What Does It Take To Be A Successful Asynchronous Student?

A central question that students should ask themselves before enrolling in asynchronous classes is, can I be successful as an asynchronous student? Research has shown that most students master material better asynchronously than they do in a traditional classroom. However, research has also shown that not all students should enroll in asynchronous classes. We still do not know everything we need to know about why some students succeed in an asynchronous learning environment while others fail, but some clues are available.

The most important of these clues concerns the nature of successful asynchronous learning classes. For a long time in colleges and universities in this country, students have been what has been called "passive learners." In the passive learning model students sit in classrooms before an instructor who is an expert in the subject matter being taught. They take notes and then respond to questions on either multiple choice, short answer, true/false, or essay exams, demonstrating mastery of the subject they are learning. In recent decades seminar classes and classes built around discussion have become increasingly popular as instructors have attempted to make students more active in the learning process, but the traditional lecture class has remained predominant in American college and university classrooms.Students who are successful at asynchronous education must take an active role in the education/learning process. Asynchronous instructors are still expert in their fields, but the instructor is no longer simply a provider of information, knowledge, and wisdom. Instead, the instructor is a guide and a mentor, helping students find their way through the masses of information available during the Information Age. The instructor also helps the student to master other aspects of the learning process: emotional intelligence, analysis, critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and discovery. But in the end, the student must become the master of their own learning processes, becoming more dependent upon themselves and less dependent on instructors.This model of learning is normally called an active learning model. One of the major reasons for the success of asynchronous delivery of education is that evidence has been around for a long time that if the student takes primary responsibility for learning, faster and more substantive advancement results. If the student is learning by doing, to borrow a phrase from the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the doing process results in better learning.What is clear from this discussion is that students who are not willing to take responsibility for becoming educated and learning will not succeed at asynchronous education. This means that successful asynchronous students are self motivated. They do not need the daily stimulus of a classroom environment to complete the work necessary to achieving an education. They can get up in the morning, get a cup of coffee or tea in their hand, and then go to the computer to start working on the day's activities. Students also must be able to pace themselves. They need to learn to work every day, in spite of how they feel, making steady progress while not driving themselves so hard that they burn out and fail to complete a course or a degree.Another aspect of the active learning model is that students, in taking responsibility, must also know when and how to reach out to the asynchronous learning community for help. The strength of asynchronous education lies in the multiple methods of communication available to students. None of us can master everything about any one subject on our own. We all need help. This is especially true when an information glut exists. At one time finding information about a topic took a high level of skill, but today information is easily located. The problem is not in finding information. Any teenager with minimum Internet skills can find endless information about an endless number of topics. The skill today lies in sorting through information, deciding what information is valuable rather than junk, then developing ways to organize the information into communicable form, and then making use of the information. Information without a use may be interesting (trivia contests attest to that fact), but unless you have a use for the information you gather, the information has limited value. An educated person today does not simply collect information for storage, but they collect information and then analyze it or put it to use in other ways. Students, and even instructors, often need help in this process. Successful asynchronous students learn how to use the communication tools technology makes available to secure this help.Another aspect of the asynchronous learning model that Bay Mills Nishnaabek Kinoomaadewin College uses that prospective students should take into account is that much of the learning takes place through projects in which students are responsible for developing their own resources. In some cases students are required to find local mentors acceptable to BMNKVC before they can begin a class. In other cases students have to find materials for a research project in their community before they can successfully earn credits for the class. This means that students should be prepared to take initiatives on behalf of their learning experience. Since no classroom instructor exists, the instructor cannot bring mentors or materials to class. The student has to find their own materials.Successful asynchronous students, according to the research completed on asynchronous education, also master the tools made available by technology. If you are afraid of technology then you are going to have trouble with the tools made available by technology. When your education is built around the availability of a set of high technology tools, you need to master those tools if you are going to succeed. Otherwise you risk both frustration and failure. The truth is that computers tend to be difficult to destroy by just using them. Therefore little reason exists for fear. But, of course, some students are afraid of technology, and this fear can easily make an asynchronous learning environment an inhibitor rather than a conduit for learning.Another major aspect of asynchronous learning students should consider before signing up for classes is that a lot of the material to be learned will be conveyed through a combination of written or graphic materials. Therefore good reading skills help. Much of the technology also demands that the students write to communicate. You cannot successfully participate in a chat session if you are not willing to write your thoughts down quickly. Therefore good writing skills help. These skills can be overemphasized since asynchronous students tend to improve reading and writing skills as they go through asynchronous learning processes, but students who fail to concentrate on improving reading and writing skills are usually left behind. If your reading and writing skills need to be dramatically improved, you should consider taking remedial classes before enrolling in asynchronous courses.The last major consideration students should be aware of when they think about asynchronous education is that not only is asynchronous education more work, but there are also no students physically present at the student union or the dorms with which to share classroom experiences. Many students, according to the research, are able to make strong and lasting friendships online, but a major difference exists between an online and an in-person friendship. Some people find the asynchronous learning process a lonely experience and want to spend their time on campus with people with whom they can have a live conversation.On the other hand, because of an asynchronous learning environment's structure, students do get to spend more individual time with instructors and other experts than is possible in a regular classroom. In the virtual classroom the teacher's primary job is to help students succeed. Lecture and graphics material have been pre-prepared before class starts.  This frees up the instructor to concentrate on students. This means that even though the student is not seeing the instructor every day, they can, and should, make use of the entire range of communication tools to ask questions, challenge the instructor's opinion, and ask for guidance. Those are the activities the instructor is being paid to complete.

The asynchronous learning experience can be exciting and rewarding. It can result in better learning outcomes and a brighter future for students. However, it is also demanding and more intense than you might expect. Therefore you need to carefully ask yourself, is asynchronous education for me?