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To be Synchronous or Asynchronous? That is the question.

         Over the last months, a lot of pre-sessional programmes are organized and designed in the UK, and in other universities all over the world. Here, in China we have already experienced this new normality of online teaching, so I would like to share a few thoughts with you. Before, I start, please allow me to share this with you; online teaching is here to stay. Some of the things we did during this period seem far too convenient and we are reluctant to go back. For example, organizing and conducting personal tutorials.

But today we are going to talk about something else; should we have live sessions or record classes for our students. My answer is: BOTH. WHY?

Because students need both. My experience so far has shown that students become excited with live sessions at the beginning and then their motivation goes down. Also, it’s always useful having a video posted in Moodle for future reference. To be honest with you, I will keep posting videos on my Personal Moodle page even when this is all over. 

So to wrap up; Don’t overdo it! Have both synchronous and asynchronous. You don’t want to exhaust your teachers and the students as well!

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