• what course you are teaching / are going to teach
• what the purpose of the activity is
• why, in this particular case, a synchronous activity will be better than an asynchronous one
  

After the synchronous session, please go to the Synchronous Communication Forum and describe the activity you hav designed and your reflection on using synchonous communication. In your post please refer also to the questions below.

1. What are the advantages and the disadvantages of synchronous sessions versus asynchronous sessions to promote quality in communication?

2. How can incorporating one-way or two-way audio from the instructor into a real-time chat add value to the communication?

3. Many of our students bring with them to class a lot of experience gained in social chat rooms. There may be very few rules imposed in those kind of environments. What type of "netiquette" or rules/guidelines would you provide your learners with for participating in live chats in your class/course?

4. What arrangements should be made for students who cannot fit planned synchronous sessions into their schedules?

5. Synchronous communication can, of course, be f2f. Blended courses combine online work and f2f meetings. What types of classes/courses, content or activities might be enhanced by requiring learners to attend some live meetings?

6. There are tools for virtual f2f meetings, e.g. via a headset and a webcam you can both see and hear each other. For this kind of communication there exist wide-spread tools like Skype and MSN which are free-of-charge. What are the advantages of these, and what limitations can you see?

7. One possible use of a real-time chat room is for oral quizzing. Do you see pros and cons to this?

8. The Sample Chat Log in the recommended reading sheds some light on how some good content can get lost if a large-group synchronous session becomes somewhat chaotic. What activities led to this synchronous session (in the Sample Chat Log) becoming difficult to follow? How could the facilitator have improved the session?

9. One of the major challenges of real-time chat lies most certainly in the coordination of schedules that work for all participants. What solutions do you see for this problem?

10. Besides providing some familiarity with the chat software, how can we, as facilitators, help students prepare for their roles in synchronous sessions and encourage them to be more willing to participate?

Please post your comments in at least two threads. In your posts, refer both to the items for reading and your own experience of using synchronous communication tools.

Pairs:
(Names of trainees)