Synchronous vs Asynchronous Teaching and Learning

First…always remember this next quote…It is my motto when it comes to all things learning and development. (I use it often)

"Bad training is a monologue delivered in the presence of hostages." - Sardek Love

It is crucial, in a remote teaching/learning environment, to have both synchronous and asynchronous communication and assignments.

Synchronous communication gives the learner the ability to ask real time questions and get real time feedback. This is critical, for kids and adults. They need the interaction, the mental stimulation, the social stimulation, and the ability to practice with someone watching. This also gives the teacher/trainer the ability to read the room for understanding and frustration. There is nothing worse than being frustrated while trying to grasp a new concept.

Asynchronous tasks and assignments are where the real learning begins. Working at your own pace, watching a video or demonstration, perusing a discussion board, is all key to retention. The human brain doesn’t put anything into long term memory until is has proven to itself that something is accurate, or at least you believe it is accurate. Therefore, we create content in a specific way.

1: Present the information.

2: Practice what we have learned.

3: Go show someone else. 

(see one, do one, teach one)  

This is where the ‘proof’ comes in. Once a person has successfully done this action on their own, they have proved to themselves that it was accurate, and it can go into long term memory now. This makes Asynchronous information delivery critical in any learning environment.

This is obviously oversimplified as there are steps before and steps after (needs analysis, gap analysis, etc…and data analytics. We have to make sure the content was effective) but you get the gist of it. 

So, to wrap this up, always make sure you have a solid combination of both synchronous and asynchronous tasks, assignments, activities, and more.  

Let me know what you want to talk about next!!