Taking the 'A' out of Asynchronous

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Collaboration Tools

Taking the 'A' out of Asynchronous

7/1/2008

By Matt Villano

As mainstream collaboration modes evolve, the way schools are tackling online information sharing is changing, and it's changing fast.

Taking the 'A' out of Asynchronous WIKIS AND BLOGS MAY BE THE DARLINGS OF THE WEB 2.0 movement, but the eLearning they promote is asynchronous; it does not happen in real time. Not surprisingly, this has left many institutions and eLearning professionals hungry for the substantial funds needed to make online learning viable in real time-- or else looking forward to technology that is affordable enough to spur campus innovation.

The good news is, that time has arrived: As mainstream technology has advanced and the cost of web conferencing has dropped, a growing number of institutions are finding creative ways to achieve synchronous collaboration. What's more, the innovations are infinite, and have uses even beyond eLearning or blended learning in real time. At institutions such as Ivy Tech Community College (IN) and the University of Houston, these tools are revolutionizing traditional faculty office hours; at The University of Georgia and a school in the California State University system, they're allowing students to redefine teamwork in virtual space. Elsewhere, synchronous collaboration technology is enabling IT workers at Rice University (TX) to build programs together. And at Arizona State University, a campuswide rollout has boosted collaboration across the board.

At least anecdotally, the results of these efforts have been overwhelmingly positive, sparking creativity and enhancing the learning process as a whole. That's encouraging for the rest of us, since it appears these collaboration trends will continue with vigor in the years ahead. According to consulting group Ambient Insight, the market for synchronous collaboration is growing by an average of 30 percent anually. If your institution hasn't yet adopted this technology, now is the time to take a closer look

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON-Clear Lake, real-time collaboration allows instructors to immediately clear up breakdowns in students' understanding and let the educational process advance seamlessly.

Transforming Office Hours

As a computer information systems instructor at Ivy Tech Community College, Bonnie Willy holds office hours for hundreds of students every week, helping them with everything from programming Java to configuring web servers. The difference between her office hours and those in a more traditional setting: hers are in virtual space.

Using Pronto instant messaging technology from Wimba, Willy conducts her office hours in a chat room, and invites students to log on and ask her any questions they might have. While she has the option of opening up private chats with individual students, Willy notes that she prefers to address most questions in the public chat, so that everyone can benefit at the same time.