Time (asynchrous)

In my view, the online asynchronous aspect of blended and hybrid learning will soon, if it hasn’t done so already, become the lead domain in Higher Education. This does not mean that face-to-face teaching will become unimportant, it simply means that staff will rely more heavily in the future on the online asynchronous context to provide access to amongst other things:

• core/module information
• learning content
• guidance that scaffolds engagement with key concepts and frameworks
• opportunities to test, apply and construct knowledge
• assessment details, submission and feedback.

It is also my view that given the amount of time that students spend in the online asynchronous space, it is important that we ensure, as we will see in Week 4, that our content and interface is as usable, functional and aesthetically pleasing as possible. In this regard, there is a lot that can be learned from colleagues working in distance learning and the work they have done to address these imperatives.

What do you make of the claim that the online asynchronous space is in the process of replacing the face-to-face space as the lead domain in teaching and learning in Higher Education or that blended learning has much to learn from practices common in distance education? Share your thoughts in ‘comments’ below.