Part One: Advantages and Disadvantages of Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication

 

1) What's the difference between synchronous and asynchronous communication?

 

• Synchronous is real time, and asynchronous is time delayed.
• Synchronous communication takes place when people are connected at the same time (real time communication) whereas asynchronous communication does not require people to be online at the same time.

 

 

2) Give two examples of synchronous and two of asynchronous communication (not necessarily involving computers!)

 

• Synchronous: phone calls, skype, text chat, face-to-face talk

 

• Asynchronous: snail post, e-mails, springdoo messages, blogs, forums, podcasts, videoblogs or vlogs

 

 

3) Identify two advantages and two weaknesses of synchronous communication.

 

• Advantages: you can get an immediate response; instant feedback fosters communication; there seems to be a more emotional bonding effect between people when there is a possiblity to communicate in real time (synchronously), spontaneity.

 

• Weaknesses: there is less time to think about what you want to say or your response to another; time may be a limiting factor, e.g time zones; synchronous communication over the computer may be difficult because of the speed of data transaction with slower connections; you need extra equipment (speakers, microphone, webcamera)

 

 

4) Identify two advantages and two weaknesses of asynchronous communication.

 

• Advantages: you have time to think about what you want to say; time is not a constraint. You can receive the message whenever you have time and you can analyze the content of the message more carefully so the answer you give can be even more meaningful because it has gone through a process of elaboration.
• Weaknesses: no immediate response, especially where time is significant; you may not know if the other person has received your message; the message loses human contact.

 

 

5) How many kinds of chat are there?

 

text chat, e-conferencing, voice chat (Skype, Yahoo, GoogleTalk, MSN), video chat (also Skype and Yahoo)

 

6) What tools have you tried to chat?

 

• Skype (video, voice and text)
• Yahoo Messenger (text, video and voice)
• Chat function within an e-Learning platform
• Breeze e-conference, powwow - unsuccessfully
• Yahoo Messenger
• IEARN chat room
• ICQ (voice and text)

 

 

Try Gabbly!

 

7) If you were to give a colleague ONE tip for a good chat session, what would that be?

 

• If it is for learning purposes, give the chat very restricted and clear parameters, (the more participants, the more important the restrictions) including a goal to be reached within the time of the chat.
• To restrict the topic of the chat session so that its content is meaningful for all the participants
• To set the topic beforehand and give each participant some guidelines to be ready to contribute to the discussion.
• In the case of voice chat, to invite participants to talk but not to be too pushy. Some people need more time to gain confidence and feel better just listening.

 

 

Contributors

Illya, Silvana, Claudia

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Part Two:

 

1) In your experience, what are the main advantages and drawbacks of the different kinds of chats (text, voice, video)?

(Your answer here)

JoAnn

Like Dennis, I'm pretty much an asynchronous communicator for similar reasons, such as I'm at my computer usually to get something done. Also, some people want to have visual, which I find inconvenient for two reasons. One, I have a Mac 17" laptop and when I drape the Webcam over the top, it flops around, and blocks part of the screen. Also, I work early mornings, and am usually still in my PJs. ;-)

 

2) Which chat ACRONYMS do you know?

(Your answer here) JoAnn

 

In addition to the ones Dennis mentioned, I use:

FYI -

CU - see you

BR - best regards

BBFN - bye bye for now

LOL - either laughing out loud or lots of love - guess it depends on the relationship....

 

Nothing else comes to mind at the moment.

 

3) Tell us all about your BEST or WORST experience at a chat session. Perhaps someone has a funny story that can make us all laugh a bit???

JoAnn

 

BEST - A couple of years ago I did a course in online educational training with the univ. of london, where I first discovered the fun of chatting. A few of us would meet online and discuss whatever came to mind. We came up with colors written out to mean different things - like agreeing, strongly disagreeing, etc. to preface our statements. But the most fun I have chatting is during online confernces like those the tcc community offers. During the talk everyone is chatting - even the panel speakers who aren't talking at the time. It's fast and furious and adds a lot to the intake of the input because you're doing something besides just listening.

 

WORST - During the first course I talked about (above) we had one chat learning session and one person who arrived late then kept pasting in large snippets of text and took up so much time - irrelevant matters - that the lesson was pretty much a waste of time.

 

(Your answer here or in the blog)