Online Teaching and Learning
28 Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Class Sessions
Jennifer Smith
If you are working to shift a course you have taught face-to-face to online, you may be wondering whether synchronous lectures and activities are better than asynchronous. As is often the case, the answer will depend upon the needs of your course and students.
Synchronous | Asynchronous | Video Production Services | References
Synchronous
Re-creating your face-to-face lectures and activities using Zoom or similar webinar platform can help foster human connections. Synchronous sessions support these course elements:
- Lectures can be presented with slides or other digital media
- Students can raise their hands and answer questions using the polling feature
- Students can send a chat message to the entire class, another student, or the instructor
- Breakout rooms support social connection as well as analysis and critical thinking activities
- They can be recorded for the benefit of students who must miss the session
- The auto-captioning accuracy is not sufficient for a disability accommodation, but it may be helpful to other students
Synchronous Challenges
Zoom is fairly intuitive and user-friendly, but it does require a bit of practice to use well. Some other potential issues include:
- It can be tricky to focus on giving a presentation AND watch the chat
- It takes some time to move students into and out of breakout rooms
- Students may not have the bandwidth to support video
- Students may be in a different time zone or have other issues that prevent attendance
- Outages caused by storms or other factors may prevent student attendance
To help students get the most out of synchronous sessions, include social and cooperative learning activities.
Good Practices for Synchronous Sessions
- Provide students with clear information on how to prepare for synchronous activities
- A short quiz can keep students accountable for readings
- Use Perusall to promote pre-class reading
- Allow extra time for group activities
- It takes time to move students in and out of breakout rooms
- Discussion takes longer
- Put a slides into your presentation to remind you to:
- Record the session
- Ask if there are questions
- Use a high-quality noise-cancelling headset/microphone
- Keep checking the chat or ask a TA or student to monitor it for you
- Mute participants in order to reduce feedback noise
- Set up polling questions to help gauge understanding (this has to be done in advance)
- Look at the camera! That is where your students are!
- If you are using a laptop computer, set it up on books or a box so the camera is close to eye level (this avoids the “up the nose” shot)
- Avoid silhouetting yourself by sitting or standing in front of a light source
Asynchronous
Recorded lectures provide students with maximum flexibility. Students who are working or who may be in a different time zone appreciate being able to watch lectures on their own schedule. Pre-recorded lectures can be