Abstract
This study explores student achievement, sense of social community, and sense of learning community (Rovai, 2002) in two sections of an online course taught concurrently by the same instructor. One section was delivered in a fully asynchronous format; the other incorporated weekly synchronous lectures using an Adobe Connect environment. Students were randomly assigned to one of the two sections but allowed to change sections (before the semester began) if unwilling or unable to participate in weekly Adobe Connect meetings. Data included grades on course assignments, final course grades, end-of-course evaluations, and responses to the Classroom Community Inventory (Rovai, Wighting & Lucking, 2004). No significant differences were found on measures of academic achievement, student satisfaction, social community, or learning community between the two sections.
Highlights
Engagement and participation are often highlighted as key components of excellence and effectiveness within online courses (e.g., Palloff & Pratt, 2011)
The research questions driving this study explore student achievement and sense of community in response to incorporating synchronous lectures into an online course
Of the 22 students enrolled in ASYNC, 10 (45.5%) completed end-of-course evaluations; 10 of 16 (62.5%) students enrolled in
Summary
Engagement and participation are often highlighted as key components of excellence and effectiveness within online courses (e.g., Palloff & Pratt, 2011). As bandwidth becomes increasingly affordable and access to the Internet increasingly assumed, adding course components such as real-time lectures or group discussions using web conferencing may, increase student engagement and learning. Students who may have been drawn to the “no set schedule” nature of a fully asynchronous learning environment may not wish to—or may not be able to—navigate the time constraints of scheduled synchronous sessions. This may be challenging for students who rely on public-access technology (e.g., computer labs at schools or libraries) when they do not have sufficient bandwidth or technological resources at home. What happens to these students if the computer lab happens to be unavailable when the class session is scheduled to begin? It is important to consider whether the real and perceived benefits outweigh the real and perceived costs of these synchronous activities
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