I have learned so much about Synchronous and Asynchronous tools this week! Truthfully, after our last session, I had to Google those words to see what they mean! Further research showed me that I have used many of these tools as an educator. Through this class, I have found Blackboard and Google Hangouts to be very valuable Synchronous tools. Each of these tools have been very easy ways to get together with other members of class without physically being in the same room. They do, however, require good communication and scheduling. It is important that all members are on the same page to make these tools successful. I find personal communication in these forms to be more beneficial to groups of people than instant messaging, which I find works better when communicating with one other person.
I, personally, have used more asynchronous tools in my teaching. Clearly, email is an important tool for communication at school. I have found that blogging can be very successful with students and parents as a form of connecting home and school life. It gives the teacher a chance to show off all of the hard work being accomplished in the classroom. I have also used Wikis as a tool for student communication about learning at home. All of these tools have to be constantly well managed and updated in order to be used successfully. There were many other tools suggested on these lists that I have never used before. I will have to do more research to see what they are all about!
Great post Bethany. I forgot about Google Hangouts as a synchronous learning tool. It was fun to use but it took a lot of scheduling to set up. My group also had some mix ups of dates and times so that we missed our last hangout. The Blackboard Collaborate sessions are fun. I'm glad to see that you use a wiki for communicating with parents and students. I have just set one of those up too for a class that I'm in and my teacher suggested that I get it up and running now so it is ready when I have my teaching certificate and my first position. We sure are learning a lot about the many tools out there to help us be better teachers and learners. Never stop learning, that's my motto.
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ReplyDeleteI am impressed with how much thought you have given to the question of sync vs. async.
Can you imagine using sync. on snow days or days when you are unable to get to your class?
Bob Maleske
I agree with your post and I wrote about many of the same topics in my blog this week. I would like to highlight is that what I learned this week is not that one is necessarily better than the other (synchronous vs asynchronous), but that they are best used in different ways. The examples you posted of how you have used asynchronous tools in the past are all good uses, and I think most of us are more familiar with them. I am really excited about the new synchronous tools as well, however. Technology has finally come far enough that the tools actually work well enough to be useful, and that is pretty exciting.
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