One of the reasons that asynchronous courses and online degree programs are so popular with students at UAF is the flexibility afforded. Compared with the national average, UAF has older students, many of whom balance family and job responsibilities with course schedules. For some students this flexibility and ability to study on their own time within the constraints of a semester are critical to their success.

For a variety of reasons ranging from a desire to help students succeed to attempting to bring opportune guest speakers into class, you might be considering spontaneously adding some synchronous activities to your course. With a tiny bit of extra effort, you can extend these synchronous activities into the hybrid realm; beneficial to students who can arrange to participate in the hours you want to schedule, but also to students who have prior time commitments.

If you are going to add in synchronous activities, these tips will allow all students to benefit from them.

Rotate the time and days of synchronous activities

Depending on your class size, consider offering an activity more than once per week or per semester. Also consider the time zone spread of your course. Where are you students on the globe? Are they all local to Alaska? Are some East coast? Are some in Asia? Gathering this information at the start of the semester will help you plan accordingly. Even if all your students are local to the Fairbanks area (which is rare for online classes at UAF), you might think about scheduling synchronous sessions at different times of the day and different days of the week. Knowing your students will aid you in the optimal time to pick. Rotating possible meetings would allow students with other time commitments to attend your sessions.

Support asynchronous input to upcoming synchronous events

If a planned synchronous activity includes a guest speaker or student presentations, you might solicit questions from all members of your class before the session. You can have someone attending the synchronous activity read the question in place of the student unable to attend, rather like radio hosts will often ask questions from listeners sent by email. Your online discussion board will also provide a means of extending the conversation beyond the scheduled time limits.

Recording Technology Can Bring Session Content to Time Shifted Students

One easy means of making your synchronous content available to your students who can’t make a session is to record it. There are several methods available depending on the content, and the designers at UAF CTL are ready to help you wade through the pros and cons of different recording technology. But you are probably familiar with several readily available means including: Zoom recordings straight to the UAF media space, screen recordings, audio recordings, and in classroom cameras. 

Give them choice

The simplest way to ensure success for your students who are expecting mostly asynchronous content is to make synchronous activities optional. It is rare that tying grades to impromptu meetings will be beneficial to you or your students.

Dan LaSota

Instructional Designer
Certified QM Peer Reviewer
Certified QM Training Facilitator

dlasota@alaska.edu

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