Blended online / Fully online class instruction

The online component for blended classes is performed asynchronously. Fully online classes taught by Dr Hollier are performed asynchronously. There is NO live online lecturing in this course, such as live virtual sessions, on-campus sessions streamed live, or in any other form known or unknown. Students must manage their time effectively and plan to watch the recorded lectures provided in iCollege as the equivalent of going to a classroom or logging into a virtual session.

Recorded lectures are the equivalent of coming to class. When you come to an in-class session, you bring your pen and paper and take notes during the lecture. In-class sessions are specifically scheduled. When you watch the recorded lectures, you should be doing the same. Take notes and watch them at set times each week. Asynchronous recorded lectures allow students to watch them and do their studying on their time schedule.

Students enroll in online classes for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to:

• Their work schedule prevents them attending on-campus classes.
• Their childcare or family-member situation prevents them attending on-campus classes.
• They live in a different state or country and/or they are in a different time zone.
• Their biological clock makes them a morning person, afternoon person, or night person regarding when they are most awake and alert, and when they could potentially attend class and productively learn.
• A pandemic is occurring that changes multiple parts of everyone’s life frequently throughout the semester, such as their living situation, work, travel, social distancing, and/or childcare/family situations.

Regardless of the reason why a student registers for an online class, there is no feasible way to hold synchronous sessions without disadvantaging / discriminating against some of the students in that class. If a synchronous session was held, which day of the week should it be held on? What time? What consequences should there be for not attending? With synchronous online sessions, a student who could not attend for whatever reason, would have missed content that other students received. What if that was you who missed that content and it caused your grade to suffer due to it? Would you think that was fair? This is why online classes must be asynchronous. All students must be treated equally, and no one must be discriminated against.

Every student’s situation is different. If they cannot attend an on-campus class, then they most likely cannot attend a synchronous online class either. This is why online asynchronous classes exist. They allow students to study and complete the work on their schedule, whatever that might be. If you wish to have synchronous instruction, then you need to sign up for an on-campus, hybrid, or blended class (whatever term that may be used by the institution).