Teaching live, in person or online
Use shared time for explanations, questions and reasoning that benefits from immediate response.
What synchronous means
Students and teacher take part at the same time. An in-person seminar and a live video class are both synchronous, but their physical and technical conditions differ. Recording a live lecture creates an asynchronous resource; it does not give later viewers the same opportunity to ask questions.
What the comparative evidence says
Martin and colleagues found a small cognitive advantage for synchronous over asynchronous learning in their synthesis. A different synthesis by Zeng and Luo reported a trivial advantage in the other direction. These broader educational evidence sets do not establish a universal winner for introductory psychology.
A live session organized around a decision
The following is an original format for discussing a study. Allow silent thinking before collecting responses so quick speakers do not determine the whole discussion. In a large course, use short written responses or polls; in a low-bandwidth setting, a text response can serve the same purpose.
- Present a short study summary and ask what conclusion it supports.
- Collect an individual prediction or explanation.
- Have pairs compare reasons, with a text-only alternative.
- Discuss two contrasting responses and connect them to the evidence.
- Ask each student to answer a new application question.
Attendance does not establish learning
Attendance and visible participation can show access or engagement, but a student may be quiet and understand the material, or speak often without applying it correctly. Decide what work demonstrates the outcome. Publish an equivalent route for students who cannot attend, while being clear about what interaction they will miss.