Asynchronous Learning:

"Doing That" without "Being There"

What is Asynchronous Learning?

What is its value and application?

How is it accomplished?

Who is responsible for making it happen?

When can I find the time to do it?

Works Cited

AL main page

Contact the author

Pat Marshall

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 The "typical" K-12 classroom is a myth.  On any given day in US schools, one could observe classes comprised of homogeneous or heterogeneous groups, "talk and chalk" classes, "smart" classrooms,  integrated team-taught programs, small or large group activities, teacher centered instruction, problem-based learning --the permutations of the modern classroom are truly without end.  Seemingly divergent, these paradigms actually share a common theme:  an assumption of  the student(s) interacting  with the teacher(s).    However, the newest wrinkle on the classroom is the Asynchronous Learning Class (ALC), or Virtual Classroom   While the concept is not new, since "distance education can be traced to the invention of mail-based correspondence courses by Sir Isaac Pitman in 1840 (Matthews), the use of the Internet in supporting ALC's is relatively recent.    However, the support for Internet based learning is undisputable:  the Deptartment of Education allocated $7.4 million in 1998 for the development of the Virtual High School (Hammonds), and the commitment to the concept has been growing steadily since then.   The trend seems likely to continue.

In the case of universities and colleges, "more than one-third of U.S. colleges and universities offer online distance-education programs, and more than 92 percent of colleges made plans in 1997 to use the Internet to a greater extent (Caudron).  However, institutions of higher learning are also hoping to serve a growing population of post-university learners.  According to the 1995 National Household Education Survey, 76 million adults age 16 and older participated in one or more adult education activities during the preceding year.  Caudron noes that two-thirds of these learners already have a college degree and half of them are in executive, professional, and technical jobs.   

Overall reaction to AL varies.  Teachers who have been involved with distance education see benefits and drawbacks to the concept.  "Renie Cervone of Brown University appreciates distance learning's convenience but did miss some of the features of face-to-face courses.   Jim Woodell of School ChangeWorks says he particularly enjoyed feedback from other students and wished for a stronger sense of community and a better variety of interactive tools.  Stephanie Feger of Brown Lab praises the expert instructor in the course she took while noting that one third of the class dropped out before it ended." (Technology and Learning interview).

Regardless of the level of education, the research in the area suggests:

Mastery of course material in the Virtual Classroom is equal or superior to that in the traditional classroom.
Virtual Classroom students report higher subjective satisfaction with the Virtual Classroom than with the traditional classroom on a number of dimensions, including access to their professors and overall quality of the educational experience.
Students perceive the experience as "group learning" rather than individual learning. The more they perceive collaborative learning as taking place, the more likely they are to judge the outcomes of the Virtual Classroom as superior to those of the traditional classroom

(Hiltz and Wellman)

Furthermore, in a study of Hong Kong nurses, The Journal of Experimental Education reports that distance learning had a positive impact on the students as "learners improved independence by using distance-learning."   (Chin). 

Nevertheless, since most of the research that has been done is limited to the application of ALC's to higher education students, it would be foolish to suggest that all K-12 schools should immediately adopt a Virtual Classroom paradigm.  However, it would be appropriate to suggest that K-12 staff ought to become aware of the role ALC's could play in children's education.  To that end, the links at the left provide a discussion of the advantages and drawbacks of incorporating Virtual Classrooms at the K-12 level.