Methods of Asynchronous Facilitation

I teach first grade in a brick-and-mortar school, but for the past three years I have provided blended learning opportunities for my students.  Through these experiences I have played around with asynchronous opportunities.  Two years ago I taught second grade and my students were active bloggers.  They would blog about our character kid, our science investigations, and about the books we were reading in class.  I began facilitating asynchronous discussions through our learning management system about their blog posts.  It was a disaster!  My students did a great job answering my questions, but they never interacted with each other.  The few students who attempted to interact with their classmates only made comments like, “Hi” and “I like your post”.  I had a very difficult time getting them to reflect on their own posts and/or think critically about posts made by their classmates.  We were able to have fabulous conversations about these posts when we were face-to-face, but I was not able to get these same responses through an asynchronous discussion.  It’s not that my second graders (or even my first graders) are not capable of handling asynchronous discussions, it was the method of instruction (or lack thereof) by me.  

Online instruction can be difficult, but with the use of synchronous and asynchronous opportunities online instructors are able to provide effective instruction if used appropriately.

Asynchronous instruction allows students to communicate with each other and provides the instructor the opportunity to facilitate the discussions.  In order to provide successful asynchronous instruction there are several things to keep in mind.  Instructors need to keep in mind the social, cognitive, and teaching aspects of the process.  The diagram below allows us to see how these three aspects work together to create effective online experiences for our learners.

Students may find it difficult to develop relationships online.  They not only struggle seeing others as real people, they also struggle communicating their own personality.  It’s important for instructors to model social presence and set the stage for his/her hopes for asynchronous discussions.  Another helpful strategy in building social presence is requiring asynchronous discussions and even grading these discussions.  Students are more likely be actively involved in discussions if it’s for a grade.

Cognitive presence is also important in facilitating successful asynchronous discussions.  Instructors need to select prompts that require learners to solve a problem or debate with their colleagues in order to engage students are require the use of critical thinking skills  As students are building relationships among their colleagues through discussions, it is imperative that these discussions push them to reflect and better understand the concepts at hand.  Instructors play an important role in facilitating these discussions by asking appropriate questions to further learning and/or challenge the standing of the post.

Teaching presence is the last piece needed to create effective asynchronous opportunities for your students.  Even though we want our learners to learn from each other, the instructor’s presence needs to be felt throughout the discussions.  Not only does the instructor need to provide prompt feedback, he/she also needs to provide meaningful responses throughout asynchronous discussions.  Another effective strategy is to give students the opportunity to facilitate discussions. You may find that some students are more comfortable responding to someone one equal footing rather than the professor.

Check out the video below! Not only does it support using asynchronous discussions with your students, they also provide some strategy in using these discussion boards.

 

Now I feel more prepared to facilitate asynchronous discussions with my first graders!

Through my research on asynchronous facilitation, I came across this post which is a great resource for effective tools that can be used for synchronous and asynchronous opportunities.

Check out the article below for more information on asynchronous discussions!

Strategies for Creating a Community of Inquiry through Online Asynchronous Discussions

DeNoyelles, Aimee, Janet M. Zydney, and Baiyun Chen. "Strategies for Creating a Community of 

Inquiry through Online Asynchronous Discussions." MERLOT Journal of Online Learning 

and Teaching 10.1 (2014): 153-65. Web.

Garrison, D. Randy. "THE ROLE OF REFLECTIVE INQUIRY, SELF-DIRECTION AND 

METACOGNITION." COGNITIVE PRESENCE FOR EFFECTIVE ASYNCHRONOUS 

ONLINE LEARNING: THE ROLE OF REFLECTIVE INQUIRY, SELF-DIRECTION AND 

METACOGNITION (n.d.): n. pag. Web.