Asynchronous versus Synchronous Interactions

Take 2

Welcome to my video presentaton on asynchronous versus synchronous interactions! I have listed both my first and revised presentations.

Please view my revised video presentation below:


This video can also be found at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCAypcD3QUw

TAKE 1
This was my first attempt at the video presentation.


This video presentation can also be found at the following link: http://animoto.com/play/l0tvp5AC21PVCCmmMPqfNw

Last but not least I would like to thank my learning community – April, Aimee, Bob (Robert), Elaine and Tom – For taking time out of their busy schedule to network on our video presentations.

Annotated Bibliography


Video 1

Brown, A., & Green, T. (2009). Time Students Spend Reading Threaded Discussions in Online Graduate Courses Requiring Asynchronous Participation. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(6).
This research study produces a comparison of the time needed to administer a traditional online course with the time it takes to read discussions in online courses. The study analyzes five discussion threads in 21 sections in six different graduate courses. The results specify that asynchronous web-based discussions can take a graduate student about one hour to read. These findings are about equal to the amount of time needed for face-to face courses’ considering it takes under two hours to create a message and response to a discussion posting. This research therefore analyzes the time it takes to complete each type of course assignment. Further research should include but is not limited to using other schools and different classes to administer the research study to.

Lambert, J., Gong, Y., & Cuper, P. (2008). Technology, transfer, and teaching: The impact of a single technology course on preservice teachers' computer attitudes and ability. Journal of technology and teacher education, 16 (4), 385-411.

This article reveals key findings regarding preservice teachers’ self-rated computer expertise. Their ability to use computers effectively is significantly related to their attitudes towards computer usage. Several other findings that I helped me to analyze how students and teachers choose the forms of technology to be used were that students who perceive themselves as less knowledgeable about computers experience more anxiety than students who rate themselves as more knowledgeable. The authors indicated in their study that even one computer course related to educational technology did impact positively on preservice students’ perceptions of technology being used as an instructional tool. Their extensive bibliography supports their conclusion that teachers who value technology are more apt to employ it in the classroom. I chose this article because the research conducted compares the teacher’s attitudes with their views of their computer expertise. Although this article does not directly research asynchronous or synchronous communication it can help to understand why teachers may choose to use asynchronous or synchronous integration. It is a great research study on teacher’s readiness to integrate technology into their lessons. In my opinion it is important to analyze how prepared teachers are to use technology. It can give insight on why teachers chose to use technology and why they chose to use certain types of technology, whether they are asynchronous or synchronous devices.

Marrero, M., Woodruff, K., Schuster, G., & Riccio, J. (2010). Live, Online Short-Courses: A Case Study of Innovative Teacher Professional Development. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 11(1), 81-95.
This research study critically analyzes how teachers from NASA Explorer Schools their alumni schools and schools that applied but were not selected as NASA Explorer Schools to view their series of synchronous short – courses. Seven short-courses are administered to the teachers. Through follow-up activities including essays, field notes, questionnaires and personal communications the research study reveals that the teachers think that the short courses are useful and provided many opportunities for further collaboration. They also feel that these courses are relevant enough to help their daily practices as a teacher. These findings conclude that synchronous multi-media based courses are beneficial to teacher’s professional development.

Maurino, P. (2007). Online asynchronous threaded discussions: Good enough to advance students through the proximal zone of activity theory. Tech Trends: Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning, 51(2), 46-49.
This paper presents a study which involves researching student interaction and participation under the lens of Activity Theory and Social Computing. Activity Theory is a philosophical framework that integrates the objective, the sociocultural, and the ecological, while Social Computing describes any type of computing application in which software serves as an intermediary or a focus for a social relationship. The research questions are: (1) How does online student-to-student interaction compare to in-class student-to-student interaction?; (2) Are students satisfied with online classroom discussions?; and (3) Are online classroom discussions sufficient to promote the social/cultural learning emphasized in Activity Theory and the Social Computing paradigm? The study is conducted at the State University of New York at Farmingdale. Research methods included faculty interviews, classroom observations, analysis of student course evaluation forms, and examination of online threaded discussions. Discussion questions were evaluated using two models: Engestrom's Model A and Model B, and Ngeow and Kong's four-tier taxonomy of guided discussion, inquiry, reflection, or exploration. Responses were evaluated using Bigg's SOLO taxonomy. The study shows that online classes generate more interaction and class discussion than traditional classrooms and upper level classes produced more discussion and interaction than lower level classes. This increased interaction is attributed to a number of factors including mandatory participation requirements by teachers, efforts to transcend transactional distance confusion, compensation for shyness or oral speaking problems, additional preparation time, and the social culture developed in the online environment.
This is the first research I have encountered that find that online classes generate more social interaction than traditional classes. Various factors are given for the difference including upper level classes, mandatory participation and strict requirements by instructors.

Rooney, J. (2009, May). This school is about kids. Educational Leadership, 66(8), 87.
This article focuses on the frustrations that new principals have with meeting constant testing requirements. These are the principals that know the heart of each and every one of the students that attend their schools. This makes me think that I shouldn’t keep my focus entirely on how the types of asynchronous and synchronous learning environments are chosen and why but also about alternative assessments. I believe when creating lessons, courses and assessments it is important to consider alternative modes of assessments which would include asynchronous and synchronous modes of assessments. The article gives a list of a few responsibilities of administrators. These responsibilities will be very helpful when choosing assessments and integrating them into a classroom curriculum. This research study also explores how one can change the way teachers think about assessment Since most teachers are used to using traditional forms of assessment this is sometimes a challenge. The study indicates how using an alternative assessment change student’s way of learning. To conduct the study teachers are given a chance to find out what it was like to design and use alternative forms of assessment. The study then shared challenges that the teachers may face when choosing the forms of assessment. I think that this article will be very helpful in my research because it shares the challenges that one may face when choosing assessments and how the teachers worked through them.

Skylar, A. (2009). A Comparison of Asynchronous Online Text-Based Lectures and Synchronous Interactive Web Conferencing Lectures. Issues in Teacher Education, 18(2), 69-84.

This article compares online learning when it is divided into asynchronous online text-based lectures and synchronous interactive web conferencing lectures. The study analyzes the performance between students, their preferences and their perception of an increased level of technology skills in both online text-based asynchronous and synchronous interactive web conferencing lectures. This research study analyzes pre and post computer literacy surveys and tests as well as an additional satisfaction survey while receiving an asynchronous WebCT lecture and a synchronous version of the same lecture on Elluminate Live. The study makes clear, through an analysis of forty-four preservice general education and special education students that both the asynchronous and synchronous versions of the lecture are effective in delivering the prepared lesson. The similarities however stop there. An overwhelming seventy-five percent of the students would rather take the synchronous version of the course due to the asynchronous courses lack of interactivity between the students. In addition the students feel that they can increase their technology abilities and skills in both courses. Further research should include a different population of students, course instructional material and course delivery mediums to cross reference these results to identify similarities and differences in the research findings.

Video 2

Brown, A., & Green, T. (2009). Time Students Spend Reading Threaded Discussions in Online Graduate Courses Requiring Asynchronous Participation. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(6).
This research study produces a comparison of the time needed to administer a traditional online course with the time it takes to read discussions in online courses. The study analyzes five discussion threads in 21 sections in six different graduate courses. The results specify that asynchronous web-based discussions can take a graduate student about one hour to read. These findings are about equal to the amount of time needed for face-to face courses’ considering it takes under two hours to create a message and response to a discussion posting. This research therefore analyzes the time it takes to complete each type of course assignment. Further research should include but is not limited to using other schools and different classes to administer the research study to. This research study is relevant to how people read and process asynchronous information. The results are relevant to the Coca Cola company’s choice of surrounding their World of Coca-Cola facility with asynchronous information to educate their visitors all about their products.




Flocchini, P., Prencipe, G., Santoro, N., & Widmayer, P. (2005). Gathering of asynchronous robots with limited visibility. Theoretical Computer Science, 337(1-3), 147-168.

This research article analyzes how robots are used on a plane such as in an assembly line format. This is important because this simulation replicates how robots are used in industry in an assembly line format where there is limited visibility of how one task is being accomplished on either side of the work environment. In this case these robots work together on a semi-synchronous task. This is the first time I have heard of the term semi-synchronous. In addition one will receive exposure to the algorithms and types of programs that have to be written for computers to work efficiently in this way.

Hansen, J., & Traeholt, R. (2007). Mathematics and "Lego" Robots. Mathematics Teaching Incorporating Micromath, (204), 32-33.

This research article describes how robots are via remote control. These types of robots are called Telerobots. These robots react to a synchronous signal. A teacher can use these robots in their classrooms to teach students about sequential movements, problem solving skills and mathematics. The article further describes in detail how to make a telerobot. It also does provide a real world connection to students about how robots can be used to accomplish a task.



Lambert, J., Gong, Y., & Cuper, P. (2008). Technology, transfer, and teaching: The impact of a single technology course on preservice teachers' computer attitudes and ability. Journal of technology and teacher education, 16 (4), 385-411.

This article reveals key findings regarding preservice teachers’ self-rated computer expertise.
Their ability to use computers effectively is significantly related to their attitudes towards computer usage. Several other findings that I helped me to analyze how students and teachers choose the forms of technology to be used were that students who perceive themselves as less knowledgeable about computers experience more anxiety than students who rate themselves as more knowledgeable. The authors indicated in their study that even one computer course related to educational technology did impact positively on preservice students’ perceptions of technology being used as an instructional tool. Their extensive bibliography supports their conclusion that teachers who value technology are more apt to employ it in the classroom. I chose this article because the research conducted compares the teacher’s attitudes with their views of their computer expertise. Although this article does not directly research asynchronous or synchronous communication it can help to understand why teachers may choose to use asynchronous or synchronous integration. It is a great research study on teacher’s readiness to integrate technology into their lessons. In my opinion it is important to analyze how prepared teachers are to use technology. It can give insight on why teachers chose to use technology and why they chose to use certain types of technology, whether they are asynchronous or synchronous devices.
Marrero, M., Woodruff, K., Schuster, G., & Riccio, J. (2010). Live, Online Short-Courses: A Case Study of Innovative Teacher Professional Development. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 11(1), 81-95.
This research study critically analyzes how teachers from NASA Explorer Schools their alumni schools and schools that applied but were not selected as NASA Explorer Schools to view their series of synchronous short – courses. Seven short-courses are administered to the teachers. Through follow-up activities including essays, field notes, questionnaires and personal communications the research study reveals that the teachers think that the short courses are useful and provided many opportunities for further collaboration. They also feel that these courses are relevant enough to help their daily practices as a teacher. These findings conclude that synchronous multi-media based courses are beneficial to teacher’s professional development.

Prencipe, G. (2005). The Effect of Synchronicity on the Behavior of Autonomous Mobile Robots. Theory of Computing Systems, 38(5), 539-558. doi:10.1007/s00224-005-1101-1.

This article analyzes how robot usage has changed over time and how it effects their purpose. Over the years robots have changed from being needed for completing large complicated tasks to now having many different robots move and react synchronously to accomplish the very same task that one robot would be responsible for in the past. The article researched two types of robots the Atom and Corda to see how well they accomplish a synchronous task. Their findings conclude that the Corda robot is more suitable for their needs.
This article is relevant in analyzing how robots are chosen to purchase, create and programmed to perform a task. It also gives feedback into how a researcher can analyze such products.

Skylar, A. (2009). A Comparison of Asynchronous Online Text-Based Lectures and Synchronous Interactive Web Conferencing Lectures. Issues in Teacher Education, 18(2), 69-84.
This article compares online learning when it is divided into asynchronous online text-based lectures and synchronous interactive web conferencing lectures. The study analyzes the performance between students, their preferences and their perception of an increased level of technology skills in both online text-based asynchronous and synchronous interactive web conferencing lectures. This research study analyzes pre and post computer literacy surveys and tests as well as an additional satisfaction survey while receiving an asynchronous WebCT lecture and a synchronous version of the same lecture on Elluminate Live.
The study makes clear, through an analysis of forty-four preservice general education and special education students that both the asynchronous and synchronous versions of the lecture are effective in delivering the prepared lesson. The similarities however stop there. An overwhelming seventy-five percent of the students would rather take the synchronous version of the course due to the asynchronous courses lack of interactivity between the students. In addition the students feel that they can increase their technology abilities and skills in both courses. Further research should include a different population of students, course instructional material and course delivery mediums to cross reference these results to identify similarities and differences in the research findings.
These findings help to understand why the Coca-Cola company uses both asynchronous and synchronous data interactions in their World of Coca-Cola facility.