Some factors of asynchronous communication

Of critical importance to the success of online courses is the educational design of the course. The design, guidance, interaction, and guided participation of the online discourse, asynchronous or synchronous are critical to success. The online instructor’s organization of online interactions need to be structured sufficiently to guide student interactions. Prompt feedback, participation in the interaction, and employing collaborative learning strategies are some of the pedagogical techniques required to sufficiently nurture online interaction.
Berge has noted that instructional design, rather than the delivery system, whether email, chat sessions, listserv, etc., affects the quality of the online discussions and the learning that takes place. (Berg, Z.L. 1999. Interaction in postsecondary Web-based learning. Educational Technology, 1, 5-10.) Researchers have found that unguided discussions fall into lower levels of cognitive taxonomies, and suggest that more guidance in terms of higher levels of thinking encourage their development. This guidance can take the form of an instructor’s inclusion of further information, additional questions, feedback and prompting in the form of questions.

Synchronous vs. Asynchronous CMC

Some initial observations about the difference between Asynchronous and Synchronous Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) in distance learning.

Observations on Chou’s “Comparative Content Analysis of Student Interaction in Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning Networks”

Asynchronous vs synchronous online discussion

There are four types of interaction we must attend to in distance learning; student-teacher, student-content, student-student, and student-technology.
While educational objectives are the driver in an education program, student interaction is important as well. It has definite impacts on student satisfaction and motivation.
So, regarding types of interaction, what are the differences between asynchronous and synchronous?
Synchronous communication tends to lend itself to more social interaction than asynchronous.
In asynchronous posts, student were more likely to:
Sharing/comparing
Discover dissonance and inconsistency
Engage in negotiation of meaning/co-construction of knowledge
Synchronous interaction lends itself more towards support and personal information exchanges

Asynchronous CMC was more give to task oriented instruction, keeping in mind that most students post the minimum number of required posts.
Asynchronous responses leaned more towards expressing opinions and topic-related information
Asynchronous communication is essentially one-way, with students posting their opinions without specific responses to classmates posts.
In asynchronous, students were inclined to ask fewer questions and give more information.
In synchronous modes, asking and answering questions are more evenly distributed by individuals. However, group size is important as well. There is more equal participation in three-member small groups than large groups
So, initially we could say that synchronous CMC is more oriented towards the socioemotional
and asynchronous is more task oriented.
Synchronous mode enhances interpersonal connections.
Asynchronous provides for collaboration on building the knowledge base and sharing information.
While it may seem asynchronous is more important for objective task completion, I'm not sure the synchronous is less important due to the feelings of group inclusion it may generate, and higher levels of motivation to stay engaged.
Both types of CMC, however, call for certain techniques and processes by instructors to fully utilize these modes.

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