Forms of Digital Instruction
This video is part of our e-learning course focusing on Digital Soft Skills to create more engaging online lessons.
More information about the e-learning program and other innovative outputs for digital educators can be found on our website:
https://trendss.eu/
SCRIPT OF THE VIDEO
Learning in the pandemic comes with its own vocabulary: Online, virtual, synchronous, asynchronous, hybrid, blended, flipped, and so on.
These terms may be related, but they are not interchangeable. Let's look at some of them to establish a common terminology for our e-learning course.
Let's start with ONLINE LEARNING!
Online learning provides incomparable opportunities for cooperation, creative solutions. It also motivates us to innovate and discover potential engaging educational applications, platforms and resources.
On the other hand, it also comes with some disadvantages like the Digital divide.
We may also find that without adjusting the teaching methods that we used previously, it creates high numbers of disengaged learners
and even burnout problems both for teachers and students alike due to overwhelming new learning demands.
Let's continue with SYNCHRONOUS and ASYNCHRONOUS instruction.
Synchronous learning refers to any type of learning situation that happens in real-time, with teachers and students working together. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in person, the live online lessons became much more common throughout the pandemic.
Synchronous learning is vital: it allows for questions to be answered when they come up, facilitates interaction between teachers and students, and between student and student as well. It usually gives a clear structure to learning.
It's also considered to be interactive, collaborative, plus it has a unique "in-the-moment"-nature.
Asynchronous learning can be any type of learning that makes space for students to learn at different times and from different places. Typically, instructors will provide a learning journey that learners can explore at their own pace. This method is built around the learner rather than the lesson, and it has many benefits including more equity among learners. Those who might have different levels of access to wifi, or shorter (maybe longer) attention spans or special learning preferences find asynchronous learning really beneficial. The biggest advantage is likely that it takes into account that every student is different and has their own strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles.
The next one is BLENDED LEARNING.
The well-balanced combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning is Blended or Hybrid instruction, where some learning is taking place in the physical classrooms and some via remote online learning. The way we see the current trends, life goes back to “normal”, but hybrid methods are here to stay.
At its best, it should combine positive elements of in-classroom and remote education to give students the best of both worlds. It demands careful consideration of pedagogical approach by requiring decisions to be made about how and when to best use the different environments. Educators have to decide in advance how to use it for independent study, collaborative enquiry, social interaction and practical application.
Finally, there’s a method that incorporates all of the above terms and tries to use them all to their best advantage. FLIPPED CLASSROOMS aren’t a new phenomenon — however, in the present context, we have a new perspective on the idea. Flipped learning restructures the traditional model of
1. “teacher teaches students in the classroom"
2. and then students apply the content in their homework after the course or the lesson.
In a flipped classroom:
1. the teacher provides students with content to learn on their own,
2. and then the teacher and students apply it and discuss it together.
Usually, asynchronous learning comes first, rather than vice versa.
Hope this verbal glossary was helpful for you to come to the same wavelength so that we can use the same terminology for further learning.