Asynchronous learning – students get there in their own sweet time

Source: Journal of Dental Education Jun2014, Vol. 78 Issue 6, p856-866

Date of Publication: June 2014

In a nutshell: Asynchronous education involves putting a load of educational material, including exercises and tests, online and letting students work through it at their own pace. Researchers from the Department of Dental Medicine at Lutheran Medical Centre in New York developed an asynchronous online curriculum made up of PowerPoint presentations with audio explanations. 169 dental students took part in a study into the effectiveness of the asynchronous learning package. The students preferred face-to-face and asynchronous learning to a time-limited online curriculum in terms of the effectiveness and clarity of presentation. However, they rated face-to-face learning as more conducive to student-instructor and student-student interaction. So while asynchronous learning was as effective at teaching students about the subject they did miss the social sides of traditional classroom teaching.