I have dishonored myself. I used my résumé to support an argument. This is bad behavior, and I don’t condone it, but I do get frustrated when people who have done online learning since March give me the old “Well, actually…” when I’ve been doing it for years, and I have some hardware to back it up.
I don’t know everything, but I do know some things that are tried, true, and hard won. And more Importantly, I can tell you how it works in real life.
I have noticed that the state of Tennessee has been pushing synchronous learning hard. I get why they’re doing it: they think it feels more like school than asynchronous learning. They also know that it engenders more confidence from school boards, parents, and local leaders that kids are logging in and interacting with a teacher. They have the right of it from a political angle.
The problem is that synchronous learning isn’t the best way to learn online; synchronous learning is the best way to learn in person.
Here are some problems with synchronous learning:
A lack of institutional control: it’s an easy way out for students. They can just act like they were there. They can act like they were listening. They can refuse to turn on the video. They can turn it on and alt-tab to something else. Are you still going to give them attendance credit? Yes. Are they going to learn anything? Only if they’re motivated.
Synchronous learning lends itself to lecture: I’m not one of those people who believes that all lecture is evil, but I do believe lecture should be delivered in small doses, especially online. Zoom meetings wear me out as an adult; I can’t imagine what they’re like as a teenager. Imagine spending 6 hours every day in Zoom meetings. That’s what synchronous learning is.
Synchronous learning robs the teacher of time they could be doing more productive things for their online students. The most important feature of online learning is the feedback/conversation/correction cycle between teacher and student. That is where the magic of learning happens, especially if the assignments are appropriately heuristic. If a teacher is Zooming six hours a day, she isn’t grading and giving feedback. And if she is giving feedback, it’s truncated and lower quality because there aren’t enough hours in a day. If you’re going to make the argument that starts “Well, what about classroom teachers?” I’m going to answer, “No kidding. You’re right. This is something we should think about.”
If you look at what are considered effective practices in teaching in the state of TN, among them are the following: differentiation/personalized learning, timely and detailed feedback, grouping students, problem solving, thinking, and questioning. And while no one expects a teacher to do all of those all the time every day, it is clear that a student-centered model where the teacher is the facilitator of learning rather than the sole source of knowledge is the model we should be using to maximize learning. As the Dothraki say, “It is known.”
This is why I don’t understand why the state of Tennessee is pushing people towards doing more synchronous content. If they’re serious about not having a learning loss, they need to be encouraging us to go against what feels politically expedient and what feels like school, and adopt a better model for online learning.
What about direct instruction?
I’ve covered this in other blog posts, but to provide effective direct-instruction, short, focused videos are preferable to long, rambling Zoom sessions with all of the interruptions that will inevitably happen. But what about questioning? You can use something like EdPuzzle or Canvas Studio to ask timely questions and to also hold the student accountable for watching the video. While it’s easy to get on a Zoom and do literally anything else in the world, it’s impossible to dodge the questions in these programs.
In a Zoom session, if it’s recorded you can go back and watch it, but a student will be digging through 45 to 90 minutes of video (depending on how you do it) to find the information they want to review. In a short, focused video, that information is easy to find especially if there is one video per concept. How many times have you looked up how to do something on YouTube and had to rewind it a few times to get it? This is something they can have online that they probably wouldn’t ever have in person (unless you told them to record you presenting a new concept which would be really smart). One could argue that furiously taking notes during a rushed lecture is the hallmark of good education, but they would be wrong.
What about students who are feeling lonely?
I’m glad we’re considering students’ social-emotional needs, but do we want to address that while simultaneously giving direct instruction? It seems like a bad time. Why not do that during a group project? Why not do that in a discussion? Or why not encourage kids to get on Xbox or whatever and socialize after school? If everyone is online, why does it have to be exactly like it is during school? “Oh this is when students see one another and interact with one another during in-person learning, so it must be exactly like that online.” That’s the kind of flawed thinking that I am trying to address in this blog post.
But, can’t you do some really engaging stuff on Zoom?
Sure, you can. And if you want to try it that way, that’s fine, but there are only so many hours in a day, and I would rather have students working on the work rather than sitting in a Zoom meeting with me even if I’m doing breakout rooms and stuff. I want to save my interactions with students for office hours or emails or one on one tutoring sessions. To me, it comes down to a choice between what I want students doing, and what I think students want to do.
Consider the shy guy
One of the magical moments you will have as an online teacher is when a student who never participate start blowing up your discussions. It’s always articulate and impressive, and you have no idea where it came from, and then you realize that when you take away the time clock and the peer pressure, you have leveled the playing field in your marketplace of ideas. In synchronous learning, discussions are typically dominated by the same types of people who would dominate them in an in-person learning environment. An asynchronous environment is ultimately more democratic, and it lends itself to participation from people who typically shy away from it.
Consider this other advantage
When I was the principal of an online school, the peak time for students to work was 10pm to 2am. One might argue that it’s unhealthy for kids to be up that late, but what was I supposed to do about it? And if you know teens, they’re going to be up that late doing something because their circadian rhythm changes. They’re more likely to get to their school work during these hours if it’s sitting there waiting for them. If they have to wake up at an unnatural hour to attend class, then they’re not going to get as much out of it. This will allow them to get natural sleep and still get their work finished. Again, one might argue, “Well, if that’s true, then why are we making kids go to school at like 7:40?” And my answer is “It has nothing to do with following science around teenagers and everything to do with following a traditional work schedule for factories.” If the learner needs help, then they can get it during the day during office hours, or just email a question to their teacher and get a response the next day.
Flexibility
I like learning blocked into a weekly module with daily targets rather than daily deadlines. It builds in flexibility for both the learner and the teacher. This fits into a teacher’s planning cycle better, too, with conceptual units and themes. It also changes the type of work a teacher can assign. Instead of having to rely on a strict time schedule, a teacher can give assignments that take a day or two to complete giving the student more time with the material. This is great for students who do not work as quickly as others. Instead of finding themselves rushed to complete something, they feel liberated without that pressure.
Wrap it up
In summation, there are plenty of reasons to embrace asynchronous learning that have to do with teaching and learning. While there are some good things about synchronous learning, most of them are political or for the sake of appearances, and that stuff doesn’t really matter as much to me.