Communicate: The Synchronous Session 4.3.1

Communicate: The Synchronous Session 4.3.1

Usefulness of synchronous sessions

The most helpful thing about a synchronous session is that much information, understandings, and good will can be cultivated in a short amount of time.  Many people attribute the synchronous sessions with the ability to build the connections that are so vital to a healthy and thriving digital community.  Whether a student is able to attend the session or not, when an instructor records the session, the student is able to get a feeling of connectedness with the rest of the class.  The information covered and the points of view that are represented will help get the student caught up with his or her classmates in no time.  

 Awkwardness of synchronous sessions

For the first few times of participation (ore leading) a synchronous learning session, there can be a feeling of awkwardness.  One way to overcome this is to have something ready for the participants to view or hear- or both.  Just like in a F2F classroom, student attention needs to be gathered, focused, and then productively engaged.  Sometimes, though, no matter how well prepared you may be, things can go wrong in a synchronous session- it is not the end of the world, and not the end of the session.  Establish early on that if there is a disconnect, the students would reconnect and that the session will go on to complete the allotted time.   

Breakout Groups

Sometimes, it is easier and more comfortable to work in smaller break out groups.  These groups take a little more work to monitor than one large group, but the payoff in student participation and engagement is certainly worthwhile.  Platforms such as Adobe Connect offer instructors the ability to put students into these smaller groups. Each group has retains the functionality of the main group. In addition, each participant of the breakout group has instructor capabilities within that smaller room, so participants can share digital artifacts, do screen-sharing, web-cam sharing, instant polls, etc. It's a great way to have students collaborate and then bring the experience with them to the main group to report and share highlights.