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.
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.
Saturday, October 31, 2015
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