I really enjoyed reading the article called “Synchronous and asynchronous discussions: Effects on cooperation, belonging, and affect”. As MAT students, I think we have experience of or can guess about the notions of cooperation, belonging, emotion and cognitive processes in the online classes whether they are synchronous or asynchronous. Personally speaking, I am not sure if working or learning asynchronous would increase individualism and competition. This is because when I watch a video lecture or an audio, I feel I am there with the speaker and think that I can learn a little from the speaker. However, there is one variable perhaps i.e., I prefer watching videos or lectures in pairs. For example, today I was with my cousin and watched an online video on “pros and cons of synchronous and asynchronous learning”, we discussed a lot about it and in the process we learned a lot too. This is how we did it:
- Opened the video online and before watching it, we tried to guess what would be the main arguments on this video, then
- Tried to write what we think are the pros and cons of it, then
- Posed some questions, then
- Tried to answer our own questions, then
- Watched the video, and finally
- Compared and contrasted our thinking / answers with those of the author in the video
At the end, I thought the asynchronous means of learning could really help us reflect more. Moreover, I thought being more reflective is due to two factors:
- Interest in the topic of learning
- Flexible with our time or that we were self-paced (which is not possible often in the synchronous online classes)
Now, I wanted to share these thoughts with you and request if you could also please share your thoughts on the following points that I noted from the article:
1. Synchrony’s effect on cooperation: asynchronous cooperation changes students’ perceptions of social interdependence, diminishes cooperative perceptions and increases competitive and individualistic perceptions
2. Synchrony’s effect on belonging: belonging can buffer some of the effects of asynchrony on cooperation and that rich technology can support social presence
3. Synchrony’s effect on emotion: students can effectively express and interpret emotions online, but it is unclear whether online cooperation elicits positive emotions and inhibits negative emotions.
4. Synchrony’s effect on cognitive processes: students engage in different cognitive processes when cooperating asynchronously versus synchronously. (Thought leaders ó open discussions and conversations. Synchronous = + forethoughts while Asynchronous = + reflection)
References:
Peterson, A. T., Beymer, P. N., & Putnam, R. T. (2018). Synchronous and asynchronous discussions: Effects on cooperation, belonging, and affect. Online Learning, 22(4), 7-25.