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REVIEW: SYNCHRONOUS VS. ASYNCHRONOUS COMMUNICATION

ASYNCHRONOUS VS. SYNCHRONOUS COMMUNICATION

Asynchronous Synchronous

Different places, different times

Different places, same time

Mostly text-based, but can include other media

Often includes voice and/or video, text chat and visual materials

Generally more stable, technology-wise

Can be prone to connectivity issues

Individual One-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many

Many communication cues are lost (like eye contact, tone of voice, body language)

Allows some forms of “natural” communication to re-emerge (tone of voice, visual cues)

Participants have a chance to think before posting

Communication and feedback are immediate

ASSIGNMENT: EVALUATING TOOLS

Photograph by Yousuf Karsh. Canada Archives.

WHAT IS A FACILITATOR?

WHAT IS A FACILITATOR?

• One who helps participants learn from an activity

• Literal meaning: “one who makes things easy”

• May also be called a trainer, or chair depending on the aims of your group

ENSURING THE SUCCESS OF YOUR ONLINE GROUP:

flickr photo by dmkemontoh

ENSURING THE SUCCESS OF YOUR ONLINE GROUP:1. Lead introductory community-building activities


• Participants get to know each other

• “break the ice”

• Become familiar with group procedure and process

• Model appropriate behaviour

• Allow time to get comfortable, ensure that technology is working


Games and conversation starters:

• 10 things about me

• 2 truths, 1 lie

• My favourite vacation

• 3 wishes

• Adding to a story

• The question game

flickr photo by c.a.muller

ENSURING THE SUCCESS OF YOUR ONLINE GROUP:2. Provide support for technical trouble, and those unfamiliar

with the online environment

Provide resources for your participants:

• Send out support materials before the course/meeting/event

• Does the software provider have any tutorials or help files available?

• Do you have access to IT support?

• Look for publicly available help and tutorials in places like YouTube or Lynda.com



Organize a “meet and greet”:

• This is a low-stakes meeting where the primary

goal is to ensure that participants can connect in the

online environment without difficulty

• Schedule a week in advance of the actual event

• Can also serve as a social/ice-breaker activity

flickr photo by oooh.ooh



Have a “scavenger hunt”:

• Gets participants used to locating and using resources

• Can be as simple or complicated as you want

• Encourages participants to bring their own

findings to the discussion

flickr photo by ToNToN CoPT

ENSURING THE SUCCESS OF YOUR ONLINE GROUP:3. Acknowledge the diversity of participants’ backgrounds and

interests


interests

The WRITE way to communicate online:

(W)armth

(R)esponsiveness

(I)nquisitiveness

(T)entativeness

(E)mpathy

(adapted from: The Online Teaching Guide: A handbook of attitudes, strategies and techniques for the virtual classroom, by Ken W. White and Bob H. Weight)


interests

CONFLICT

Flickr photo by Burns!


interests

CONFLICTCan arise from:

• Misunderstanding

• Misinterpretation

• Deeply held beliefs

• Comfort & safety



interests

CONFLICTCan be avoided:

• By modeling desired behaviour

• By rephrasing

• By moving some conversations

to private venues



interests

DIFFUSING CONFLICT – rephrasing• “Homosexuality is wrong.”


interests


• “The Bible says homosexuality is wrong.”


interests



• “The Bible says homosexuality is wrong. See Genesis 19, Jude 7 and Romans 1.”


interests




• “I believe homosexuality is wrong, based on my reading of Genesis 19, Jude 7 and Romans 1.”


interests




• “I believe homosexuality is wrong, based on my reading of Genesis 19, Jude 7 and Romans 1.”

• “I believe homosexuality is wrong, based on my reading of Genesis 19, Jude 7 and Romans 1, but recognize that others read those same passages differently.”

ENSURING THE SUCCESS OF YOUR ONLINE GROUP:4. Infuse personality with tone, graphics, and humour


flickr photo by Bryan Champ


:-)


:-(


:-/


>:-(


;-)


:-o


<3


</3


@--<---


8-D


c.c


19-Sep-82 11:44 Scott E Fahlman :-)From: Scott E Fahlman <Fahlman at Cmu-20c> I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers: :-) Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to markthings that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use :-(


(^_^)

(~_^)

(>_<)

(>_>)

(^3^)

^///^


ENSURING THE SUCCESS OF YOUR ONLINE GROUP:5. Maintain a nurturing pace of responding



“Hold that thought…”

ENSURING THE SUCCESS OF YOUR ONLINE GROUP:6. Balancing private conversation and public discussion


Private conversation:

• Conflict that is not resolving

• Participants who are dominating or not participating at all

• Specific discussions about evaluation


Public discussion:

• Something that affects the whole group

• When the same question is asked by many participants

• General feedback to the group

ENSURING THE SUCCESS OF YOUR ONLINE GROUP:7. Organizing posts and discussion threads

ENSURING THE SUCCESS OF YOUR ONLINE GROUP:7. Organizing posts and discussion threads

In every online discussion:

• Introductions/social space

• Technical help

• General questions (“office space”)

• News/announcements (housekeeping)

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ONLINE COMMUNITY

image source: http://www.truthtree.com/evolute.shtml

PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT: SHIFTING ROLES

flickr photo by Colby Stewart

PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT: BALANCING ONLINE AND OFFLINE ACTIVITY

flickr photo by courosa

flickr photo by vanhookc

PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT: REFLECTION

flickr photo by johnrite

COMPUTER LOGIN

User: ent234Pass: 20wint11

ONLINE DISCUSSION BOARDS

http://onlinegroups.proboards.com

Username: first name, last initial (ex. jaymiek)Password: 20wint11

http://onlinegroups.proboards.com/




Online discussion boards are typically organized in to “threads” – topics or categories of conversation that contain a number of individual discussions.

flickr photo by vpickering


Messages within threads are like stacking dolls – as participants reply to individual messages, the thread gets “deeper”.

As a facilitator, it is important to note the depth of threads, and keep in mind that sometimes people hit “reply” to the main message, when in fact they are replying to a message deeper down in the thread.

flickr photo by Grumbler %-|

GROUP ROLES

Image source: http://www.artswells.com/contact-us/applications

GROUP ROLES

• Assigning roles can help online communication go beyond a simple exchange of information to real learning and productive communication.

• Group dynamics naturally results in different roles being played

• Assigning roles can give participants a framework or basis for their responses

• Can help ensure more equal levels of participation from everyone

Image source: http://www.artswells.com/contact-us/applications

EVALUATION

Image source: http://blog.only2clicks.com/2007/09/new-feedback-comments.html

EVALUATION

Formative assessment:

• Ongoing

• Can be used to improve facilitation technique during the course of a class

• Shows facilitator involvement and responsiveness

• Important for checking for understanding among the group

• Best if used regularly, as part of your facilitation routine (when possible)

• Participants/students can use formative feedback to monitor their progress

EVALUATION

Summative assessment:

• Occurs at the end of a course/series of meetings

• Summative assessment is used to evaluate student/participant competency at the end of a course of instruction (when needed)

• Important to give participants some space/time to reflect on the experience as a whole

• Important for influencing the design and redesign of workshops/courses

EVALUATION

• Focus groups:• Can be more time to organize (getting a focus group together)• Can allow you to focus on a particular sub-group (ex. those having

technical trouble, or difficulty with a particular concept)• Group dynamics can work in your favour: you often get rich and

detailed feedback when a group discusses together• Depending on the size of your group, the “focus group” can

include everyone

EVALUATION

• Surveys:• Easy to construct, use and collect data from• Lots of tools are available to conduct surveys online• The best way to allow for anonymous feedback

http://www.surveymonkey.com

http://www.surveymonkey.com/

http://www.surveymonkey.com/

EVALUATION

• Surveys:• Easy to construct, use and collect data from• Lots of tools are available to conduct surveys online• The best way to allow for anonymous feedback

https://sites.google.com/site/facilitatinggroupsonline/course-evaluation

(course website + “Course Evaluation” in the LH menu)



THANK YOU!

flickr photo by omgdek

Education

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