SYNCHRONOUS AND ASYNCHRONOUS COMMUNICATION IN DISTANCE LEARNING

This paper is a summary of the author’s experience with distance learning. It includes his teaching experiences at two different institutions as well as the experience of doing a post doctorate studies in distance learning. Guidelines for distance learning are reached from student evaluations and surveys as well as the author’s personal experience comparing the evaluations at different institutions.

At Kennesaw State University, the author taught in a graduate program using Moodle and extensively using bulletin board systems. This was a premium price program that used TEGRITY. It allowed the students to watch the lecture from work and respond in real time, watch it in the classroom or listen to the recording afterwards. At UMUC, the author completed a series of classes towards a post doctorate degree. Classes were all distance. UMUC had a proprietary tool similar to Moodle. However, it didn’t have any recorded lectures. All lectures were MS-Powerpoint slides. At Zayed University, students were also allowed to watch from a distance and respond in real time. However, lectures were not recorded. Blackboard was also used.

The data collected strongly supports the value of asynchronous methods such as bulletin board discussions recorded lecture. The value of synchronous communication was questionable and inconclusive. The paper concludes with final recommendations and suggestions for further research.