Synchronous Learning vs Asynchronous Learning

You find yourself in a room with e-learning bods discussing Synchronous Learning vs Asynchronous Learning. Do you:

A) Enthusiastically join in because you know what they are and actually give a damn? or

B) Keep your head down because you have no idea what your peers are on about?

If you answered A, have a pat on the back. If you’re in B camp, never fear because we’re here to explain all and put forward our argument as to why synchronous AI Learning is the future of e-learning.

Traditional asynchronous online courses have dominated the e-learning space for years, think LMS Platforms, SCORM courses and all mandatory training you’ve clicked your way through.

Synchronous (learning) environments have been around for ages. We had WebEx, Adobe Connect, Google Hangouts, Zoom, Teams and more. The pandemic brought this all back with a vengeance.

The old-school discussion board or course forum is an example of asynchronous learning. You post your question, log off, and hopefully, when you come back, someone has answered it. A bit like Reddit. It’s very difficult to get excited over this as there is no real-time connection and no instant gratification, which we are used to with instant messaging tools like WhatsApp and Snapchat.

Just as our brains light up differently during face-toface conversations than reading emails, synchronous learning activates neural pathways that enhance retention and understanding.

Research in the psychology of digital connection shows that real-time interaction triggers the release of oxytocin (often called the “bonding hormone”), in ways that asynchronous communication simply cannot match.

Now I know what you’re thinking. There’s no way your hormones are bonding with your work colleagues or teachers over Zoom. But, like it or not, we behave differently in front of people than with a PDF. We do show signs of an emotional response. I’m not saying that’s a positive response when it’s Bob from Accounts delivering real-time Quickbooks training via Google Meet. However, it still triggers what psychologists call “emotional contagion”, the process by which emotions and behaviors spread from one person to another, or within a group.

This group energy can drive motivation and engagement, it’s why people go to Slimming World meet-ups and let people weigh them in front of others.

Now I’m no scientist; I just researched all this technical stuff to back up my article, but I do know, from my own experiences, that synchronous learning does help with real-time problem-solving and collaborative idea development. If you get the right group of people in a meeting or training session, you can come up with more ideas and solutions to problems. And I like the feeling of being present, which I don’t get when I’m clicking through a neverending SCORM package or watching another boring training video. Or when I’m watching a recording of a training session. I need to be there, in the moment. I won’t watch it back, and I definitely won’t watch it if I wasn’t there in the first place. This is because the brain’s mirror neuron system (responsible for empathy and learning through observation) is much more active during real-time interaction (I knew I’d impress you with the science).

How will AI disrupt this?

Here at Dirtyword, we see future courses turning into bots. So instead of opening PDFs, watching videos and completing SCORMS, a bot will guide you through what you need to know and deliver the information on demand when needed. There won’t be a course laid out in front of you. Instead, there will be a prompt box and a welcome message from which the rest of the learning later unfolds.

Like what DuoLingo does now, so AI fills the synchronous part. It becomes the active teacher, and the learners form the group. As digital technology continues to evolve, and as AI continues to rip apart everything we once knew, synchronous learning spaces will become increasingly sophisticated and combine the face-to-face element led by the AI teacher bot. So we get the best parts of synchronous learning, but at our own pace.

We were still hoping that Virtual reality and augmented reality would further enhance the sense of presence and connection in e-learning. We love “Ready Player One”, but unless Zuckerberg’s Ray Bans take off, then it looks more and more likely we will head down the bot route, and we will never get to visit the Oasis.