Asynchronous vs.Synchronous

This week's reading from Palloff and Pratt's (2007) "Building Online Learning Communities" talked about the positives and negatives of the different types of online communities. The first type of environment is the Asynchronous environment which is much like the course we are currently taking on Blackboard. The collaboration is staggered and each member can log on on his or her own time. Synchronous environments involve real time communication such as chat rooms and video chats. Palloff and Pratt (2007) seemed to be partial to the asynchronous type of community because of factors such as flexibility for time, ease of communication and regulation of shared information.

I found an article that similarly discusses the differences between these two types of online communities. The article is titled "Asynchronous and Synchronous E-Learning" by Stefan Hrastinski. When the author talks about the limitations of asynchronous environments, he discusses the isolation and retreating that sometimes occurs when members don't feel part of the community, much like Palloff and Pratt (2007) discuss throughout their book. One of the most interesting things mentioned by Hrastinski (2008) is that purposes for each type of environment. The author explains that asynchronous communities are most beneficial for cognitive growth and reflection, where as, synchronous communities build more social relationships. Hrastinski (2008) also mentions Web 2.0 and urges readers to take a closer look at technology to support social relationships.

Here is the link to the article: http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/AsynchronousandSynchronousELea/163445