Synchronous and asynchronous learning
When designing learning activities for your course, an important consideration is whether and which activities will be synchronous or asynchronous. This page outlines the opportunities and challenges of both to help guide your choices in planning and design.
On this page
Definitions
The terms synchronous and asynchronous have become commonplace with online course design although they similarly exist in in-person courses.
Synchronous learning is any activity in a course that happens in real time and in the same space, like in an online meeting, chat, or physical room.
Asynchronous learning can be completed autonomously by students within the given timeline and does not require “live” participation/attendance. These activities can include video lectures, readings, assignments and group discussions, or collaborative tasks.
Synchronous and asynchronous modalities can offer opportunities and challenges that can affect the interactions in your course as well as the technical set-up and instructions required. Most courses benefit from incorporating a mix of both, making the most of the affordances of one while complementing with the other.
Synchronous learning
With synchronous learning activities, make sure to have a clear goal and to create a detailed plan in advance of the class, to make the most of the time you and your students have together. In online courses, it is not recommended to hold a 3-hour session for a lecture. Instead, the ideal length of a synchronous online session should be around 45-60 minutes. If it must be longer, plan for breaks and build in a variety of engagement methods such as polling and small breakout room discussions.
Opportunities with synchronous learning
- Allows students to ask questions in real time as they come up and instructor to clarify misconceptions.
- Provides immediate social engagement between instructor and students.
- Offers instructors the opportunity to get immediate feedback on student learning.
- Adds the “human” element and builds more classroom community than asynchronous learning.
Challenges with synchronous learning
- Can widen the divide for learners with certain disabilities, difficulty accessing Internet, devices and/or a suitable space to participate, and time zone differences.
- Instructors may have to troubleshoot unplanned technology issues in real time, such as an Internet outage, or students being unable to access a certain tool.
Asynchronous learning
With asynchronous learning activities, you’ll need to rely more on the tools for teaching with technology available at Concordia. As a learning management system, Moodle has many types of activities that can be completed asynchronously. For example, you can set up a formative assessment as a Moodle Quiz activity with automatic grading so that students can practice concepts and get immediate feedback.
Advantages to asynchronous learning
- Students can complete work at their own pace and on their own schedule, adding flexibility to their learning.
- Students can take time needed to digest, and repeat or reread content that is difficult to deepen understanding (i.e., watching recorded lectures).
- Students have time to compose and revise responses in asynchronous class discussions, increasing access to those with language and other barriers.
Drawbacks to asynchronous learning
- Without proper motivation, it is possible for students to put off completing weekly tasks and fall behind.
- Students can feel isolated or disconnected from the instructor and other students.
- Feedback, including responses to questions, can be slower in comparison to synchronous.
Choosing between synchronous and asynchronous
Typical online and hybrid courses will have a mix of synchronous and asynchronous learning activities. Whether to choose synchronous or asynchronous depends largely on your context, but you will also need to weigh the opportunities and challenges of either format in terms of students’ learning.
For example, when planning group work and discussions, you may want to take advantage of the opportunities for interaction, feedback and social engagement in synchronous sessions, while taking advantage of the extra time and accessibility of asynchronous to present more complex content. You can see more example scenarios that mix synchronous and asynchronous activities on the online and hybrid instructional workflows page.
The recommended process for choosing between synchronous and asynchronous is to design your course by units (e.g., weeks or modules). This will help you understand the flow of a course at a smaller scale and investigate which activities should be synchronous versus asynchronous.
- To provide opportunities for you as the instructor to interact with your students, for example a question-and-answer period
- To check in with students and collect feedback on their learning (e.g., using small breakout groups that report back on their common questions and/or misconceptions)
- For activities where students interact with each other on a specific, focused task that requires real-time interaction
- For group presentations or discussions (consider splitting a longer online session into smaller meetings to have 3–4 groups present at a time rather than the entire class)
- For office hours
- If presentation of content is longer than one hour
- To model or demonstrate how to do something (e.g., walking through the steps of solving a problem)
- For quizzes, assignments and application activities
- For class discussions and group work that do not require real-time interaction, and which might require careful consideration, analysis, constructive exchange, etc.
See a comparison of synchronous and asynchronous learning activities to help you choose the right mode and technology for your courses.
Example: Small group discussion
In the end, there is no one right answer of whether synchronous or asynchronous is best suited for a specific activity. Be aware of the opportunities and/or challenges that will come with either when designing your course. For example, you may be wondering whether to do a small group discussion activity synchronously or asynchronously. Here is a comparison of the opportunities and challenges both synchronous and asynchronous provide for a small group discussion.
Opportunities
- More immediate interaction and feedback between students and instructor
- Increases social presence
Challenges
- Ensuring equal participation between group members where some dominate the conversation, or some don’t speak
- Sometimes not enough time for students to discuss deeply, or process their answer
Possible solutions
- Make the discussion low stakes. Synchronous small group discussions are best suited for low-stakes activities, where increasing social presence is the primary goal
- Provide an option to extend the discussion beyond synchronous class time
- Create a shared document for groups to share their discussion summary with you so you can monitor participation and gauge learning
- Clarify expectations for student participation
- Create and model roles to ensure each student has a specific contribution to the discussion (e.g., host, scribe, synthesizer, critic, etc.) and rotate the roles to give each member practice with each role
Opportunities
- More time for students to process and formulate their response, allowing for a deeper discussion and increased cognitive presence
- More inclusive for students with accessibility needs, English language-learners, etc.
- Every group member can speak or contribute
- An effective way for the instructor to check each student’s understanding or progress
Challenges
- Decreased social presence along with students having less immediate interaction with each other and the instructor
- Can negatively impact student motivation and engagement
Possible solutions
- Communicate the goal and intention of the asynchronous group discussion
- Ask groups to meet synchronously outside of class time to discuss and record their discussion for you in some way (e.g., audio recording, notes)
Resource note
This page was adapted from a previous Concordia CTL webpage and was informed by the following:
Dawson, S. (2006). A study of the relationship between student communication interaction and sense of community. The Internet and Higher Education, 9(3), 153-162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2006.06.007
Giesbers et al. (2013). Investigating the relations between motivation, tool use, participation, and performance in an e-learning course using web-videoconferencing. Computers in Human Behaviour, 29(1), 285-292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.09.005
Giesbers et al. (2014). A dynamic analysis of the interplay between asynchronous and synchronous communication in online learning: The impact of motivation. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 30, 30-50. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12020
Hrastinski et al. (2010). Design exemplars for synchronous e-learning: A design theory approach. Computers & Education, 55(2), 652-662. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.02.025
