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It’s Time to Embrace the Asynchronous Mindset
It’s about more than just going digital. It’s about new ways of thinking about teaching and learning that meet twenty-first century needs.
Teachers face an important choice in hybrid and remote learning environments: should I use synchronous or asynchronous instruction?
By synchronous instruction, we’re talking about teaching and learning activities that are happening in real time. Students see us and hear us as words exit our lips. They can respond immediately. They can ask questions and expect instant answers.
This is the essence of the traditional classroom experience. And to some extent, we can try to replicate this kind of instruction and learning in online environments. Try.
When we talk about asynchronous instruction, we mean instruction that was created previously and stored digitally in the cloud. When students consume asynchronous content, they often cannot interact with the teacher in real time the same way they can in a classroom setting. But they can access these learning resources at any time, from any place, as many times and in whatever manner they wish.
There are pros and cons for each type of instruction, of course. Age and grade level are important variables, too. Younger students are generally more reliant on synchronous instruction or real-time support — precisely the reason that so many moms and dads played home teacher during the COVID-19 quarantine of 2020.
Our history of synchronous instruction and learning
For most educators, most of our pre-COVID teaching time was spent in the trenches of synchronous instruction.
Sure, as schools and districts moved toward 1:1 device availability for learners, teachers have been steadily creating more and more digital resources each year. Flipped classroom models have made steady inroads. The growth and evolution of learning management systems like Google Classroom, Seesaw, Schoology, and so many others have further accelerated this trend.
