Any Time, Any Place/All Together Now

Quality teaching online requires knowledge of synchronous facilitation and asynchronous facilitation techniques and the wisdom to know when to use each....to meet the needs of your learners.

Both approaches have their place in fully online learning...but it all returns to audience.

 Asynchronous facilitation: Anytime, any place

Asynchronous facilitation is the "any time, any where" approach, allowing for full learner flexibility. I have had learners whose workplace transferred them to Japan in the middle of the semester.  I have had learners in the military who were stationed on a submarine and could only access the internet when in port. Others  worked a night shift, leaving them to sleep during the day. Some have had rotating shifts where one week they worked days, then the next week afternoon/evenings, then the third week nights - then the rotation begins again. There were prisoners whose access varied per day according to lockdowns. Then, of course, I have had a more "traditional" student who worked  during the day, leaving evenings  and weekends for family time and community events. 

This describes my learners, and asynchronous facilitation meets the majority of their needs.

 Asynchronous in action

I teach asynchronously 95% of the time and have learned this type of facilitation requires a great deal of organization and communication skills, as well as the ability to chunk and scaffold material. Good asynchronous components must be able to stand on their own without needing any further illumination from the instructor (Vai & Sosulski, 2016).

After all, asynchronous implies any time, anywhere, so learners need a course or training that communicates so clearly and directly that they do not need clarification whether they access the materials at 3 am or 3 pm (Davis, 2015; Kinshuk, 2016; Vai & Sosulski, 2016).

To me, this means I write out conversations as I try to think ahead as to what a learner might need to know when I am away from my computer. When I include a google doc, I always share with "anyone with this link can view." This way when Iearners access a document when I am not online, they can be assured of being able to actually access it.  There is nothing more frustrating than to click on link to something you need to read only to find out you are denied access because the poster did not carefully review the setting first! For most adult learners, time is scarce, and they access a course or training when it is convenient for them...and waiting to be approved to review a link simply is disrespectful and time-wasting.

The following video demonstrates asynchronous facilitation for the Unit Game On:

Using tabs in Canvas to  foster asynchronous presentation of content

sample module from EDU 654 in 2019

Instructors new to online design often struggle with balancing the length of content pages and the length of the Modules page. When pages are too long, learners often feel overwhelmed when pondering how long it will take to read and complete all of that material.Rather than have a s, magazines, and newspapers!). One response is to break up long pages into several smaller pages, but then the Modules page can become very long and generate a different kind of overwhelming feeling (so many choices!). The graphic to the right depicts the learner view of a module from EDU 654in 2019.

Using TABS helps the instructor present all information while managing it better  - for both the learner and the instructor! Check oout the screencapture blow to see how this same information looks when using tabs:

 

Same Module, with Tabs, in 2021

Where to start?  You will likely notice that there is no Tabs command in Canvas....because we use html to create them. I created my own template and copy this page into every Canvas course. 

Want to create your own tabbed page that looks like this?

1. Access this google doc   for the html.

2. Highlight the html on this page and use CTRL C to copy.

3. Open a blank page in your Canvas and title it Sample Page with Tabs. This will become your personal template  that you can copy and use as needed later.

Step 4

4. In the Edit mode, click on View, then </> HTML editor (see graphic at right).  Now, paste the html you copied in step 2 (CTRL V) directly into this window. This creates the actual template that you will be able to use repeatedly.

5. When you hit SAVE, you should see the sample page depicted in the graphic above.

6. Simply carefully type in your content. Until you feel comfortable working in html, you will want to make careful changes to your page in the Rich Content Editor.

My university paid for a Canvas plug in that makes tabs just a click away, but this template works well.  Once you become comfortable in html, you can create templates with more tabs.

Synchronous learning: All together now

Think of synchronous learning as same time-same place learning, i.e., learners and instructor are in the same place at the same time.  This includes in-person classes as well as live online meetings using Zoom, WebEx, or Adobe Connect when the whole class or smaller groups get together. COVID19 has forced all instructors into synchronous facilitation whether or not they have been trained for it.

Most of them have not.

Effective synchronous learning is NOT the instructor talking non-stop while learners sit passively. Instead, good synchronous learning requires the instructor to plan ahead, reconceptualizing their courses.  Instead of a typical lecture providing content, the synchronous session should facilitate conversation, and discussions, with learners taking the responsibility to complete some prep work themselves prior to the synchronous session.

I teach asynchronously 95% of the time.  I have tried to incorporate synchronous meetings, but they just were not convenient for the students who had to rearrange an evening with childcare or weekend activities to attend.  If they are going to rearrange their lives to attend this session, then I better make it worth their while to do so....and not use it to lecture but to enrich their learning.

Forty-five years of teaching have given me the perspective of seeing patterns. Teaching fully online for the last 11 of those years has afforded me a glimpse into adult learner fears and concerns.  It's all about the tech!

Even though my students tend to range in age from 22 up into their 60s, not all are comfortable with the technology.  They know they need a master's degree and that online provides the flexibility they need, but they sometimes fear the tech.  TI am not just referring to older learners, however.  Some of the younger ones are also not as tech-savvy as one would assume, and sometimes that are unaware that they don't know what we expect them to know.

In one of my University positions we offered a group Onboarding where all new doctoral students were invited to learn more about their courses and how to navigate online. One facilitator led students through logging in to Blackboard and accessing the various modules in their courses, along with how to send messages and submit work. 

This sounds great, doesn't it?  Learners met  each other informally online, see each other and all course instructors and learn about navigating Blackboard. What I realized the first week of classes was that learners who attended those sessions were not asking questions...and as I developed a rapport with them, I realized they were afraid to ask questions, thinking that everyone else already knew the answer, and they didn't want to feel "stupid." 

Hmmmmm...  To me, this means a more individualized approach is needed.

EDU 658 Onboarding Module

This brings me to my Onboarding modules created for every single class I design. I have found that making sure students can navigate an online course as early as possible increases their livelihood of success in the course. 

I individualize Onboarding for every single student in every single class, guiding them through their Canvas course site to make sure they can access everything....in the safety of meeting one-on-one rather risking feeling embarrassed in front of a group. 

Yes, this takes a lot of time.  Instead of one one-hour Onboarding per class, I may have anywhere from 10-25 individual meetings....for one course. It seems to be what works best for my learners, though, allowing them to interact with the site and me in a more comfortable manner.  They select the day and time that best fits within their schedules...AND I get to meet them face-to-face and begin to develop the rapport so necessary to developing social presence (Akyol, 2019; Shackelford & Maxwell, 2012).  Seeing what each other looks like helps to engage learners and makes them feel connected (Lehman & Conceicao, 2010).

To reinforce the idea of student responsibility, I require all students to complete a series of steps, to review a variety of items, and to meet with me virtually during the first week of class. They must review the syllabus and assignments, click around the course, and come prepared with questions. Notice this Onboarding Module from EDU 653:

EDU 653 Onboarding Module

Meanwhile, I have my own agenda: Let the students do the driving. Letting them drive tells me what they need to know to be successful in this course. These meetings last anywhere from 15 minutes to a full hour...depending upon learner needs.

I can certainly ask them if they have questions, answer those questions, and wave good-bye.....but I need to make sure they know how to navigate the course first.  They may not know what they don't know!  

Zoom allows us to share screens, so after finding out a little about the learner, I ask them to share their screen. Then I direct them around the site...as they click and access information. We pause to discuss how the major assignments fit within the class....and even explore tasks such as how to access each module, how to use the Calendar function within Canvas, sometimes even how to respond to their first forum!

Using Zoom

My university uses ZOOM, but that is a relatively new event. I was using Zoom for these meetings before the university adopted it.  Anyone can have a free Zoom account that allows them to  meet with one per5son for an extended amount of time and with more than one person for 40 minutes.  Since I meet individually, free  meets my needs.

1. All one needs is an email account to sign up for Zoom (https://zoom.us/). 

2. Once in, clicking on host a meeting allows you to schedule. This generates an email invitation that allows recipients to login in through a variety of devices, but I require students to use a laptop so they can then share their screens.

3. During the session you will need to give an attendee permission to share their screen. This is a new  twist thanks to the "Zoom Bombing" that occurred during the early days of COVID necessitating in the mass move to use ZOOM to video conference.  Once in Zoom, the instructor will need to hover their cursor over the bottom of the Zoom window until the green Share Screen button appear.  Then hover on the caret to the right and click on "Multiple participants can share simultaneously."

4. Once you have granted permission to share, the attendee will then see the green Share Screen button and can click it.

5. The attendee will then see several choices, so I ask them to select a specific window, then open the course in Canvas.

Once they are in in Canvas, the Onboarding begins as we talk through to course splash page and start clicking around.

 

Any time, any place or All Together now - your choice depends on your audience, your content,  and your goal!

Have fun  designing!

 References

Akyol, Z. (2019). The development of a community of inquiry over time in an online course: Understanding the progression and integration of social, cognitive and teaching presence.  Online Learning, 12(3/4), 3-22.

Davis, T. (2015). Visual design for online learning. New York: Jossey-Bass.

Kinshuk. (2016). Designing adaptive and personalized environments. NY: Routledge. 

Lehman, R., & Conceicao, S. (2010). Creating a sense of presence in online teaching. NY: Routledge.

Shackelford, J., & Maxwell, M. (2012). Contribution of learner-instructor interaction to sense of community in graduate online education. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 8(4), 248-260.

Vai, M., & Sosulski, K. (2016). Essentials of online course design. NY: Routledge.