1. SYNCH AND SWIM:
The Value of Synchronous
Communication
Michael Coghlan
November 14th, 2010

2. What is synchronous/asynchronous
communication?
 SYNCHRONOUS (real time) eg f2f
conversation, telephone calls, chat
rooms
 ASYNCHRONOUS – some delay
between initial communication and the
reply eg letters, email, forums

3. COMMUNICATION AXIS
Most classroom communications take place here
New – have been enabled by technology (only happen online)

4. Range of Synchronous
Tools
 Instant messengers: Google Talk, Skype,
Yahoo, MSN (text + voice)
 Peer to Peer/Collaborative Tools: eg
Etherpad (documents), Mind Mapping,
Whiteboards, etc
 Virtual Classrooms
 Proprietary: Elluminate, Adobe Connect, etc
 Free: Wiziq, DimDim, Vyew

5. Virtual Worlds: Second Life
See
Second
Life in
Education

6. Use of Synchronous Tools –
Survey
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)

7. 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)

8. Tension: Synch v Asynch
Terry Anderson, Toward a Theory of Online
Learning:
“….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 student’s choice.”
Participation in (synchronous events) “almost inevitably places
constraints on this independence.”
“ The demands of a learning-centered context might at times force
us to modify prescriptive participation in (synchronous events),
even though we might have evidence that such participation will
further advance knowledge creation and attention.”

9. Resolving the tension between
asynchronous and synchronous
approaches
 don’t make synch sessions compulsory; use synch for
those who want it
 use tools that can record or archive the sessions for
later retrieval
 don’t 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

10. Resolving the tension between
asynchronous and synchronous
approaches
 It’s not all or nothing – use both approaches:
 Synch for social, spontaneous, decision making
 Asynch for deliberation, reflection, considered opinion

11. What kinds of synchronous activities
can you use in classrooms?
TEACHING
 ‘straight lecture’
 Guest lecturers
 Oral presentations
 Group work
 One on one (eg
pronunciation)
OTHER
 Office hours
 Social: student -
student

12. NEAR
SYNCHRONOUS
TOOLS

13. What’s this?

14. Twitter as a real
time search tool?
May 2008: “Twitter beats media in
reporting China earthquake."
• An almost real time search tool
– Now being used by some as an alternative
search tool to Google
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29281982@N00/101951607/

15. TRACKING THE BACK
CHANNEL
http://www.slideshare.net/mchaelc/tracking-the-back-channel

16. BACKCHANNEL TOOLS
 Direct or instant messaging in web
conferencing tools (eg Centra,
Elluminate)
 Live blogging tools like Cover It Live
 Live polling tools like Poll Everywhere
 Micro Messaging tools: Twitter, Yammer

17. Cover It Live

18. Question
 Why do you think it is important to
include synchronous tools in online
courses?