu, C-H. and McIsaac, M. (2002). The relationship of social presence and interaction in online classes. American Journal of Distance Education, 16(3), 131-150.