Asynchronous Facilitation vs Synchronous Facilitation
Approximately two weeks
ago, I wrote about methods to successfully facilitate asynchronous meetings.
Now we are going to cross over into the world of synchronous facilitation, but
before we begin, we need to understand the the difference between the two
methods.
 |
| http://dejulioa.weebly.com/synchronous-vs-asynchronous.html |
According to Stefan
Hrastinski in his article Asynchronous and Synchronous E-Learning: A
study of asynchronous and synchronous e-learning methods discovered that each
supports different purposes, Asynchronous e-learning is commonly
facilitated by media such as email and discussion boards while synchronous
e-learning is commonly facilitated by videoconferences and chats (Hrastinski,
2008). Plainly stated, asynchronous learning is learning that is conducted
mainly in a video format where each student is virtually present at the same
time, while synchronous learning is conducted through discussion and chats
where each student asks and answers questions, in a sense, at their leisure. O.
Marjanovic says it best, "Asynchronous collaborative technologies enable
‘any-time, any-place’ collaboration... Synchronous collaborative technologies
enable ‘same-time, same-place’ or ‘same-time, any-place’ collaboration.
(Marjanovic, 1991)". The following chart provides a more in-depth view of
the differences.
 |
| https://www.slideshare.net/XLProTraining/synchronous-and-asynchronous-learning |
Benefits of Synchronous Learning
The first of these benefits
include the benefit of time. In a synchronous discussion, students are not
worried with a time constraint like that of an asynchronous learning session.
Students do not have to worry about having 2-3 hours to reach all of the
desired objectives and gain the understanding needed to proceed to the next
topic. With synchronous discussion, students can research the necessary
material and give a very detailed answer to the desired objective.
Another benefit that
Hrastinski mentions is psychological arousal. He states that in his research, interviews
with his participants shows that synchronous discussions felt "more like
talking" creating the psychological arousal. This, in return, also produced a much higher
sentence count that asynchronous learning.
O. Marjanovic, in his
article, Learning and teaching in a synchronous collaborative
environment, states that synchronous learning enables learning that is
more effective and improves group performance and outputs. (O. Marjanovic,
1991). Students report improving mastery of material, critical thinking and
analysis skills.
Facilitation Methods
Five Themes of Moderation
In an article
entitled Getting in Sync with Synchronous: The Dynamics of Synchronous
Facilitation in Online Discussions, Shi, Bonk, Tan, and Mishra gives
us five themes to help moderate discussion in a synchronous learning
environment: Providing hooks with both ends; Modeling and tele-mentoring;
Confronting and conflicting; Setting up norms; and, Social-emotional elements
(Shi, Bonk, Tan, &Mishra , 2008)
Providing hooks with both ends
The idea of this theme is
to ensure that every message serves a double purpose: (1) communicating
something, and (2) evoking future responses (Shi et al., 2008). This simply
means that each question answered within the discussion forum should answer a
previous question(s) but at the same time provide a hook for future messages.
Modeling and tele-mentoring
This theme is centered on the idea of
scaffolding. "online collaboration itself is a learning process that needs
scaffolding from capable experts to smooth the process as well as to guide the
content learning to achieve smooth, effective online collaborative learning
(Shi et al., 2008). Simply put facilitators should both monitor and model to
the students what are the expectation of each discussion. This includes
motivating the students, monitoring their performance, providing reflections,
etc. Peers and facilitators that are more experienced in synchronous discussion
should, in essence, lead the way!
Confronting and conflicting
This theme is based on the
social cognitive conflict theory. "The underlying assumption of this
theory is that knowledge is motivated, organized, and communicated in the
context of social interaction...when individuals operate on each other’s
reasoning, they become aware of contradictions between their logic and that of
their partner (Shi et al., 2008)." In laymen's terms, a healthy debate is
a good way to develop understanding. When a student reads and analyzes the
opinions and viewpoints of their peers, it helps them to see the contradictions
within their own logic, forcing them to find ways to better understand the
topic at hand. There is little argument that learning may be defined as
the progressive modification of ideas and behaviors through interpersonal interaction
(Shi et al., 2008)."
Setting up norms
This theme encompasses the idea of creating a healthy
learning community with positive group dynamics. Group dynamics contribute to
students’ performance in collaborative learning and to their satisfaction with
the learning experience (Shi et al., 2008)." Simply put, each student must
actively participate within the learning community and “pull their own weight”.
Students that are not actively participating within the learning community can
disrupt others’ level of motivation and enthusiasm. Participation should be an
established norm within the learning community.
Social-emotional elements
The final theme of moderating synchronous discussions
piggybacks off the “setting up norms” theme. As with any social interaction,
reactions of all nature will occur. “The social dimension is a crucial factor
in determining the “climate” of conferences; that is, the willingness of people
to contribute and engage seriously with the effectiveness of the discussion (Shi et al., 2008).” The
facilitator should always be aware of the level of interaction within the
discussion forum. This level of interaction speaks to the level of interest the
students have for the given topic. In addition, the facilitator should also be
aware of how the students “feel” within their responses. Are they happily
discussing their opinions and perspectives with the full learning community; or
are they completing the task with less enthusiasm due to the lack of response
from their peers.
