The Role of Synchronous Interactions in eLearning Environments

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The Role of Synchronous Interactions in
eLearning Environments

• Michael Coghlan, eLearning Coordinator
• Douglas Mawson Institute of Technology
• Shauna Schullo, Director of the Florida Center
• for Instructional Technology, USF
• Jonathan Finkelstein, Executive Producer
• LearningTimes

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Tools for Synchronous Interaction

• Instant messengers (voice/text)
• Chat (voice/text)
• Peer to Peer/Collaborative Tools eg Groove, Mind
  Mapping
• Virtual Classrooms

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How did I get here?

• 2003 research into the use of online voice tools
• Why research something that is not the solution
  to anyones problem? Everyone is happy using
  asynchronous methods. (April, 2003)
• --------------------------------------------------
  -------
• Rena Palloff growth of synchronous interactions
  would be a significant elearning trend in 2004

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The Trade-Offs?

• Technology what tools are needed? Who controls
  them?
• Methodology the instructional challenge
• Flexibility is this what people want?
• Cost is this going to cost more?

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The Trade-Offs (1)

• Technology

ca 1998
2004

• Delivery Method LMS
• safe
• secure
• centralised

• Delivery Method LMS
• disruptive technologies
• less secure
• greater bandwidth
• attracts mavericks

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(The Firewall Divide)
INSTITUTI
THE INTERNET
THE FUTURE
THE INSTITUTION
synchronous delivery
asynchronous delivery
firewall
webcasting virtual classrooms
LMS
peer-2-peer application sharing
centralised IT control
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Quiz Question 1

• Have you experienced the use of synchronous tools
  in online courses that you have either taught or
  studied?

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Use of Synchronous Tools Survey (1)

• Random sample of 82 respondents
• Previous Experience
• 85 of respondents experienced use of synchronous
  tools in online courses they had either taught or
  studied
• 37 used them regularly.
• (results at http//users.chariot.net.au/michaelc/
  synch/surv_results.htm)

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Quiz Question 2

• How have synchronous tools been used in
  courses you have either taught or studied?
• small group work?
• one-on-one communications?
• whole class meetings?
• whole class instruction?
• other?

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Use of Synchronous Tools Survey (2)

• Purpose of Interactions
• 58 small group work
• 37 one-on-one communications
• 35 whole class meetings
• 16 whole class instruction
• (results at http//users.chariot.net.au/michaelc/
  synch/surv_results.htm)

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Innovative Use of Synch Tools

• Jonathan Finkelstein
• (LearningTimes)
• learningtimes.org

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Quiz Question 3

• Would you recommend that synchronous interaction
  be part of online courses?

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Use of Synchronous Tools Survey (3)

• How Important?
• 91 deemed synchronous interaction in online
  courses to be important
• an emphatic 99 of respondents recommend that
  synchronous interaction be part of online courses
  
• (results at http//users.chariot.net.au/michaelc/
  synch/surv_results.htm)

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Whats the Big Deal About Synch?

• What can be done in synchronous mode that can't
  be done using asynchronous approaches? How do
  synchronous interactions improve delivery?

Shauna Schullo University of South Florida
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Quiz Question 4

• Why do you think it is important to include
  synchronous tools in online courses?

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Use of Synchronous Tools Survey (4)

• Why are synchronous tools important?
• Approx 50/50 split between pedagogical and
  social/affective reasons
• Pedagogy immediacy of feedback (30)
• (results at http//users.chariot.net.au/michaelc/
  synch/surv_results.htm)

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Social/Affective Benefits

• Social, community, and personal engagement
• personal engagement/motivation (55)
• community building (29)
• improving the social experience (27)
• (results at http//users.chariot.net.au/michaelc/
  synch/surv_results.htm)

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The Trade-Offs (2)

• Methodology

ca 1998
2004

• Asynch synch
• Content process
• Process Collaboration
• community

• Asynchronous
• Content focused

Risk synch can be predominantly teacher-centred
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The Trade-Offs (3)

• Flexibility

ca 1998
2004
Committed to being online at a particular time
Anytime Anyplace
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Tension Synch v Asynch

• Terry Anderson, Toward a Theory of Online
  Learning
• it may be more challenging than we think to
  create and sustain (online) communities, and the
  differenceslinked to a lack of placedness and
  synchronicity, that is, mutual presence in time
  and placemay be more fundamental than the mere
  absence of body language and social presence.

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Tension Synch v Asynch

• .the major motivation for enrollment in
  distance education is not physical access, but
  rather, temporal freedom to move through a course
  of studies at a pace of the students choice.
  Participation in a community of learners almost
  inevitably places constraints on this
  independence.
•  
• The demands of a learning-centered context
  might at times force us to modify the
  prescriptive participation in communities of
  learning, even though we might have evidence that
  such participation will further advance knowledge
  creation and attention.

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Resolving the tension between asynchronous and
synchronous approaches

• dont make synch sessions compulsory use synch
  for those who want it
• use a tool that can record or archive the
  sessions for later retrieval (eg Elluminate,
  Talking Communities)
• dont use synchronous for whole class instruction
• use for meetings, one-on-one, or in small groups
• offer informal (social) sessions in synch mode
• allow student use of synchronous space
• offer office hours sessions at set times

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The Trade-Offs (4)

• Cost

ca 1998
2004

• LMS
• Instant Messengers
• Virtual classrooms
• Collaborative tools

LMS Houses all content and communications
Annual cost of virtual classrooms can be as much
as a Blackboard or WebCT license
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References

• Anderson, Terry Elloumi, Fathi Theory and
  Practice of Online Learning (April 2004)
• http//cde.athabascau.ca/online_book/
• Coghlan, Michael How important are synchronous
  tools in web-based teaching and learning
  environments? http//users.chariot.net.au/michael
  c/synch/surv_discuss.htm
• Muirhead, Brent Research Insights into
  Interactivity, International Journal of
  Instructional Technology and Distance Learning ,
  March 2004
• http//www.itdl.org/Journal/Mar_04/article0
  5.htm
• Schullo, Shauna Synchronous Distance Education
  Support Systems, Why Does the University of South
  Florida Need One? 2003 http//www.tltgroup.org/Co
  mmunityConnectedness/SynchTools.htm

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Contact Details

• Michael Coghlan
• http//users.chariot.net.au/michaelc/
• michaelc_at_chariot.net.au