Synchronous Tools
Synchronous tools enable real-time
communication and collaboration in a "same time-different place" mode. These tools allow people to connect at a single point in time, at the same time. Synchronous tools possess the advantage of being able to engage people instantly and at the same point in time. The primary drawback of synchronous tools is that, by definition, they require same-time participation -different time zones and conflicting schedules can create communication challenges. In addition, they tend to be costly and may require significant bandwidth to be efficient.
Asynchronous Tools
Asynchronous is any learning event where interaction occurs intermittently with a time delay. This allows learners to participate according to their schedule, and be geographically separate from the instructor.
E-mails
The most popular and easiest used communication tool is e-mail. Tutors and students can e-mail their sessions back and forth. The critical aspect of e-mails is for the directors to set specific time limits for responses. The disadvantage is that there is no record of either what was said, how it was said or how much time was spent. Again, tutors could be asked to print the e-mail correspondence. If tutors and students use the e-mails within a course management systems (WebCT, Blackboard, eCollege and others) or NetTutor’s Q & A Center or WebBoard, the sessions are more secure and are readily available for the director to review.
Discussion Boards
Even though discussion boards are not simultaneous, they can be interactive with students responding to each other. A discussion is like an ongoing e-mail that allows students to log in at different times, post ideas, ask questions or give their response to someone else’s comments. A threaded discussion consists of all the postings to a particular discussion topic.
For tutoring, a student can post a question on the discussion board and a tutor answers the question within a stated time period. It is open to other students to view because it may answer their questions or they may ask for further explanation. The discussion board has various names: discussion group, discussion forum, message board and online forum.
The Course Management Systems and AskOnline all have secure discussion boards within their platforms. NetTutor has an Archive Center, which lists previously answered questions and provides a keyword search of the database of questions.
WebBoard, browser-based, has been around since 1996 and is a secure message or discussion board with four modes of conference:
1) Read only where information in many forms including PowerPoint is posted,
2) General forum where anyone with a password can read and comment,
3) Members only forum where a select group is permitted to read and comment,
4) Moderated forum where all comments are read before they are posted.
The discussions can be viewed in a linear or threaded style. An outstanding feature is that discussion postings can be directly e-mailed to group members as they are posted on the discussion board. As members comment to their e-mails, those comments are posted on the discussion board, giving students two means of access to the discussion.
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