Asynchronous tools in online teaching

Asynchronous Tools in Online/Hybrid Teaching

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña Solano Saturday, October 31, 2015 Twitter: @jonacuso Post 202

As pointed out by Laureate Education, Inc. (2013), “Asynchronous tools are tools that can be used by different people, at different places, at different times to contribute to a shared discussion, document, or activity.” And these asynchronous tools can indeed be utilized not only for communication but also for collaboration. And as professionals, we are likely to use some asynchronous tools on our jobs; we send e-mail and text messages on a regular basis; we get to watch YouTube, Vimeo, or TeacherTube videos to find appropriate material for our classes, and so on. But one tool that has been there long to signal as a great tool is the use of blogs for educational purposes.

As language teaching professional, I have created numerous blogs to satisfy student learning needs and to plan teacher-led instruction for my current or even future students. Furthermore, after taking a course on how to use case studies as part of one’s instruction in class, I decided to create a blog for one of my course where I wanted my

students to be exposed to this learning theory and to really get to use their critical thinking skill beyond the boundaries of our books and classroom; I wanted to leave my students with something that could perfectly be used in their professional practicum as well as in their day-to-day lives: How to use case studies.

Since “blogs can be used by instructors or students as a way to share information and comment on the contributions of others” (Laureate Education, 2013), my initial goal was to create a space that asynchronously linked to class and where students could feel free to drop by any time they wished. This blog, which I christened BIN-10 –the course code for Oral Communication and Pronunciation III-, intends to gap the bridge between what is studied in my language class and the number of credits it has. That is, I really wanted my learners to stick to the number of hours of independent study that is linked to those credits by having this blog and by using a number of Moodle tools present in the university’s LMS. Blog Address: http://bin-10.blogspot.com/ Case Study URL: http://bin-10.blogspot.com/search/label/Case%203

The sample case I wrote for my students based on course content and objectives, along with their textbook content and scope and sequence is CASE #3: Forgetfulness and Types of Memory, which is aligned with the course unit on memory. On this page, learners will find two different activities for them to perform: One that intends to make students reflect on the kind of personality they have linked to their memory capabilities, and one that has students critically reflect on a situation where a person, in some sort of dilemma or turning point, needs to be given assertive answers to questions surrounding his/her present psychological or physical well-being. Additionally, they are provided with a case

study form to fill in and bring to class to further discuss the situation with partners and teacher.

As part of my online/hybrid teaching, these collections of case studies have worked quite nicely with students though they get some trouble with the first one. As soon as they are familiarized with the procedure for analysis, they usually come up with great and practical solutions for the cases provided. And due to the fact that learners must give short speeches where they are confronted with current events, social and educational issues, and even ethical decisions, the rationale behind the use of case studies permeates their work allowing them to design and develop more quality presentations with lots of reflection and critical thinking.

Reference Laureate Education, I. (2013). Asynchronous Tools. Retrieved from Laureate Faculty Development.