Week 7 Reflection# 6

Week 7: Question #2

What is the difference between asynchronous and synchronous communication? Name and describe the Internet communication tools that fall into each category.

According to Lever-Duffy and McDonald the internet offers several possibilities of communication. These communications are both asynchronous and synchronous communications (253). Synchronous communications is defined as same time communications such as chatting or videoconferencing which can be produced through a webcam. Asynchronous is defined as time shifted such as email, discussions, or mailing list. Both methods of communication can be very useful in the education world.

The most prevalent in terms of asynchronous communication is email. Everyday nearly every educator uses email to communicate with parents, administrators, and other teachers. In order to have an email a teachers simply needs an email address. This entails a user name and password for a server. Generally each teacher will have a professional email which will be provided to them by the school district’s server. Emails allow for you to write virtual letters to others, receive letters, and store them for later reference. It is wise to create folders within your email account which allows you to store certain emails in certain areas to access them more easily. For instance, I have folders for all personal, professional, and other emails.

Another asynchronous communication tool for computers is discussion. There are several terms for discussion, such as bulletin boards, clubs, and forums or message boards. Discussion boards allow people to post messages and await either public or private responses. This type of communication allows for various groups of people to read and respond to certain post. Lever-Duffy and McDonald points out that discussion can be used for teachers to interact with other teachers no matter where they are located and students to do the same (259). Discussion is asynchronous because a post can be responded to at anytime, not immediately. The final asynchronous communication tool is mailing lists, which are also known as listserve. This tool sends emails to names placed on an entire list. They resemble all other personal email messages (259). According to Lever-Duffy and McDonald, listservs are beneficial to educators because it allows teachers to receive and send emails to other colleagues all at once.

There are two main types of synchronous communication tools, chats and video conferencing. Synchronous communication allows for instant communication with different parties. A chat is for two or more internet users to meet in real time. This virtual space is known as a “chat room” (260). Another form of chat is instant messaging. Instant messaging (IM) is a one on one chat which can be started whenever two users are online at the same time. However, while chats may be useful in many arenas, I do not believe that school is one of them. Too often chat rooms are infiltrated by people who can have access to our students. Another form of synchronous chat is video conferencing. Not only through video conferencing can users see one another, but they can also hear and talk to one another. Video conferencing has been developed immensely in the past few years, and it is now easier than ever get in contact with users around the world.