Asynchronous Online Learning Research Articles

Investigating Students’ Perception with an Online Dynamic Earth Course during COVID-19: A Quantitative Inquiry

This study investigated Earth science students’ experiences with online education during the COVID-19 pandemic at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in the US. We used an existing survey from the online education literature, the Online Learning Environment Survey (OLES), which consists of three instruments: (a) community of inquiry (CoI), (b) Institutional Support (IS), and (c) Self-Directed Online Learning Scale (SDOLS). The survey rating subscales ordered from highest to lowest are autonomous learning, asynchronous online learning, institutional support, teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence, respectively, indicating interest for the online learning environment. Among all of the subscales, the asynchronous online category was rated the highest by the students. The data were then analyzed using Rasch modeling. According to the Rasch analyses, asynchronous online teaching represents the most favorable course delivery technique for geoscience education. Overall, the survey data show a general interest in online delivery and the effectiveness of the modality, thus indicating potential for evolving into an online Earth science program. Finally, also discussed are possible future extensions of the research (e.g., extending the research to other introductory online geoscience courses).

A Review of Factors Influencing Students Intrinsic Motivation to Engage in Online Learning Processes

Since the 21st century, with the development of the Internet, online education has gradually become an important trend in the development of the education industry. The motivation of online learning has also received extensive attention and research in the academic community, but compared with the external motivation, the specialized research of internal motivation is less. Therefore, this paper will base on the influence of Bruner's intrinsic motivation theory on online learning, and analyse the relationship between three elements of internal motivation and synchronous online learning and asynchronous online learning. Combined with the existing online learning software and platform, this paper analyses and summarizes the promotion effect of internal motivation on online learning, and puts forward some own views and opinions.

Co-creating with students to promote science of learning in higher education: An international pioneer collaborative effort for asynchronous teaching

Recent insights from Science of Learning (SoL) are informing instruction, training, and curriculum. Here, we present a project on promoting SoL-related content through co-creating online asynchronous learning resources. By building a 7-person cross-institution team, we strategically harnessed (1) student-faculty partnerships as a mechanism to promote training and professional development, (2) co-creation as a model to curricula development, (3) blended asynchronous learning as a modality for content delivery, and (4) internationalization as a strategy to embrace globalization. This co-creation of curricula project included three stages—literature review, design and production, and evaluation. The project evaluation deployed a mixed methods approach with 6 student evaluators across both participating institutions, who explored the effectiveness of the learning resources. In addition, student partners contributed reflective statements on their co-creation experience. This paper reports on the procedural pipeline to co-creation and the project evaluation, as well as on new insights emerging for curriculum development. We conclude that project's co-created learning resources may enhance effectiveness of instructional design and students’ learning experience. Further, we demonstrate that student partners acquire new knowledge and research, design and delivery skills, futureproofing their academic progression.

Analysis Of The Attitude Of Secondary School Teachers Towards The Use Of Bichronous Online Learning

Bichronous online learning is a recently coined terminology that refers to a blended form of synchronous (real-time online meeting) and asynchronous (anywhere, anytime learning) online learning. The present study aims to analyse the attitude of secondary school teachers towards bichronous online learning based on gender, locality, age, and type of institution. The sample consists of 100 secondary school teachers from 20 schools (10 each from government and private) in the Samba district. The investigator adopted the descriptive survey method and used a self-developed attitude scale for collecting data. The reliability and validity of the scale were also established by the investigator. For the analysis of data, Mean (M), Standard Deviation (SD), and Critical Ratio (CR) were used. The findings of the study reveal that there is a significant difference between the attitude of secondary school teachers based on gender (male and female), locality (urban and rural), age (below 40 and above 40), and type of institution (government and private). The results of the present investigation will help the stakeholders to take necessary steps to develop willingness among the teachers to use bichronous online learning in the teaching-learning process and make it more interesting and innovative.

Review of Dissertations from an Online Asynchronous Learning Design and Technologies Educational Doctoral Program

Review of Dissertations from an Online Asynchronous Learning Design and Technologies Educational Doctoral Program

Synchronous and Asynchronous Online Classrooms in Tourism Vocational High School in Indonesia: Technological Applications and Challenges

There has been an increasingly dominant use of technology in education institutions, yet limited studies holistically investigate the utilization of technological applications in tourism vocational high schools. This research explored the synchronous and asynchronous technological applications used and the challenges experienced by teachers and students of a tourism vocational high school in Indonesia, mainly in hotel and culinary online classrooms. This research employed a qualitative approach. Data were collected by observing four classes in two vocational schools in Yogyakarta and Bali. Interviews with five teachers and five students were also conducted on a voluntary basis. The findings indicate that teachers and students used various technological applications like Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Team, Cisco WebEx, Discord,and Skype for synchronous online learning. They also utilized more technological applications such as WhatsApp, YouTube, Google Classroom, Google Form, Telegram, Moodle, Screencast-O-Matic, Facebook, Instagram, Quizzes, Kahoot, and Twitterfor their asynchronous online learning. Both teachers and students faced technical, pedagogical, psychological, and personal challenges such as an unstable internet connection, a lack of technological literacy, incompatible gadgets, limited participation, work overload, demotivation, and a lack of focus on learning. To conclude, a number of technological applications were used to facilitate learning in hotel and culinary departments, even though there were many challenges that came with their usage. The results of this research can be used by relevant stakeholders preparing for future learning, especially in vocational high schools.

Effects of teaching strategies on students’ learning engagement and knowledge construction in asynchronous online learning

With the development of technology and the normalization of COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control, asynchronous online learning is becoming popular. However, it is still to be explored on how to enhance students’ learning engagement and knowledge construction. Based on this, we used content analysis to explore the roles of teaching strategies (i.e., contextual teaching strategy, organization teaching strategy, task-driven teaching strategy, and reflective teaching strategy) in students’ learning engagement and knowledge construction (i.e., questioning level and explaining level). The comparative analysis results indicate that: (1) task-driven teaching strategy could be used to increase students’ learning engagement. (2) task-driven teaching strategy could be used to enhance students’ questioning level. (3) reflective teaching strategies could be used to improve students’ explaining level. The findings could provide theoretical and practical implications for asynchronous online learning. It is helpful to optimize online teaching design and improve the effectiveness of asynchronous online learning.

Reframing Implications of Social Presence in Asynchronous Online Learning

The impact of social presence on virtual learning experiences is of increased interest in educational research as teaching and learning transitions from traditional classrooms to online learning environments. Educators need to know more about how to design asynchronous learning experiences that will results in students’ abilities to infer the mental states of others and participate in social conflict monitoring through perceptions of various social cues, as occurs in non-virtual instruction. Findings in the study showed that students’ age and satisfaction with online learning were the two main variables shaping participants’ mental states in online learning environments. Participants who expressed that online learning was sometimes a satisfying experience were more likely to believe that instructors could not resolve social conflicts. Otherwise, participants with some asynchronous learning experience tended to believe that social conflicts could be resolved by instructors teaching ethical decision-making skills and presenting and discussing multiple points of view. The outcomes of this study emphasize how instructors can work toward building social, cognitive, and teaching presence in online learning environments and can inform future social presence research.

The evaluation of synchronous and asynchronous online learning: student experience, learning outcomes, and cognitive load

BackgroundThe abrupt onset of the COVID-19 pandemic compelled universities to swiftly establish online teaching and learning environments that were not only immediately deployable but also conducive to high-quality education. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of the online synchronous and asynchronous teaching formats in the dermatology lecture for undergraduate medical students, including academic performance, self-efficacy, and cognitive load.MethodsA total of 170 fourth-year undergraduate medical students attending the dermatology lecture were included. The lecture was delivered using both the synchronous method (live online lecture via Webex meeting) and the asynchronous method (lecture videos shared on YouTube). The students had the freedom to choose their preferred method of attending the online lecture. The study assessed three main aspects: (1) learning outcomes measured through pretest, posttest, and retention test scores; (2) cognitive load experienced by students, including mental load and mental effort measured using eight items; and (3) satisfaction levels with each online teaching format.ResultsIn this study, 70 students opted for the synchronous online lecture, while 100 students chose the asynchronous online lecture. Both synchronous and asynchronous teaching methods exhibited significant improvements in post and retention test scores compared to the pretest. Satisfaction levels, rated on a scale of 0–5, were generally high for both teaching methods, with no significant differences observed (4.6 for synchronous, 4.53 for asynchronous; p =.350). Regarding cognitive load, the synchronous method showed a significantly lower level than the asynchronous method (p =.0001). Subgroup analysis revealed no difference in mental effort (p =.0662), but the level of mental load was lower in the synchronous method (p =.0005).ConclusionsBoth synchronous and asynchronous online teaching methods demonstrated improvements in learning outcomes and high levels of student satisfaction. However, the cognitive load experienced by students was lower in the synchronous setting compared to the asynchronous setting. These findings remind health professions educators that they would consider the students’ cognitive load when designing online curricula.

Hybrid Learning during Covid-19 Pandemic- Lessons learned from Malaysia and China

Two mixed-methods research on hybrid learning were conducted in Malaysia and China during and after COVID-19. The respondents are 546 educators, and 2782 students from schools and universities. Results indicated synchronous online learning is more frequently conducted than asynchronous online learning. Similar teacher challenges are student engagement, teacher-student interactions, and self-discipline. The top weakness in Malaysia is the lack of devices and connectivity while in China is a lack of teacher training and resources. Similar student weaknesses are self-motivation and time management. Suggested improvements are enhanced technological infrastructure, more interactive, engaging pedagogies, professional development, personalized support, regular assessment, and monitoring.

Challenges faced by teachers of postgraduate health professions blended learning programs: a qualitative analysis

IntroductionBlended learning, which integrates classroom face-to-face teaching with both asynchronous and synchronous online learning elements, has swiftly gained acceptance in educational environments. However, the implementation of blended learning presents challenges that impact all stakeholders, necessitating thoughtful consideration. Teachers play a central role in shaping the instructional experience among these stakeholders. To fully realize the potential of comprehensive blended learning, it is imperative to identify the challenges faced by these teachers and develop strategies that sensibly address and overcome them.MethodologyA qualitative exploratory study was conducted with twelve teachers involved in the postgraduate blended learning health professions program at Khyber Medical University, Peshawar in 2022. One-on-one semi-structured Interviews were conducted via WhatsApp/ZOOM, transcribed by Otter AI, coded on NVivo & analyzed using Braun/Clarke’s Thematic Analysis.ResultsThree themes of challenges faced by teachers of postgraduate blended learning programs were constructed namely (1) Skills, such as (i) digital, (ii) instructional, and (iii) online class management, and (2) Administrative barriers in terms of (iv) resources (iv) training, and (3) Faculty resistance.ConclusionThis study provides profound insights into the daunting challenges that postgraduate blended learning program teachers encounter in terms of skills, administrative barriers, and faculty resistance. These findings offer a valuable opportunity for program directors to identify the critical requirements of these faculties in their pursuit of effective teaching and learning, ultimately transforming the landscape of blended education. This study emphasizes the need for ongoing faculty development and institutional support to address the identified challenges and improve the quality of postgraduate blended-learning programs.

Role of AI in Blended Learning: A Systematic Literature Review

As blended learning moved toward a new phase during the COVID-19 pandemic, advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) technology provided opportunities to develop more diverse and dynamic blended learning. This systematic review focused on publications related to the use of AI applications in blended learning. The original studies from January 2007 to October 2023 were extracted from the Google Scholar, ERIC, and Web of Science databases. Finally, 30 empirical studies under the inclusion criteria were reviewed based on two conceptual frameworks: four key challenges of blended learning and three roles of AI. We found that AI applications have been used mainly for the online asynchronous individual learning component in blended learning; little work has been conducted on AI applications that help connect online activities with classroom-based offline activities. Many studies have identified the role of AI as a direct mediator to help control flexibility and autonomy of students in blended learning. However, abundant studies have also identified AI as a supplementary assistant using advanced learning analytics technologies that promote effective interactions with students and facilitate the learning process. Finally, the fewest number of studies have explored the role of AI as a new subject such as use as pedagogical agents or robots. Considering the advancements of generative AI technologies, we expect more research on AI in blended learning. The findings of this study suggested that future studies should guide teachers and their smart AI partner to implement blended learning more effectively.

Teaching physical education during the time of pandemic

This research study aimed to identify the modalities used in teaching Physical Education in the district of San Rafael, Bulacan during the time of pandemic. Further, the study investigated the challenges experienced by the Physical Education (PE) teachers and the solutions they made to address these challenges. The end goal of the study was a school action plan for physical education to address the issues in teaching PE during the pandemic. Qualitative research design through thematic analysis was employed and a semi structured virtual interview was conducted to further substantiate the findings of the study. Results revealed that modular learning is the most common modality used by Physical Education teachers in this time of pandemic. Other modalities such as synchronous and asynchronous online learning and physical activity mobile applications were used by the teachers. It was also revealed that their main reason for using the modalities was for the welfare of their students. Further, the lack of resources of students in terms of internet connectivity and gadgets was the common struggle experienced by the Physical Education teachers and the most common solution done by the Physical Education teachers was doing follow-up with the students through social media. This study recommended the implementation of the proposed action plan to improve the modalities of teachers in teaching Physical Education and to help them avoid problems they may encounter.

Promoting Student Engagement in Online Education: Online Learning Experiences of Dutch University Students

AbstractStudent engagement is an important factor in higher education learning, but engaging students in online learning settings has been found to be challenging. Little research has been conducted yet into how online learning activities can engage students. In this study, students’ experiences with online education were examined during the COVID-19 pandemic to find out what online learning activities promoted their engagement and what underlying engagement mechanisms informed those activities. Six online focus groups were held via Zoom with students (N = 25) from different social sciences programs at the University of Amsterdam. Findings revealed synchronous and asynchronous online learning activities that stimulated three dimensions of engagement and their underlying mechanisms. Behavioral engagement was stimulated through activities that promote attention and focus, inspire effort, break barriers, and provide flexibility. Affective engagement was stimulated through activities that promote a group feeling, encourage interaction, and create a sense of empathy and trust. And cognitive engagement was stimulated through activities that generate discussion and personalization. This research provides teachers with insights into how to promote student engagement in online education.

Online Learning in Medical Student Clerkship: A Survey of Student Perceptions and Future Directions.

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had a major impact on medical education with clerkship students abruptly removed from clinical activities in 2020 and hastily immersed in online learning to maintain medical education. In 2022, students returned to in-person clinical experiences, but synchronous learning sessions continued online with extensive use of asynchronous online resources. This change offers a unique opportunity to gather information about students' perspectives regarding the acceptability and effectiveness of online learning strategies. This study aims to explore the clerkship student experience with the integration of online learning and in-person learning into formalized educational sessions in clerkship. Methodology The authors administered an online survey to clerkship students at the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary, Canada in spring 2022. The survey consisted of primarily Likert-style questions to explore the perceived effectiveness of various online learning strategies. Results are reported as the proportion selecting "quite effective" or "extremely effective." Results A total of 89 students responded to the survey (57.4% of graduating class). For synchronous online learning, case-based learning was perceived as the most effective teaching strategy (61.8%), and audience response systems were the most effective strategy for improving audience engagement (70.1%). For asynchronous online learning, interactive cases (84.9%) and student-developed online study guides (83.6%) were perceived as the most effective. Students held varying perceptions regarding how online learning impacted their well-being. When considering future clerkship curricula, the majority of clerkship students preferred a blend of in-person and online learning. Conclusions This study identified that most clerkship students prefer a hybrid of in-person and online learning and that ideal online learning curricula could include case-based learning, audience response systems, and a variety of asynchronous learning resources. These results can guide curriculum development and design at other medical institutions.

Meditation as an Online Pedagogical Method through the Lens of Online Adult Learners’ Experiences

The purpose of this study is to understand the ways in which meditation practice can be used as an online pedagogical method based on adult learners’ experiences with various forms of meditation practices. To arrive at this purpose, the researcher found it necessary to gather data about frequency of use, preferences, and related transformative experiences of the participants. Through qualitative inquiry, this study explored adult learners’ perceptions, attitudes, and reflections on using meditative practices while engaged in asynchronous online learning. Participants utilized prerecorded online meditation videos and biofeedback devices designed for meditation which provided immediate feedback and analytics. The data collection methods included surveys, participants’ meta-reflections, and a focus group interview. Data analyses included coding and constant comparative methods along with descriptive statistical analysis for the Likert-scale responses. Analyses led to themes describing participants’ self-awareness, preferred meditation practices, barriers to meditation, and suggestions for incorporating meditation as an online pedagogical method.

Imitation learning enabled fast and adaptive task scheduling in cloud

Studies of resource provision in cloud computing have drawn extensive attention, since effective task scheduling solutions promise an energy-efficient way of utilizing resources while meeting diverse requirements of users. Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has demonstrated its outstanding capability in tackling this issue with the ability of online self-learning, however, it is still prevented by the low sampling efficiency, poor sample validity, and slow convergence speed especially for deadline constrained applications. To address these challenges, an Imitation Learning Enabled Fast and Adaptive Task Scheduling (ILETS) framework based on DRL is proposed in this paper. First, we introduce behavior cloning to provide a well-behaved and robust model through Offline Initial Network Parameters Training (OINPT) so as to guarantee the initial decision-making quality of DRL. Next, we design a novel Online Asynchronous Imitation Learning (OAIL)-based method to assist the DRL agent to re-optimize its policy and to against the oscillations caused by the high dynamic of the cloud, which promises DRL agent moving towards the optimal policy with a fast and stable process. Extensive experiments on the real-world dataset have demonstrated that the proposed ILETS can consistently produce shorter response time, lower energy consumption and higher success rate than the baselines and other state-of-the-art methods at the accelerated convergence speed.

Effect of asynchronous online learning modality on reading comprehension performance among Grade 10 students of an integrated school

This study investigates the impact of asynchronous online learning on the reading comprehension performance of Grade 10 students at Rufo de la Cruz Integrated School. The study employed quasi-experimental method. This research design aims to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between an independent and dependent variable. However, unlike a true experiment, a quasi-experiment does not rely on random assignment. Instead, subjects are assigned to groups based on non-random criteria (Cresswell and Clark, 2011). This study will utilize control and experimental groups that answered the pretest and posttest reading test before and after the intervention to compare and contrast the relationship between their reading comprehension performances before and after the asynchronous reading intervention.

Impact of academic self-efficacy on online learning outcomes: a recent literature review.

In recent years, the concept of self-efficacy has garnered attention in educational psychology research on motivation. Within an academic context, academic self-efficacy (ASE) reflects learners' belief in their ability to achieve educational goals. However, most research has focused on traditional face-to-face classroom settings, with little exploration in distance learning environments like online and e-learning. The current review aims to update a previous study (Yokoyama, 2019[40]) and examine differences in online learning types: asynchronous, synchronous, and blended learning. The study's findings reveal that in mixed environments combining synchronous and asynchronous elements, or in blended settings merging face-to-face classes with asynchronous learning, ASE positively impacts academic performance akin to traditional face-to-face classes. However, in asynchronous online learning environments, ASE's influence on academic performance might be slightly weaker compared to synchronous learning environments. The paper will subsequently discuss the pedagogical implications derived from these results.

The Essentials or Fundamentals for Harnessing Technologies to Improve Teaching and Learning through Online Learning as Part of Digital Transformation in Higher Education

The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated digital transformation and usage of the fourth industrial revolution tools in most developing countries where teaching and learning most occurred through face-to-face interaction. To reap successes in the digitally transforming teaching and learning in universities, it is crucial to reconcile the key essential (factors) that need consideration for digital transformation and the challenges hindering the phenomenon. This study explored the fundamental factors for harnessing technologies for teaching and learning in State universities in Zimbabwe. The study employed a desk research approach. The study revealed that tertiary institutions were struggling to effectively implement online learning due to factors such as lack of strategy and vision on the implementation process, lack of financial resources, poor technological infrastructure, poor digital competences among lecturers and students as well as lack of adequate technical support. Instructors in these institutions mostly resorted to asynchronous online learning approaches because they lacked up to date gadgets for synchronous teaching and learning. Similarly, students preferred asynchronous learning due to data challenges as it offered self-pacing and flexibility. In limited cases lecturers make use of WhatsApp, Google Classroom, Google Meet and Zoom. The findings were that in order to institutionalise online learning as key component of digital transformation in state universities the fundamentals to be addressed include of procurement current and compatible IT infrastructure, comprehensive training and education to improve digital competences, incorporate digital transformation and the fourth industrial revolution into university curriculum to equip students, provision of internet data and improved internet connectivity.