Facilitators+and+Learners

Facilitators and Learners Differences

__Asynchronous__ Learners: In an asynchronous environment students rely on the flexibility of learning when it is convenient for their schedule. The majority of today's asynchronous learners may have full time jobs, children or parents they are taking care of and traditional adult responsibilities. Time is important to the adult learner and being able to participate in their education on their schedule is an important aspect of this. These learners can also quickly become overwhelmed and feel alone in their difficult endeavor.

Facilitators: In an asynchronous environment facilitators need to watch for clues of a student beginning to feel out of touch with the learning environment. These clues might be posting less frequently, or submitting lower quality work. Facilitators need to ensure they are giving these students extra attention, while also being sure to include other students, to hopefully keep them having the same feelings. As student questions may not be able to be answered in a timely manner, it is imperative that the asynchronous facilitator be available to check the classroom frequently.

__Synchronous__ Learners: In a synchronous environment learners expect responses in real time, they are able to communicate with both the facilitator and the other students with an expectation of an immediate response. This is a beneficial aspect of synchronous learning as learners with unanswered questions can quickly become frustrated. Having the interaction of a synchronous environment allows for learners to remain mentally stimulated in the classroom as they learn from the experiences and knowledge of both the other learners and the facilitator.

Facilitators: In a synchronous environment facilitators must be sure to keep the conversation flowing between all learners. This allows for the learners to have more control in their learning and also to add their experiences to the knowledge being presented. Adult learners need to have a buy-in to the material being presented and by allowing learners the opportunity to associate new knowledge with past experiences, the facilitator creates this buy-in. Facilitators need to be sure that they do not overwhelm the conversation as this might alienate students from sharing and cause more harm than good.   