The Art of Synchronous Online Learning: Building a Certification Program

Learning is an art form. Variety, colors, shades, forms, materials, and many more factors play a role in building a picture. In like manner, instruction and learning has variety, uniqueness, and quality. Learning takes time. Learning takes creativity. There are many ways we learn, especially when in new environments. Faculty are experts in their field (Chemistry, History, Physics, Philosophy), but the methods and tools on their instructional delivery is something they need support on. Consider a basketball fan, they can enjoy an entertaining game - but that doesn’t mean they can play the game. A player may be skilled at mastering all aspects of the game, but that doesn’t mean they can teach the game. A good coach knows the art of learning the game and will provide multiple ways of learning for the variety of tasks required. For example, shooting free throws requires tasks and practices to master the skill, watching film helps a team critically think through challenges and difficulties. The approach taken towards learning and mastery requires different ways of learning according to the desired outcomes.

When in a new learning environment, better understanding of this process is helpful to better construct instructional strategies to reach the level of learning desired. Students have had years of experience learning face-to-face in K-12, so university faculty don’t have to reteach students how to learn. However, what about new learning modalities that students and faculty do not have a lot of experience in? How can students learn and more importantly, how can faculty prepare instruction in modalities they are unfamiliar with?

Emergence of Livestream (Synchronous Online Instruction)

When COVID-19 Pandemic occurred, many faculty were forced to move content online (both asynchronous and synchronously). Historically, most instructional design, as well as teaching & learning efforts have viewed synchronous sessions in the online environment as more supplemental in form, such as for guest speakers (Pennell, Thakore, & West, 2015), for small group sessions (Akarasriworn & Ku, 2013), or for specific tasks or needs (Hrastinski, Keller, & Carlsson, 2010). Anecdotally speaking, one of the main reasons for this approach resulted from university scheduling offices and state reporting institutions who grouped synchronous and asynchronous online courses together. One unforeseen consequence of COVID-19 required by many institutions of higher education, including Utah Valley University (UVU), was to begin separating these two modalities out due to the increased acceptance of synchronous online instruction. While the phrase synchronous online instruction is used in research, this term is unfamiliar to students. Therefore, at our university, the term online is reserved for the asynchronous online instruction while livestream was chosen for synchronous online instruction. While location flexibility is important to students, so too is time flexibility when scheduling and registering for coursework.

Training Need and Development

Prior to COVID-19, many institutions, including ours, had created an Online Teaching Certification. With the advent of video conferencing tools (such as Zoom, MS Teams, or Google Meet) worldwide for educational purposes, so too has the increased need for training and support in livestream instruction. Leveraging MS Teams, the Office of Teaching and Learning (OTL) at UVU rapidly set out to increase adoption of new virtual technology and livestream practice to improve faculty instruction and students' learning. In the Spring 2020 and Summer 2020 semesters the goal of connecting faculty and students into livestreaming environments was the main goal.

During the Fall 2020 semester, faculty realized that formal synchronous online meetings were here to stay. They began requesting deeper support for livestreaming that matched the online teaching certification preparation they had previously received. UVU has certified over 1,000 faculty to teach online coursework through the Online Teaching Academy (OTA). OTL held multiple virtual trainings and conferences that addressed some of the questions of the new livestream modality, but found that faculty wished for a more formal certification. During the Spring 2021 semester, OTL investigated the ways to support faculty in their synchronous courses. From this dearth of support and focus groups, our Livestream Teaching Academy (LTA) was born. In this certification course, we included the theoretical framework from Facilitating Seven Ways of Learning (Davis & Arend, 2013), hardware and software setup, teaching strategies, and other topics.

Purpose of LTA

The purpose of LTA certification is to prepare instructors wishing to teach livestream courses at UVU. The academy is designed to give educators an opportunity to develop skills, reflect on practice and meaningfully plan for future practice. It is designed to advance the newer livestream pedagogy including ways to develop instructor presence, peer-to-peer interaction, and meaningful and valuable livestream sessions. Upon successful completion of this certification, participants should be able to:

1. Recognize differences in UVU modalities for teaching and learning.

2. Design a learning environment in the livestream modality.

3. Develop and set class expectations in livestream courses.

4. Leverage existing hardware setup that works for livestream instruction.

5. Recognize and facilitate the characteristics of livestream lesson.

6. Develop a livestream lesson plan.

Session Format

The presenters will briefly discuss the story surrounding the problem and solution of the need for the LTA, as well as the theoretical framework and underlying efforts that went into the certification development. The 10-12 hour certification objectives, as well as the module content, rationale, and vetted core teaching technologies supported from UVU IT will be shared. Participants will be able to glean knowledge and understanding from the certification developers. Challenges of launching the program as well as lessons learned and the pros/cons of the approach we have taken will also be highlighted in this session. There will be opportunities for questions and answers to aid those working on similar projects at their own institutions.

Evaluative results from the first three cohorts (Summer 2021 Block 1, Summer 2021 Block 2, and Fall 2021 Block 1) will be shared with the participants (including number of registration to completers / faculty participant satisfaction / pre-post survey results). 

Conclusion

Helping faculty see the beauty of the art of learning allows for more purposeful and meaningful instruction. Much like learning to play a game or draw a picture, there are different ways to accomplish different goals. By supporting faculty on learning the different ways of learning and how these approaches can be applied into livestream (synchronous online) instruction, we can all create better learning experiences for students.  

Attendees will leave having insight on the why and the how to build a synchronous learning environment to create a masterpiece.

References

Akarasriworn, C., & Ku, H-Y. (2013). Graduate students’ knowledge construction and attitudes toward online synchronous videoconferencing collaborative learning environments. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 14, 35-48.

Davis, J. R., & Arend, B. D. (2012). Facilitating seven ways of learning: A resource for more purposeful, effective, and enjoyable college teaching. Stylus Publishing, LLC.

Hrastinski, S., Keller, C., & Carlsson, S. A. (2010). Design exemplars for synchronous e-learning: A design theory approach. Computers & Education, 55, 652-662.

Pennell, G. E., Thakore, B. K., & West, R. J. (2015). Wonderful when it works… a case study of electronically mediated guest lectures. Humanity & Society, 39, 156-169.