Is the idea of a traditional classroom gone?

After a recent job interview with an online public school it came to my attention that we may no longer hold classes in a brick and mortar building.  There is a lot of research to support the benefits of online learning.  So what does that mean for the future of education?  I would love to hear from you.

 I currently attend Walden University and was asked to choose a topic of study.  I decided to choose Asynchronous vs Synchronous interaction.  Below is the paper submitted for my choice:

The invention of the internet has caused a ripple effect on almost every aspect of 21^st century living. One of the major advancements associated with the internet is our ability to communicate using a variety of different methods. I am fascinated with the notion that I can communicate with someone in the same time zone at the same time via the web and grow even more fascinated with the idea that I can communicate without concern about an individuals’ time zone or logging in to make sure that I am do not miss an important meeting.  The technology behind the ability to communicate through the web is amazing and more than I can wrap my head around.  It is a reminder of the genius that I have not been blessed with.  Amazing human beings have been given amazing gifts and shared them with me and I am grateful.  My strength lies more in understanding the benefits of such technology for my students.  I have been a middle school teacher for 9 years now and have had great experiences working with low-income, minority youth.  I have been successful in my efforts to help them achieve goals and many have moved on to become successful adults. I still receive e-mails from many of my students filling me in on what goes on in their lives and it makes me feel good to know that I have had that type of impact.  Many of the students I have taught are now leaving college and it puts a smile on my face when they call me and tell me that of all the teachers they had, they remember me most. 

Working with the students in the way that I have, has not been an easy task.  In fact, many times I felt a tremendous amount of stress because the task of getting students, who, by definition, society says will not be successful, to overcome the statistics and rise to the challenge of being successful, was not an easy one.  At one time in my career, I was the first person to enter the building and the last person to leave.  I took to heart every single workshop I attended and tried to make sure that I implemented as many strategies as I could to ensure success.  In a community where parents were not typically involved with their students, I was able to have large amounts of parents come for parent tutorials and many other events that involved their children.  All of these methods paid off, but eventually I grew discouraged as it seemed to take more and more effort for me to have students realize their potential.  It seemed as if the more I gave, the more people expected and no longer was there a shared responsibility between myself, the parent and the student.  In fact, not only did most of the responsibility fall on me, but the school system itself seemed to grow extremely relaxed in their expectation of our students.  I saw a breakdown in the culture and society of the world around, from the influences of pop culture, to the school system’s expectation of how low-income, minority students should perform.  The monster grew to overwhelm me and I decided it was time to leave the traditional public school setting.  I am sure that you are wondering, “How does all of this relate to communication and more specifically, the topic I chose for my study (asynchronous and synchronous interaction)?” Well, I recently applied and have been accepted to teach at an online public school called the Georgia Cyber Academy. 

The Georgia Cyber Academy is an online, Title I public school.  It is offered to any student in the state of Georgia.  Currently the school ranges from grades K-11 and will eventually have a senior class in 2014.  Although the school does have social events where teachers, parents and students will get to meet in person, over 90% of the interaction between student and teacher will take place through both asynchronous and synchronous communication.  I will begin training for the job on July 16^th of this year (2012), but I thought that I might choose this topic as a way to help me get a better understanding of the benefits of both forms of communication. 

During the interview process I was informed that in order for me to stay employed or receive a contract for the following year, I must maintain my attendance and in order to maintain attendance, I must keep the “customer” happy.  I need to learn how I can use these forms of communication to create the same environment I created when I was in a brick and mortar building.  My desire through the study of asynchronous and synchronous interaction is to learn how to utilize the benefits of both forms of communication to create a virtual classroom environment that establishes high expectations, implements problem solving and rigor while promoting comfortable classroom conversation and dialog between the students and myself. 

Some interesting information I found came from the Encyclopedia of Distance Learning.  The encyclopedia’s format was not organized in the format of a traditional encyclopedia.  The Encyclopedia of Distance Learning was composed of research studies on the many topics that fall under distance learning.  The encyclopedia was created by Patricia Rogers and other professionals who gathered information from professionals in the distance learning field.  Professionals such as Tiong Kung-Ming, from the University of Malaysia, and Sim Khoon-Seng from Curtin University of Technology in Malaysia completed a study on asynchronous vs. synchronous interaction in distance learning.  Kung-Ming and Khoon-Seng describe two forms of communication in the world of computer-based education; communication is either asynchronous or synchronous (2005).  “Asynchronous interaction simply refers to interaction that occurs at different times, that is, not real time (Kung-Ming & Khoon-Seng, 2005, p.123).”  Synchronous interaction is the interaction or communication that occurs during real time.  Both of these forms of communication are essential to the distance learning process.  Kung- Ming and Khoon-Seng cite Garrison (1990) “the quality and integrity of the educational process in distance learning, largely depends upon sustained, two-way communication (p.122).”  The study completed by Kung-Ming and Khoon-Seng discusses the differences between asynchronous and synchronous interaction as well as the benefits of both forms of communication.  Asynchronous interaction allows flexibility, time to reflect, anonymity, no time zone constrains, situated learning and is cost effective (Kung-Ming & Khoon-Seng, 2005).  Synchronous interaction’s benefits include the ability to receive immediate feedback and visual and aural cues (Kung-Ming & Khoon-Seng, 2005).  After reading through the entire journal, it is apparent that Kung-Ming and Khoon-Seng find asynchronous interaction more beneficial to student learning. 

Due to my recent career shift, the topic of asynchronous and synchronous communication and it benefits to learning is a topic that I find intriguing.  I wish to create a positive learning environment through these two forms of virtual interaction. Because the use of this type of technology has been primarily isolated toward college students, there is little research on the benefits with regards to k-12 students.   The information in this journal was useful for the topic I chose, however, it is important to find additional resources.  I am currently looking for information that pertains more specifically to the comparison between asynchronous and synchronous communication methods for grade school students. 

References

Rogers, P. et al (2009). Asynchronous vs. synchronous interaction. T. Kung-Ming & S. Khoon –

Seng, The Encylopedia of distance learning (Vol. I, 2^nd edition). Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=sC9Le3jIwzIC&pg=PA122&dq=asynchronous+versus+synchronous+interactions&hl=en&sa=X&ei=W6neT9iHFo-c8QSmqq3cCg&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=asynchronous%20versus%20synchronous%20interactions&f=false