Most seasoned online educators recognize that online learning works best when it is supported by primarily asynchronous delivery methods. This approach allows us to take full advantage of the affordances of online education, including flexibility for both faculty and students. While synchronous methods can complement a mostly-asynchronous online course, they are meant to be that: a complement.
In simple terms: asynchronous approaches are the burger; synchronous methods are the ketchup.
Please consider contributing to this Google doc to support an instructionally-sound balance to online teaching, in service of students, faculty, and institutions.
Note: there is widespread agreement in higher education that the teaching methods born of the COVID-19 crisis were best described as “emergency remote teaching” which is a distinct pedagogical approach with elements of crisis management, triage, and an awareness of the impacts of global trauma on teaching and learning.
While there is certainly some overlap with traditional online learning, these two approaches are distinct. Online teaching and learning are far more intentional, involving months and sometimes years of careful planning and detailed attention to best practices in developing supportive online communities in one’s classroom.
General Notes/Ideas
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is clear on this issue and has provided guidance in three statements. First, the AAUP’s 1966 Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities makes clear that “the faculty has primary responsibility for such fundamental areas as curriculum, subject matter and methods of instruction, . . . .” <https://www.aaup.org/report/statement-government-colleges-and-universities>. Second, the AAUP’s 1999 ‘Statement on Online and Distance Education' states, in part: “The faculty of the college or university should establish general rules and procedures for the granting of teaching load credit in the preparation and the delivery of programs and courses utilizing distance education technologies…” <https://www.aaup.org/report/statement-online-and-distance-education>. Finally, on March 10, 2020 AAUP president Rudy Fichtenbaum issued a statement ‘'COVID-19 and the Faculty Role in Decision-Making'’ which confirms the 1966 and 1999 documents. In sum, the faculty have decision-making authority over academic matters, including instructional delivery formats. Some faculty, particularly those with underlying medical conditions, may well decide to continue teaching online in the Fall.
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Why You Shouldn’t Try to Replicate Your Classroom Teaching Online |
moving from Synch to Asynch https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/2020/05/07/microlectures/ |
A Differentiated Online Teaching Experience Requires More Than Zoom https://blog.extensionengine.com/differentiated-online-teaching-experience-not-zoom |
Research
Michelle Miller’s Minds Online: |
A Study of Synchronous Versus Asynchronous Collaboration in an Online Business Writing Class |
A Study of Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Collaborative Design in Students‟ Learning Motivation (Huang, Wang, & Liu, 2015) |
DOI:10.1207/s15389286ajde1801_5: Providing Access to Students With Disabilities in Online Distance Education: Legal and Technical Concerns for Higher Education, Curtis M. Edmonds (2004), Psychology. retrieved from https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Providing-Access-to-Students-With-Disabilities-in-Edmonds/b5789b2897a128ac4107dc5b4ca217847145b72c |
ASYNCHRONOUS AND SYNCHRONOUS MODALITIES. Connie Snyder Mick and Geoffrey Middlebrook. In Hewett, Beth L. et al. FOUNDATIONAL PRACTICES OF ONLINE WRITING INSTRUCTION. retrieved from https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C22&as_vis=1&q=asynchronous+synchronous+online+accessibility&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3DnBz0wddFzoAJ |
This doc is managed by Karen Costa @KarenRayCosta. Suggestions and ideas encouraged. Complaints forbidden.