278
PREFERENCE OF ADULT LEARNERS BETWEEN THE
SYNCHRONOUS OR ASYNCHRONOUS INSTRUCTIONS IN
DISTANCE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
1 NAILUL MORAD MOHD NOR AND AND 2MOHAMAD FAISAL ABD KARIM
1 School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia Penang 11800, Malaysia; 2 School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia Penang 11800, Malaysia
Corresponding authors: [email protected] and [email protected]
ABSTRACT
E-learning is expected to play a greater role in accommodating the needs of the adult learners to participate in the learning programs. Since most distance learners are adults, it is critical for educators to understand several aspects of adults such as how adults learn and their preferences in studying. These understanding could help educators to plan a more effective learning programs and to provide a better support services to help adult learners. This paper will attempt to highlight the preference of adult learners between the synchronous or asynchronous e-learning instruction. The discussion is based on a study conducted on adult learners who are studying at the School of Distance Education (SDE), Universiti Sains Malaysia in Malaysia. The synchronous instructions are the live video conferencing and video streaming which are held at certain scheduled time to augment the printing learning materials. The asynchronous e-learning instructions are in the form of recorded video conference and reading materials posted in the learning portal that are accessible to students at anytime and anywhere. Factors related to the usage of these e-learning instructions will be identified and discussed. Learners’ problems or avoidance in utilizing the e-learning instruction will also be noted.
Keywords: E-learning, adult learners, synchronous instruction, asynchronous instruction
Introduction
In recent years, the ICT revolution has make a great impact on learning and distance education has benefited the most from the explosion of internet technology and digital learning contents (Ron Oliver,2003). Particularly, in the world of broadband and Internet-enabled technologies, we realize the important of connectivity to adult learners in the distance learning environment. The ability to communicate electronically in a high-speed Internet access everywhere, anywhere and anytime with an inexpensive rate is essential for the success of any distance learners.
279 asyncronous learning although not interactive in the e-learning sense.
The School of Distance Education (SDE), Universiti Sains Malaysia has been the foremost provider of distance education at the tertiary level in Malaysia since 1971. The main mode of instructions delivery at SDE, USM are printed materials in the form of self-instructional module or text books, video conference (VC), e-portal. To further enhanced student success and retention, SDE provides a unique support by requiring students to attend three weeks residential face-to-face intensive course at the main campus. The opportunity to meet their own lecturers give them a sense of belonging to the university and make students feel a part of learning community (Rovai, 2002).
Lately, some intructors have expressed concerned with the low numbers of learners attending live video conference at the regional centres. In some courses, notably mathematics for example, students have stopped attending the live session and have opted to follow VC through streaming (one way) from their respective home while the majority watched the recorded session once they were uploaded to the e-portal. The VC is the nearest to face-to-face traditional learning and the instructor expect active participation from the students. Feedback from course intructors claimed that most students were unprepared when attending the live VC at the regional centres. This forced the lecture styles presentation by the course instructors. Though the attendance of live VC at regional centers is not compulsory, the students are given full freedom to follow the VC sesions either from the comfort of their home through live streaming or the recorded VC upload to the e-portal. This study attempts to get some insight to the learning styles and to find factors that influence students preference with respect to the use of video conference.
Synchronous, Asynchronous and blended approach e-Learning
E-Learning is refer to all forms of learning be it in distance or traditional face to face that uses a variety of technologies to deliver the course material in digital or electronic form that include digital collaboration. According to Jereb & Šmitek, (2006 cited in Sangrà et al, 2012), “E-Learning refers to educational processes that utilise information and communications technology to mediate synchronous as well as asynchronous learning and
teaching activities”. While online learning is synonymous with web-based learning, is actually
a subset of e-Learning. Thus e-Learning needs not have to be online as the learners can still follow the digital learning material off line. If the learning material is delivered using the handheld device and smart phone in the mobile networks, it is popularly known as mobile learning. Each system has its advantages and disadvantages and all of them complement each other and enrich the learning process.
E-learning can be described as synchronous, asynchronous or blended and each have their own methods and characteristics. The synchronous and asynchronous E-learning environment are importance in different scenario [3]. This study is about delivery of instructions through video conference and a good example of synchronous learning if follow live. Live video conference is a good example of synchronous learning and is one of the main instruction component in the distance leaning system at SDE. The instructional quality through live VC is much better if properly conducted and with active participation from the students. The level of interactivity in video conference session can vary and depend on how the session was conducted.
280 content-related communication and planning of tasks.
The second type of e-learning is asynchronous e-Learning. This type of e-Learning is particularly best for adult students who have specific time concerns and chaotic timetables/schedules in life. The learning resources used to support asynchronous learning include email, recorded video conferencing, online discussions forums in e-portal.
Blended e-learning combines e-learning with more traditional learning traditions. They still mainy teach in a classroom environment, amount of time spent in a class is largely dependent on course content, with student group works and discussions but also maintain a large number of students and classroom activities electronically.
Methodology
The School of Distance Education (SDE), Universiti Sains Malaysia started using the video conference system for instructions since 1996. The system connects USM main campus with 12 other regional centres scattered in major cities all over Peninsular Malaysia. With more than 190 major courses and conducted by the lecturer normally from just one studio in USM campus, only 6 or 5 slots for 1 hour video conference session can be allocated to each course. The students would have to travel to the nearest regional centres to attend the scheduled live video converence.This study focused on the selected students to get insight of their learning styles preference with respect to the synchronous and asynchronous e-learning approach. The research instrument used to gather data is a questinaionare that were sent via email to students during the 2011/12 academic year. Discussion with some colleagues in the school were also done to get information about their video conference classes. The guiding research questions are
The reasons for attending/not attending live video conference sessions at the regional centres
How do students perceive synchronous and asynchronous learning in the context using VC
Focus groups are students taking mathematics, economic courses to obtain perceptions in a defined area of interest, namely synchronous and asynchronous e-learning. We decided to focus on video conference as the main delivery media for syncronous learning and recorded video conference as the asynocronous learning. The distinction between the two is very important because it determines the "feel" of the distance learning experience.
In synchronous VC approach, the interaction and participation is two-way if the students attend at the regional centres and becomes one-way for streaming but in a fixed time. While in asynchronous VC, students will download the recorded version from the e-portal and respond to the discussions at a later time according to the students' own schedule. The students are given freedom whether to follow synchronous or asynchronous instructions though for some courses they were advised to attend at least 50% live at their respective regional centers. Interactive nature of synchronous learning help to clarify difficult contents and questions and feedback can be responded immediately.
Results and Discussion
The total number of respondents in the study was 147 and Table 1 below gives some demographics data of the respondents. About 56.5% of the respondents were female and 43.5% were male. Respondents from the management programme formed the majority (42.2%) and humanities study the least respondents (1.40%). More than 90% of respondents were adult students in the age range of 20-40 years old.
281 and only 0.7 % full time housewife. About 91.2% have accessed to Internet broadband and 66.7% use laptop while 27.2% use desktop to access the course e-portal. This is a positive indicator that shows majority of the students are able to use communication technology for their learning activities.
When asked respondents to list in order of preference on different types of learning materials and activitites, it appears that printed materials namely, notes and modules are most preferred by respondents (51.7% and 49.0% respectively). This is followed by the usage of recorded VC (48.3%). This implies asynchronous instructions were preferred by distance learners at the SDE. Text books was in the fourth rank and followed by the usage of discussion with friends. The order of preference is shown in Table 2.
Table 1. Demographics of the respondents
Demographics % Frequency
Gender
Male 43.5 64
Female 56.5 83
Programme studies
Management 42.2 62
Social science 37.4 55
Science 19.0 28
Humanities 1.40 2
Age
20-30 51.0 75
31-40 42.2 62
41-50 4.10 6
51-60 2.00 3
>60 0.7 1
Occupation
Self-employed 7.5 11
Government 71.4 105
Private 20.4 30
Full time housewife 0.7 1
Access to internet broadband
Yes 91.2 134
282
Table 2. Order of preference of learning materials and learning activities by respondents
Learning materials & activities % Frequency
1 Notes 51.7 76
2 Modules 49.0 72
3 Recorded VC 48.3 71
4 Texts Books 18.4 27
5 Discussions with friends 15.6 23
Out of 147 students surveyed, 32.7% indicated they attended less than 3 sessions and 23.1% did not attend at all. The main reasons for not attending the video conference session given are listed in Table 3.
About 68% of the students surveyed, cited work scheduled that prevent them from attending live video conference at the regional centres followed by 58% indicated the choice of listening to recorded VC.
Table 3. Reasons for not attending the video conference session
Reasons % Frequency
Due to Works 68.0 101
Listen to recorded VC 58.0 87
Distance from home 38.0 57
Follow online streaming from home 33.0 49
Family problem 25.0 37
The video conference were scheduled during weekends and at nights from 8-10 pm during weekdays. The constraints face by working students with family and living far distance from the regional centres are clearly reflected in the findings.
283 of clear presentation by the course instructor.
This is a rather important feedback from those students for the instructors to post a well structured VC agenda on the e-portal. This could help students to make prior preparation and decide if time invested to travel to regional centers just for one or two slots were worthwhile. If the VC session was just a lecture style presentation than it would make sense for the students to follow via streaming or watch the recorded version if they have a conflicting times. The clear advantage of having live interactions and getting real time feedback were an important aspect of synchronous VC as they could engage in the content-related discussion. Good and clear teachings would also matter to most adult learners as this could help them to understand learning materials better.
Table 4. Aspect that help students to learn by attending live video conference session
Reasons % Frequency
Ability to interact with lecturer 42.2 62
Immediate feedback on academic problems 12.9 19
Meeting friends online 10.2 15
Clear presentation by lecturer 34.7 49
The students indicated clearly that they would would choose recorded VC (53%) followed by live VC (44.9%) and streaming (21.8%) as shown in the table 5 below. They preferred asynchronous in the form of recorded VC over synchronous (live VC).
Flexibility as the main feature of asynchronous learning with recorded VC were believed to be the reason behind this preference. This is consistent with the reason for not attending the video conference session as stated in Table 3 above.
Table 5. Student choice of following video conference
Mode % Frequency
Recorded video conference 53.1 78
Live video conference 49.9 66
streaming 21.8 32
284 have more time to reflect and also better cognitive outcomes are linked to structured and mandated asynchronous discussion. As such lecturers need to have a thorough preparation of teaching materials and at the same time not appear to spoon feed the students. This is quite a daunting task, to balance between providing learning contents material and encouraging students to explore all learning possibilities with curiosity and intelectual vigour.
The SDE was quick to reciprocate to student preference of recorded video conference
and students’ constraints for attending live video conferencing at regional centres by starting
e-lecture project to produce videos and create digital learning content for the new academic year 2013/14 (PPPJJ, 2013). Flip learning approach can then be used where students watch recorded videos for instructions in their individual learning space. Live video conference will be for synchronous learning rather than exposition of the knowledge.
Conclusion
In general, students clearly indicated that video conference provide an important tool for synchronously or asynchronously instructions in distance learning environment. Slightly more than half of students said they preferred asynchronous in the form of recorded VC, over synchronous (live VC).
Regardless of the choice, distance learning students should be make aware of the benefit and advantages of synchronous and e-learning approach that are available to them. Syncronous learning with video conference is particularly effective if a high degree of interaction is required between student and lecturer. In the pípeline, SDE, USM has planned to introduce webex, a web-based computer conferencing in which case students ultimately can follow live video conferencing from home or office that has Internet connection. Further study to explore effective ways to design and facilitate active social presence and meaningful interactions in online learning to overcome many barriers and constraints that are common in distance learning environments.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank School of Distance Education, USM for enabling them to participate in the Acheh conference 2013.
References
Caroline Haythornthwaite.2002. Building Social Networks via Computer Networks: Creating and Sustaining Distributed Learning Communities. In K. Ann Renninger and Wesley Schumar, (eds), Building Virtual Communities: Learning and Change in Cyberspace, pp. 159–190, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Iqrar Ahmad & M.U.Bokhari. 2013. The Combine Effect of Synchronous and Asynchronous E-Learning on Distance Education, IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol. 10, Issue 1, No 1
Johnson, M.G. 2006. Synchronous and asynchronous text-based CMC in educational contexts: A review of recent research. TechTrends, Vol. 50, No 4, pp46-53
PPPJJ. 2013. Unpublished working paper, Kertas Cadangan Projek Rakaman Kuliah (PROJEK e-Kuliah), PPPJJ, USM.
Rovai, A. 2002. Building a Sense of Community at a Distance. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning Vol 3, No 1.
285 Conference, Curtin.
