In this module, I learned the importance of asking the right questions in the correct format. The impact on students varies depending on the type of activity—whether it's a discussion, an assignment, a mailbox reading, or an exchange through email. Each question type elicits different responses, helping us understand students’ current knowledge and encouraging them to think critically and generate new answers. These interactions can happen in real time or asynchronously, and all of them help enhance students’ reading skills and comprehension.
A good balance of asynchronous and synchronous work for the students keeps them engaged
I learned the concepts of asynchronous and synchronous learning. Blending the two is a great way of learning, but you need to check on your students to make sure their learning needs are being met.
With this module I learned that in order to for students to retain information, the instructor must be able to engage the student with material they can use to better comprehend the subject. All lessons, activities, quizzes and other learning material must be organized in a way that the student is able to follow chronologically.
The reinforcement that almost every learning activity presented on the ground F2F environment can be replicated in an online environment is noteworthy. Further, while I acknowledge the virtue in guiding the learner to home in on key points of a lesson, I am not entirely sure I agree with the idea that assigning whole chapters to the learner to read is no longer a recommended practice.
There are pros and cons for both synchronous learning and asynchronous learning.
Asynchronous learning pros
- Flexibility, self-paced, and more time to reflect
Asynchronous cons
- Less immediate support
- risk of procrastination
Synchronous Pros
- Live interaction, real time feedback, community building and structured schedule
Synchronous cons
- less flexibility
- tech issues
- time zone challenges
I enjoy the concept of asynchronous learning synchronous learning in the online environment.
To use Synchronous and Asynchronous interactions will have better results
I liked the idea of having guest lecturers who can reinforce content whether it is an asynchronous course or synchronous.
Guest lecturers are an excellent way to break up the module and have free-flow Q & A.
Please don't discourage reading books
Comment on Patrick Lambelet's post: I agree entirely! Reading, and books are still important and students shold expect to read them! They might even find they enjoy it.
Synchronous and Asynchronous methods are effective only if the instructor understands the capabilities of the students. At all times, the instructor must be in communication with them in order to make the necessary adjustments to meet the students' needs. In addition, the use of additional materials such as books and/or targeted materials must meet the requirements of the course. A graduate level class needs more material than an undergrad or vocational class. Assigning entire chapters should not be surprising for higher level courses.
I've been conducting online or hybrid courses, in various forms, for some time, so much of this material is not new to me. I'm a bit surprised to see them say outright that assigning entire chapters or books is no longer necessary. I'm not sure I agree, especially when you're dealing with graduate-level learning. I do agree that the material needs to be carefully chosen and targeted, but why would we not assign chapters, assuming they are relevant, as well as other, supplementary materials? I'm curious what other people think.
Having elements of both Synchronous and Asynchronous interactions may improve the student learning experience.
We must create online courses to engage aou students with lectures, forums, internacional professors, videos, sincronyc and asincronyc clasess
Comment on Kevin Duden's post: I agree that it's always important to provide a "Why is it important for me?" sentence or two, so students can connect the content to real-world applications. I often found that the reading material in classes didn't always relate to what we were covering that week. Since I was taking online courses due to my already busy schedule, I didn't appreciate wasting my time when the reading didn't enhance my learning.
Sometimes, the students themselves crave a synchronous experience in an online setting. We have introduced three live lectures per semester (everything else is asynchronous) as one way to offer a synchronous experience for those craving such an experience.
I learned that the learning activities in a course need to be varied and that Socratic questioning is a good option to enforce the topic and assist students with learning the content. There are many activities that can be incorporated into an online course to effectively support student learning.
When it comes to readings, I thought it a very good point that it should be readily obvious to the student why the reading was assigned. In my Master's course, there were times I could not easily make a connection between the reading (or any media) and what was being discussed. It led to worry that I had missed something and frustration that it was possibly assigned as busy work.
