This presentation explores what the ideal balance of interaction modes (synchronous and asynchronous) might look like within different kinds of online courses. It also suggests how faculty training programs could provide instructors guidance in how to best integrate synchronous and asynchronous interaction teaching practices within their courses.
What does the ideal online course look like in terms of interaction?
Many studies of online learning education strongly suggested that the success of an online class depends largely upon the quality of the interaction between instructors and their students. Yet the majority of published research on this topic relies primarily on measures of asynchronous interaction, such as the number of postings made or emails sent during different phases of a course. Several researchers have taken this a step further by performing a content analysis of course postings and correspondence as recorded by their learning management systems. Student and faculty surveys on the use and effectiveness of asynchronous methods and technologies are also common within the research of online courses. Some of the most insightful research to date has come from studies that have combined qualitative and quantitative data from these sources. However, these studies generally have two shortcomings:
1. Most studies concentrate on a small subset of courses that are offered at one institution;
2. Few studies have examined the use of synchronous methods and technologies.
Synchronous methods and technologies offer opportunities to enhance student-to-instructor and student-to-student interaction, but have generally received far less attention by researchers. Part of reason for this may be the uneven application of synchronous methods and technologies across online schools, or even within the same school. Using synchronous teaching methods can increase the complexity of running an online course dramatically for a variety of reasons:
• The need to find times where all participants are available
• The need to make sure participants are not overloaded with additional course activities
• The need for all participants to become proficient with the appropriate synchronous online learning applications
• The need for all participants to have access to the proper hardware/software
Another consideration for the institution as a whole in ensuring that the use of synchronous tools and methods is not cost prohibitive. For example, administrators at several schools received an unwelcome surprise when their new web conferencing software needed to be supplemented by costly phone bridges due to unreliable VoIP connections.
Once a school has made an investment in making synchronous tools available for their online faculty members to use in their classes, an entire set of fundamental issues will eventually emerge: How much of an online course should be conducted synchronously? Should all online courses have some minimum level of real-time interaction between the students and instructors? How proficient (and willing) are instructors to conduct real-time sessions? Finally, are some online courses more conducive to holding real-time events than others? For example, how much interaction (synchronous or asynchronous) is appropriate in management courses vs. computer science or engineering courses?
This presentation examines the use of synchronous web conferencing tools and techniques at Stevens Institute of Technology between 2004-2011. Data from system logs will help illustrate the level of web conferencing usage across the school's inventory of over 150 online courses. Additional illustrations will show web conferencing data cross-referenced to student outcomes. Attitudes of students and faculty towards the use of web conferencing technology will be explored through surveys and interviews.
The information gathered from this study was used to help develop a faculty training program that will inform instructors on what the optimal mix of synchronous and asynchronous methods might look like for their courses. Elements of this faculty training program will be illustrated as well.
