Use Of Synchronous Communication Research Articles

A 7-nm FinFET 1.2-TB/s/mm2 3D-Stacked SRAM Module With 0.7-pJ/b Inductive Coupling Interface Using Over-SRAM Coil and Manchester-Encoded Synchronous Transceiver

A 0.7-pJ/bit, 8.5-Gb/s/link inductive coupling interchip wireless communication interface for a 3D-stacked static-random access memory (SRAM) has been developed in a 7-nm FinFET process. A new physical placement method that allows coils to be placed over off-the-shelf SRAM macros with small magnetic field attenuation, together with the use of synchronous communication using Manchester encoding and a clocked comparator to enable the detection of small-swing signals, achieves a 26% reduction in SRAM die area compared to through-silicon via (TSV)-based stacking. Interchip communication at 0.7 pJ/bit, 8.5 Gb/s/link was confirmed using test chips. A 4-hi 3D-stacked SRAM module using the proposed interface achieves a 1.2-TB/s/mm <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{2}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> area efficiency, representing a two orders-of-magnitude improvement over the state-of-the-art 3D-stacked SRAM.

Graduate student perceptions of a globally networked course

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine students’ perceptions of a development course designed to increase global understanding by virtually connecting students from multiple world regions. Design/methodology/approach – This paper describes a graduate course that connected campuses across America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. Qualitative data about students’ perceptions of the course at one participating campus were then analyzed by course component, and synchronous and asynchronous interactions. Feedback was also solicited for suggestions to improve the course. Findings – The analyzed data indicate strong positive student attitudes toward connecting with global counterparts. However, these data also imply that there are various obstacles to overcome in order to meet student expectations of increased and better quality peer interaction, and to prepare faculty across all disciplines for successful design and implementation of this type of course. Originality/value – The use of synchronous communication to facilitate the exchange of local perspectives on issues of global significance is valuable to all disciplines, and is even more critical in the area of development where understanding local context is key. This exploratory study offers recommendations for future research on courses connecting students across borders and suggestions for course activities to increase peer engagement.

Symposium 2: Social presence in online learning communities

Tools for online communication are increasingly used in education, but they are not without problems. One significant difficulty is a lack of social presence. Social presence relates to the need for users to feel connected with each other and to perceive each other as real people. Low social presence can be a particular problem in text-based asynchronous systems such as discussion forums. These do not offer visual or auditory cues to communication, and there can be long delays between messages. This can lead to feelings of impersonality, and hence disengagement from online learning.The more recent literature on social presence suggests that it is influenced by the behaviour and interactions of participants, as well as by the characteristics of the communication medium. Learners in an online community can therefore increase social presence by communicating in ways which are perceived as ‘warm’ or ‘sociable’, and can compensate for the lack of richness of the medium. Moreover, features of communication systems can be used to encourage these types of interactions, and to ease communication. For example: use of member profiles can help participants feel that they know each other better; and use of synchronous communication can avoid frustrating delays between messages and responses.These possibilities, which are advocated in the research literature, also emerged from interviews carried out with students at the UK Open University. These interviews aimed to explore students’ experiences of using online communication in a distance learning course, and their ideas for improvements to online communication systems for learning. The interviews revealed problems, such as poor communication and misunderstandings, associated with a lack of social presence. Students highlighted system features that they found useful, or would like to have available, which would help to address these issues. In particular, they suggested that increased use of member profiles would help them get to know each other better, and that synchronous communication tools such as instant messaging would be of practical and social value.It is concluded that social presence in online learning communities can be enhanced by changes to the design and use of communication systems, together with attention to styles of communication within these environments.

Evaluating the use of synchronous communication in two blended courses

Abstract Residential universities are increasingly integrating online interaction within courses in the form of synchronous online chats, asynchronous online discussions and access to interactive resources. This article evaluates the educational effectiveness of online chats within a Humanities postgraduate course and a final year Commerce course. We consider the roles of course design, group dynamics, and facilitation style in the successful use of online collaboration within primarily face‐to‐face courses, as well as the potential for online collaboration within a blended course design to facilitate more inclusive learning conversations than are possible with exclusively face‐to‐face interaction.

The Interplay of Content and Community in Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication: Virtual Communication in a Graduate Seminar

A group of graduate students and an instructor at the University of Saskatchewan experimented with the use of synchronous communication (chat) and asynchronous communication (bulletin board) in a theory course in Educational Communications and Technology for an eight-month period. Synchronous communication contributed dramatically to the continuity and convenience of the class, and promoted a strong sense of community. At the same time, it was viewed as less effective than asynchronous communication for dealing with content and issues deeply, and it introduced a number of pedagogical and intellectual limitations. We concluded that synchronous and asynchronous strategies were suitable for different types of learning, and what we experienced was a balancing act between content and community in our group. A combination of synchronous and asynchronous experiences seems to be necessary to promote the kind of engagement and depth required in a graduate seminar.