 Hi, my name is Tracy Tejama Espinosa and this is a video on asynchronous online learning. This is the pre-class video and today we're going to cover the idea of just contextualizing asynchronous learning, look at some key definitions, then talk about the advantages and disadvantages of using asynchronous learning and then how and when it's used in the best way. And we'll save this last step for a part two video on steps in creating asynchronous learning environments. So to begin and put this into the bigger context of things, back in the 80s it was really just basically important for teachers to know their stuff. If you're a math teacher you should know math, right? And then you should know how to teach math. That was another big idea. Teachers' pedagogical content knowledge was a very big thing up until about 87 or so. Then in the 90s we added on this element of technology. You really have to know a lot more about how to leverage edtech tools to make your life easier as a teacher. On top of all of that starting around 2007, 2010 we began to add on this whole other angle to things which is mind, brain and education or the learning sciences. How does the brain actually learn? And are we choosing the right kinds of pedagogical interventions, the right kinds of technology that takes advantage of that? If we put all of that into context of the cultures that we live in then we really have learning scientists and this was what my thesis was on is the science and the art of teaching. I was looking at this big grand whole scheme of things. So if we look at it in this sense, asynchronous learning is really interesting because it fits into a couple of different categories. It has a lot to do with this intersection of technology and mind, brain and education. The timing, the attention spans. People have the way motivation seems to work, right? But it also fits into this other niche of technology and pedagogical knowledge knowing how to leverage and when to leverage asynchronous learning. Most learning experiences that you and I will have will have some kind of mix of synchronous, you know, face-to-face encounters or real-time encounters coupled with asynchronous learning. For example, this video is an example of asynchronous learning. You guys are learning stuff or I hope you're learning stuff when we're not in the same time together. So you're watching a video, you're learning some information, then you're going to come to class and we're going to talk about it and sort of pull that apart and make meaning out of that in your own context. So asynchronous learning has this really sweet spot that mixes and crosses a whole lot of different spaces within this new teacher knowledge model. So what's the core definition? The word synchronous has this root here of cronus and cronus is this Greek God of time, you know. So this has to do with time. So to be synchronous is to be in time and to be asynchronous is out of time or not in time. So this is where this whole idea of asynchronous learning comes into play. It's when we are not necessarily meeting in the same time context. So the key to this definition is time, not place, time. And pretty recently the RAND Corporation tried to look at this more globally, understand how people had reacted to the COVID crisis, to moving things online very quickly, and they tried to structure this to understand what does asynchronous learning mean in the context of globally, you know, when we talk about distance learning or remote learning or online learning, what does all that mean? And so we tried to lay this out here in connections in this sense of understanding. We have things that are in synchronous time, we do them at the same time. This is like our typical classrooms in school, right, when we meet up with our kids face to face and, right, but then we have asynchronous things and these are things like when we send homework, for example, right. And then on this other scale, we have things where we are doing distance or remote learning versus when we are play space. This is really when we are in physical spaces together, right. And along another intersection, we have these things that are offline to online. And what's really interesting is that you can have synchronous things online or offline and you can have asynchronous meetings online or offline, okay. So we can pull that apart when we get together and talk about this a little bit more, but this was just to sort of try to contextualize the way that we use asynchronous as a reference point to being out of sync with the timing of learners. So teachers and learners don't have to meet at the same time for learning to occur. Another thing that came out of the RAND study was that distance learning or learning online is fantastic in minimizing disruptions to school when you have emergencies like COVID or things like natural disasters like hurricanes and stuff like that, right. But above and beyond just keeping up with the content, you're actually helping people, you know, keep their heads about them to stay healthy mentally by maintaining some kind of routine. So there's a lot of benefit to making sure that we create these spaces, synchronous and asynchronous that helps students feel a sense of consistency. They don't forget who they can rely on, including you. And in their study, they found that, you know, both online, offline things, synchronous, asynchronous, all those were beneficial to learners, but actually things that were online over the long term enabled better assessment and were closer to that real life class experience that students were used to than just sort of sending home homework, for example, and having them sort of work all on their own. So having this kind of regularity was very, very important to learners when they're in crisis. So this means that having those synchronous meetings has a huge amount of value, but that asynchronous learning also plays a big role in sustaining learning objectives when we cannot be face to face. So some of the benefits and limitations that I'm sure you guys have all thought about is that, you know, when you're asynchronous, it's at your own pace. So that's like really terrific, no pressure on. But the problem is you can't really, you don't have a teacher like standing over your shoulder and sort of saying, hey, what about this other point here? Right. So the feedback can be a little bit slower in asynchronous environments. Also in asynchronous environments, there's no time constraint. You know, you can go back or you watch the video 10 times. You can do this at 10 o'clock at night. You don't have to be at school at a certain time, right? However, when you don't have that time bound necessity, a lot of people can't stay self motivated. And that's really difficult because having that little nudge from your classmates, from your teacher actually gets things done. So that's another thing there. Another thing that's interesting is that we know that asynchronous learning tends to be much lower cost than face to face things. However, there's no social interaction. So, you know, there's this really strange push and pull here of what are the benefits? Now, having said all that, it's not to say that asynchronous learning is bad or good. It's just that it's one way of managing learning design and that we have to think about when is the appropriate time the best way to use asynchronous learning. So, again, to make this really clear distinction, synchronous is in time, okay? It's at the same time, right? And asynchronous is not, okay? So students aren't at the same time. Students aren't at different times. Communication wise, communication happens in real time. We are communicating in real time. This is why you can have synchronous online environments, right? So when you're talking or doing a what's up messages with your students or your meeting via Zoom, that is in real time. So that you can have synchronous be 100% online as well, okay? So don't get confused there. The communication is not live, though, in asynchronous environments. And there's, it's possible that there's more engagement, like there's more touchy-feely, I can smell that middle school kid sitting in my math class there, right? But in asynchronous environments, what's now coming to light is it's a whole lot more social contagion that's possible because we can see everybody's face in the environment, which is a really, really interesting phenomena that we can talk more about later. And because synchronous is in real time, you get really fast feedback as opposed to asynchronous work where sometimes asynchronous and online at its maximum level is something like a MOOC where you might not get feedback for several weeks and you might not know a lot of information immediately to self-correct and improve along the way. So there can be some drawbacks to that as well, right? And some of the tools we use in synchronous environments have to do with video conferencing, live chats, live stream, that's while you're online, right? And asynchronous online means using email, screencast, flip grid, videos like this one, right? Blog posts and comments. This is another way to look at it, sort of flip this thing around. So asynchronous is over here, synchronous is over here now. But this calls out the idea about the time being different. The materials now, this is key. Now we're starting to look more clearly at what tools are best facilitated by asynchronous learning and what tools are best facilitated in synchronous learning. And that's a really big deal. We have a lot of people these days selling teachers all kinds of crazy ed tech. And some of them are really great for synchronous environments and some of them are great for asynchronous environments. So it's good to start to pull those things apart, okay? So again, you have a whole bunch more of these examples, asynchronous, pre-recorded videos, narrated slide decks, screencasts, ed puzzles, flip grid videos, a Pear Deck student, paired lessons, paced lessons, discussion boards, collaborative documents like the Google Drive where people add things to it but not in real time, right? That would be asynchronous. And synchronous would have to do with video conferencing, chat windows. For example, when we have the live video class and we are on the chat, that is a way to use synchronous tools within the Zoom environment, right? So even though we're using video conferencing, we're having a synchronous experience. Calling someone up on the telephone is in real time, right? Or having office hours or actually saying, okay, we're gonna open the Google Drive now and everybody's gonna work on it together for the next 20 minutes. That's synchronous learning, okay? So the key idea here is to keep in mind the idea of time. That's the main idea. And Spalding University tried to sort of summarize, you know, when is the best time to use asynchronous learning? We talk about asynchronous is good when you need downtime, reflection time, time away from, you know, lots of bustling crowds and timing your own head to reflect on things. And synchronous is great for sort of on the spot, let's hear your ideas off the top of your head kind of encounters. Why would you do it? Well, there's different levels of thinking and ways of thinking to learn things, right? And so sometimes you really need to have that greater space and time and freedom for people to choose and explore different materials. And other times you actually need things to be on task and use the energy of the group to motivate a decision towards a certain type of learning. Again, here's some other tools. How do we go about doing this? You know, asynchronous can be in things like, you know, email, whereas synchronous learning could be something that's in that live chat, as we mentioned before. And some examples that you might already be using in your class is when you send homework or when you have students write in a journal or things like that. Those things are asynchronous learning experiences of those students. So right now we're just gonna be looking at the advantages and disadvantages of asynchronous because we're gonna look at this in the synchronous class. A little bit later we'll talk about the synchronous class structure. But in an asynchronous class structure, some of the advantages are that you can do this anytime, anywhere. You can be dressed in your pajamas and you can be out in your garden and you can do this in any physical space where you would have connectivity, right? This means that you just choose the right learning moment. You don't have to be at the mercy of somebody else's clock. You get to decide when you're gonna take on that learning, right? So there's opportunities to research on questions. So you have a little bit of an inkling. I'd like to know a little bit more about that concept she mentioned before I come to the real class. Well, you have time to do that. And that's something that is very beneficial in an asynchronous environment because you can sort of have that downtime enough to reflect and think, what is it that I wanna bring to the next class? What is it that I wanna ask? What are my own areas of misunderstandings or things I need clarity on so that when I come to the real class, I can get that pulled apart and explained in a lot more detail than in the moment when I might be worried about, ooh, I'm taking up too much class time. I don't wanna divert the class anymore. I'm not gonna talk. I'm not gonna ask that question. Well, when you're in an asynchronous environment, you have the time to pull your thoughts together so that when it's the appropriate moment, you're able to share those really consolidated ideas. Additionally, when you're doing asynchronous work, for example, responding to a discussion board, you have the time to sort out your thoughts and write it and rewrite it and think of it again and rehash those ideas until you really come to a point of clarity and you're ready to share with the rest of the group, which doesn't necessarily happen when you have to be spontaneous in a live class. But some disadvantages of asynchronous learning are that some learners can feel disconnected. If you're there by yourself doing this work by yourself, you don't feel like you're hooked into the classroom setting. It really takes a great teacher to be able to create that community in an online setting or in an asynchronous environment which develops links between individuals in ways through different activities. For example, in a discussion board, if I tell you you don't only have to answer, but you also have to react to at least two other people and give some kind of positive feedback, that helps you learn about the other. And we know the way I know myself best is by knowing the other. So getting that kind of feedback, having that perspective taking allows me to learn better. So there can be ways to improve that. However, people typically feel less socially engaged in asynchronous learning environments. You also have to be incredibly self-motivated to stay on task and do asynchronous learning well. This is any of us know this if we've ever had to do homework. How do you get yourself to get it done? And so you have to be self-motivated. You also don't get that immediate feedback unless you have an amazing teacher who's like responding to that email or that what's up right away, normally it's delayed feedback, right? And there's no immediate access to the facilitator. If you do have a question, as you're going through the pre-class video or the materials or reading a chapter, you don't have that space to be able to ask for help. Whereas if you were in a live classroom, you can raise your hand and get that help. So there are some advantages, but there's also some disadvantages to asynchronous learning. And over time, people have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what are the standards, what are the basic ways to do this. And so standards in online education have gone back and forth about how do we incorporate asynchronous, synchronous, what's the right balance? Is there any kind of golden formula there? And so based on that standards in online education, which is a book by West in 2018, you have a summary of the ways that people judge the quality of good online classes. And written up in a very different way, keeping pace is something that was written by the government trying to track down improving K-12 online learning basically started in the United States in 2004, looking at 22 states, then starting in 2009, covered all 50 states. Just trying to look at what people are doing and how they are creating online lessons and then comparing that with those different standards that exist. And so one way to look at this is through the National Standards for Quality Online Courses, which is kindergarten through 12th grade, you can easily download these documents if you like, that look at these 52 different elements if you're trying to create, you know, standard structures for online learning. There's also private publishers, for example, like Wiley have looked into the importance of course, quality and standards in online education. And so there's no end to offers. So don't try to reinvent the wheel. There's a whole lot of information out there. So having said all of that, even if we follow all of those standards, and we come up with this great class and we offer this online, that's fantastic. But we have to remember, everybody has to have internet for this whole thing to work. And your school has to have already invested in a really good learning management system and a good LMS in order to house the classes that you're trying to construct, right? And the content of what you're doing has to be terrific. It can't just be the bells and whistles of all these extra apps. It has to be, you know, your knowledge base, the curriculum itself has to be embedded in that, right? And there have to be policies in place to address student access to extra devices. Are you gonna be lending kids devices if they don't already have them at home? How are you gonna make sure that all of that works and there is equity there when you're approaching this brave new world of learning online? And that there is that flexibility to differentiate and to adapt to different students' needs. So have you considered what we're gonna talk about next week? Universal design for learning. Have you created a structure where everybody can get what they need in that learning management system that you have in the classroom structure that you have? And to do all of this, have you given the teachers the help they need? Is there enough handling going on that they feel comfortable about moving online? So all of those things are on top of the great theoretical descriptors of how you use asynchronous learning. It's actually putting this all into play within your reality and the true context. Now, having said that, I know a lot of you are like, oh yeah, internet's a real problem here. Just to put this in perspective, kind of crazy to know this and maybe it is only just our students for the ones who don't have internet. But most of the United States has internet and Hawaii is one of the top 10 states with internet, I believe it or not, with over 95% of people do have good internet. The people don't have it are in the rural areas. I wanted to double check this with national statistics in the United States. In 2016, the numbers are a little bit lower here. So maybe there's a difference, but almost 90% of households had at least one computer or smartphone. Now, that doesn't help you if you have a house that has five kids that all have to be online at the same time, right? But it's a good piece of information. And almost 83% of them did have internet at home, okay? That was four years ago. So things might have gotten better, might have gotten worse. But just to put that into context, this still means that within our schools, we're gonna have between four and a half and 11.2% of our students will not have internet or they didn't have internet in 2015 when those statistics came out, right? And so that means if we were living in 2015, between one and two of the kids in our class, if we're going by those general statistics for Hawaii, they wouldn't have internet. So we don't know if that's true right now, but if that is an issue, it is something that has to be dealt with before we talk about taking the classes online. This is really important to remember because internet access is directly correlated with income. So if we are attending to the more needy populations, we're gonna expect that they are gonna have less access to the online platform that we're talking about. So to make this work for all students, we really probably are not looking at a 100% online structure. We are trying to find something that's blended where you're gonna have that face-to-face contact, that real synchronous contact as well as the asynchronous. Otherwise this isn't gonna work. So to wrap up, let's talk about some of the goals. In the short term, what's really important to remember is that if you're starting up a crisis and we're getting to the tail end of the beginning of the crisis, it's no time to do training. People don't have the head space for that. It's not gonna work. So in the short term, it's not the moment to decide, let's buy a learning management system for all of our teachers or let's train everybody. It's really hard to do that. And that's okay because in the short term, there's really no expectations from most families according to the RAN study. They don't believe that they are going to be attended to in a synchronous fashion anyway. So that's all right. But once we get to this intermediate term though, we have to start having a plan in place, right? We have to go from this moment of where we're thinking, okay, we have to photocopy everything and have it all available to everybody to take home and do stuff. We have to begin to think about how are we gonna leverage that online platform and how do we manage better this asynchronous time? Just sending home a box of worksheets is not gonna cover the curriculum. And we all know that, right? So we're gonna have to find some way to leverage the use of Zoom or of some other teleconferencing platform so that we do have some synchronous moments where we can share our expectations, get everybody on the same page, motivate our students and think about these more long-term goals that we have to have. And this is really clear because in the short term, people are just worried about their physical health. Are they safe from COVID? Do they have enough money to pay for the food that they need to eat? Once you've got that basic level taken care of, then we can start to think about getting out of survival mode and start to think about the greater goals of education, for example. And in doing that, we also, as teachers, have to remember to take advantage of building up that human capacity for resilience and perseverance. And these things are hard, but it's very hard to talk somebody out of that when they're in the dumps, right? So you really have to wait for those basic needs to be met, help them get those fundamental elements in place. Then we can move on to that higher-order planning of how we want to approach education. And that includes teacher education. So some of the core recommendations is to accept, printing out all those materials and leaving them for the students to pick up and doing some kind of self-teaching at home fills in some of those gaps. And that's a good thing. And we're gonna have to do that at least in the intermediate term, right? But once we can get to this point where we've avoided the disease, we can now pivot and turn and we can now begin to focus on things, we can think about how we can actually leverage the situation to have better learning experiences. And this means schools have to take under consideration all kinds of other policies that hover around this idea of how asynchronous learning works. Am I in charge of that? I'm a school there. I'm used to having synchronous-only contact. How am I now responsible for that asynchronous learning and how can I manage that? So do I reduce the school schedule? Do I have two blocks of kids come in? Do I have my high school kids enroll in online courses and get college credit while we're in this mess here? And how do we work to just customize our system for the students we have in our class? That's what we're gonna be looking at next week. And so a lot of this has to do with choosing the right tools. So say we do have computers or telephones and we do have internet. That's great, but it's not to just accept and add on every single bell and whistle and all kinds of tools that are out there. We have to selectively choose what helps us offload and let computers do what computers do best. Machines can do certain things much faster than people, right? Like correct grammar, for example, or a quiz. And then let humans do what humans do best. We can motivate. We can be there for kids. We can make them feel that they're important. A machine can't do that. So we have to find ways to use our time best by offloading things to some technology tools. And so there's a lot of tools that are out there. There's a lot of asynchronous tools that we've mentioned before, e-books, surveys, tools. How can they be used and what are their own limitations? And there's no end to the recommendations that exist about what other tools are there. One thing that we're gonna talk about next week has to do with something we've labeled bundles or these mini libraries. These are these kind of curated selections of work or resources for students that we can put on our learning management system that allows multiple entry points to the same concepts. And this will permit us to differentiate and leverage technology online so that we can meet students at their starting points. So finally, last slide here has to do with also other instructional choices. And so once you've made the policy decisions at school, how are you gonna manage synchronous and asynchronous time? How do those things occur? And it's really a big shift in our minds to understand that asynchronous instructional practices are very different from synchronous instructional practices. So primarily when you're face to face and you can have this verbal communication and certain kinds of cues sent to students in different ways, it's managed very, very different when we are online where we have to primarily communicate in a written format which can be a real challenge to a lot of students but it can make them much better writers because to become a great writer you have to write a lot. And that's something that online is really pushing us to do now. So it's understanding how to incorporate the right instructional practices based on the synchronous or asynchronous modality that we're working in. And all that is what we're gonna be looking at next week. So I'd like to ask you to think about this when we get together I'm gonna challenge you to think about was there anything new in this video? Are there things that are interesting that you wanna sort of get more clarity on? And is there something you might even use in your real life classroom? Okay, looking forward to seeing you next week. Thanks a lot. If you have any questions go ahead and send me an email through our Moodle classroom. Thanks a lot, bye bye.