I have wrestled with the advantages and limitations of both synchronous and asynchronous online teaching delivery. A year ago, the two terms did not come up too often. Now, I think about, read, and discuss these terms in the context of online teaching daily. I have also formed opinions and have tried to be open to different perspectives. I have heard thoughtful and convincing rationale for the use of both asynchronous and synchronous delivery. I now am more aware and hopefully more appreciative of the many factors influencing the choice of modality. When I came across a recorded 2020 Lilly Conference session by Dr. David Betancourt from Cerritos College, I was impressed by the detailed and thoughtful comparison presented. Betancourt is clearly comfortable presenting and very engaging. I visited davidbetancourt.org and learned more: Betancourt is committed to the improvement of teaching and instructors and has a background in music. I was captivated by Betancourt’s delivery: clear, steady pace, humor, and important ideas presented with slides with minimal text.
Betancourt began the presentation cleverly titled “Online Teaching: The Balancing Act of Synchronous and Asynchronous Delivery” with a plan and defined synchronous and asynchronous strategies. Synchronous was defined as instructor online and live, and Betancourt clarified that it is more than just delivery, encompassing engagement, instructor presence, and assessment. Synchronous was mentioned to be instructor-centered. Asynchronous instructor offline and student-centered. Betancourt explained that both modalities have common characteristics: content delivery, instruction, feedback, activities, engagement, and assessment. I appreciate how Betancourt emphasized engagement in all six descriptions and that feedback should be targeted and assessment transparent! The five benefits that Betancourt described for synchronous were: easier to model face-to-face format, ability to see and hear students for real-time discussions, ability to provide immediate feedback, group work can be guided/assessed in real-time, the social/relational component can be leveraged. Some challenges Betancourt described were: lecture can be dull/predictable, excessive screen time, attendance issues, screens off, student engagement, and technical issues.
Several tips were offered to address these challenges of synchronous delivery: mix up lectures with multimedia and activities, be human, incorporate screen-activities, take the time to reach out to students missing classes, explain to students why you would like to have screens on if possible, use polls/discussions, practice empathy, and learn the technology.
Betancourt then described five benefits of asynchronous delivery. These included being self-paced for students (differentiated learning speeds), individualized learning schedule, individualized frequency of content delivery (students can return to activities), flexibility of time for instructors, and the coaching/mentoring model can be highlighted. I had not thought about how asynchronous delivery can be used to be a proactive mentor/coach… I think we are doing it in our communications, feedback, and support. Challenges of asynchronous that Betancourt mentioned were: time management issues for students, course navigation, delay in immediate feedback/clarification, students do not engage, sense of isolation for students/instructors…
Suggestions offered by the presenter were embedding time management resources in the course, use helpful announcements, remind students to spend time on task and milestones, create organized course content, link appropriately from one platform, encourage notification features, include frequent low-grade quizzes, use feedback templates, use virtual hours… I was impressed by how Betancourt uses standard announcements and schedules them and uses feedback from templates to maintain communication and prompt feedback.
Betancourt ended by sharing some considerations for the consideration of asynchronous or synchronous delivery. Balancing both modalities was one of my takeaways from this session. I agree and will try to do this with the BIT 295 course we are designing. I enjoyed the conversational tone and helpful suggestions Betancourt provided.
