Transforming the Art of Education: Integrating a Synchronous Tool

By the year 2020, it is proposed that over 60%of students will be taking online courses (Chronicle Research Services, 2009). As higher education continues to adapt to the ever-changing teaching modalities, it is important that we first understand the history of distance learning, as well as the strengths and limitations to infusing online learning into educational programs. After educators assess this essential information, they can begin to identify technological advancements that can be incorporated into current education programs.

Distance learning began in the mid 1800s with a collaboration between the United States Postal Service and a few United States universities (Casey, 2008). The Phonographic Institute of Cincinnati, Ohio, offered the very first distance course. Course work was mailed out to prospective students from the institute via United States Postal Service. After the course work was completed, the students would mail it back and in return, receive a certificate of expertise of shorthand skills in stenography (Casey, 2008).

Approximately 20 years later, the next major milestone materialized when Anna Ticknor established the Society to Encourage Studies at Home. Anna’s love for education was instilled in her at a very young age by her father, George Ticknor, who was a professor at Harvard University and founder of the Boston Public Library (Caruth & Caruth, 2013). George assisted Anna in creating the society to what became known as one of America’s first correspondence schools (Corey, 2008). Perspective women would write to the society to gain acceptance and once accepted; they would select one of six core areas of study. A syllabus would be mailed to them, and then the student would return via mail all of the completed coursework. This teaching modality educated over ten thousand women (Caruth & Caruth, 2013; Corey, 2008).

During the following 20 years, correspondence schools began to establish themselves in the Northeastern United States. Schools appeared in places such as Chataqua and Ithaca, New York, as well as Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (Corey, 2008). By 1892, the first college-level, distance-learning program was academically recognized at the University of Chicago (Corey, 2008).

Distance learning continued to evolve through the 1920s. The major mode of delivery shifted from the postal service to the radio. The very first radio-administered class took place on November 22, 1916, when the University of Iowa transmitted 75 class lessons by code telegraphy via radio (Slotten, 2006). At first, the radio was mostly utilized by the military and for commercial use. However, higher education took advantage of this new approach of communication, which later formed an important set of pioneer stations, largely supported by state universities (Slotten, 2006). By 1923, over 10%of all stations were owned by higher education and by the mid-1920s; over 100 stations had been licensed to universities of higher education (Corey, 2008; Slotten, 2006). In February of 1925, the University of Iowa offered the very first credit-bearing course over its own radio station (Moore & Kearsley, 2012).

As radio-transmitted lessons began to lose momentum and new technology continued to progress, television began to make its appearance. The University of Iowa continued to pioneer distance learning through new and emerging modes of technology when they aired their first course by television in 1934 (Corey, 2008). The Federal Communications Commission, termed the Instructional Television Fixed Services (Corey, 2008), eventually created a specific number of educational channels in 1963. The commission allotted 20 lowcost, fixed-ranged channels to perspective educational institutions. Two large broadcasting companies, who continue to be the forerunners of today’s national channels, aired some of the finest educational television. Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) broadcasted Sunrise Semester while National Broadcasting Company (NBC) aired Continental Classroom from Johns Hopkins University; the latter being used by higher institutions for college credit (Moore & Kearsley, 2012).

Educational television was largely supported by the Ford Foundation who provided hundreds of millions of dollars to educational broadcasting companies in the form of grants (Moore & Kearsley, 2012). President Lyndon B. Johnson was also in utmost support of government funding for educational television. On November 7, 1967, he signed the Public Broadcasting Act affording free and independent broadcasting to all people (Avery, 2007). This act afforded the creation of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB) 1 year later.

Two years later, in 1969, the CPB collaborated with AT&T Corporation to create the first national public television system containing 140 channels. This system became known as the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), which is still utilized today. With the help of this new system, Coastline Community College opened its virtual doors in 1970, becoming the first nonphysical and entirely televised campus, which offered many licensed courses (Corey, 2008).

During the 1960s and 1970s, satellite communication facilitated the development of cable television (Moore & Kearsley, 2012). However, it did not become cost effective until the 1980s. Businesses and the military were the first to utilize this type of communication after recognizing that they could save large amounts of money by decreasing the amount of the travel time used for training and communicating (Corey, 2008). The benefit of using satellite broadcasting over traditional television was that it could be streamed in real time. Colleges and universities quickly caught on to this new and improved transmission of educational instruction, and coined the new style of delivery, telecourses (Corey, 2008; Moore & Kearsley, 2012). By the mid 1980s, approximately 200 college courses were taught via cable television and each year, over 1,000 colleges and universities embraced satellite-televised courses (Moore & Kearsley, 2012). Other universities soon followed including, the University of Phoenix who delivered the first “on-line” course via satellite through an electronic communication service titled, Prodigy (Corey, 2008).

While satellite televised courses were at their peak, two very important experiments were being conducted behind the scenes. These experiments were the Articulated Instructional Media Project (AIM) conducted by the University of Wisconsin in Madison and Great Britain’s Open University. First, Moore and Kearsley (2012) explain that the purpose of the AIM project was to use various approaches to education and technology in order to provide low-cost, high quality, education to students who studied at a traditional brick-and-mortar institution. Some of those approaches included printed study guides, prerecorded audio tapes, telephone conferences, resources from local libraries, and peer tutoring. The AIM project became an important historical development for distance education because it demonstrated how learning could be improved by incorporating multiple different delivery systems (Moore & Kearsley, 2012).

The developments that originated from the AIM project served as footing for what became known as Open University, “the world’s premier national distance education university” (Moore & Kearsley, 2012, p.33). The Open University continues to provide education for more than 21%of all distance learners in England and has expanded to places including Belgium, Hong Kong, and Israel (Corey, 2008).

The next movement in distance education history is the manner of delivery that most colleges and universities employ today; the internet. Although the U.S. Department of Defense originally developed the internet in 1969, the average household did not know it until 1991. Tim Berners-Lee is noted in history as the creator of the internet as we know it today (Perry & Pilati, 2011). In keeping with the historical pattern of evolving educational modalities, it was not long before colleges and universities joined the trend. In fact, just 2 years later, the first completely online university was established by Jones International University (Corey, 2008). This university provided five bachelor’s degrees and 24 graduate degrees all accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (Corey, 2008). The United States is not alone in their work toward online communities. Internationally there are several programs that have spearheaded the distance education movement (Azeiteiro, Nicolau, Caetano, & Caeiro, 2014), as well as the area of business study (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2016).

As technology develops, some online higher education programs are now integrating synchronous tools. Synchronous modalities are virtual classrooms in which students and faculty all meet at the same time and sign into the room. These classes run in real time and allow the individuals to interact with one another while being able to see and hear each other. This learning modality was created to help establish a learning community for online students that promotes personalization and connection with one another (Caladine, Andrew, Tyan, Smyth, & Vale, 2010). Synchronous tools may include platforms such as Blackboard Collaborate, Google Hangouts, Adobe Connect, Samba, WebEx, Zoom, or Skype.

With the rise of new technologies, online education continues to increase in demand. By 2002, 1.6 million students were enrolled in online courses. By 2005, that number tripled and continued to grow by 17%each year thereafter (Perry & Pilati, 2011). In the most recent study by the U.S. Department of Education (2014), they found that in 2012 there were 21,147,055 students enrolled in some type of distance education. That number continues to grow as do the mediums through which distance courses are delivered and learned. It is proposed that by the year 2020, over 60% of students will be taking courses via online modalities (Chronical Research Press, 2009).

There are multiple strengths for offering distance education into colleges and universities. First, online courses help students to engage in class without interfering with other obligations. Issues such as family commitments, work commitments, and geographic location do not impact how online students engage in class (Furlonger & Genic, 2014). Classes that are delivered in an online platform allow students the flexibility to choose the time, place, and pace of their classes (Dynbye, Cumyn, Day, & Heflin, 2009). These courses have a variety of delivery systems on which they run, so students can be matched to those that best fit them, such as self-paced interaction, asynchronous interaction with set deadlines, or synchronous interactions (Ryan, 2001). In an online environment, students may also find it easier to have access to a wide variety of resources that may not be available on campuses (Appana, 2008).

Online classes may draw in students who want to fully absorb course material (Dynbye et al., 2009). In an online environment, students tend to want to participate actively and offer rich feedback to their peers (Appana, 2008). Students taking online classes may be well disciplined and self-motivated, which leads to a professional community setting for the class (Serwatka, 2003). When students work in an online atmosphere, they may have strong time management skills to ensure that deadlines are met. Furthermore, they may desire to be surrounded by other professional level students (Ryan, 2001), particularly in graduate and doctoral programs (Dynbye et al., 2009).

Higher education is very cost-intensive in the on-campus setting (Jaschik, 2012). Online classes can help to answer the increasing pressure felt by universities who are struggling to expand while having limited resources (Bowen, Chingos, Lack, & Nygren, 2014). Online classes can reduce some of the burdens associated with on-campus learning, such as financial issues, travel, housing, and time spent on campus (Shea, Stone, & Delahunty, 2015). Delivering classes online can reduce many costs for the university, such as lowering the number of staff members and lowering utility costs (Smart & Cappel, 2006). Having classes online can also help universities accommodate the demand for more access to class times without needing to build additional classrooms (Bartley & Golek, 2004). Appana (2008) found that universities who invest in online platforms see large returns after a program is up and running.

The online platform for classes can allow for students and instructors to have access to one another around the world (Katz & Associates, 1999). Having access to such a wide variety of individuals can bring prospective students and cultures that may not otherwise be acknowledged. The online format can also allow for guest lecturers from around the world to teach a class in a program (Bartley & Golek, 2004), which can facilitate in-depth connections and more profound learning experiences for students. This type of interaction can allow instructors to develop classes with international experts in order to offer the best, most up-to-date educational opportunities possible (Appana, 2008). By integrating innovative research and ideas into programs, educators can help to keep education programs competitive while ensuring graduates are knowledgeable on current trends. Depending on the focus of the program or courses, this will vary. There are some programs that may have a higher focus on international student involvement.

Although online education is increasing in interest and demand, there continues to be a misperception regarding the quality of education for online learners. Some common stereotypes about online learning include; online courses are easier; courses will be on their own time with no deadlines except the last day of the course; students have to own their own personal computer to do online classes; students cannot transfer online courses to traditional programs; and employer’s value traditional classrooms over online courses (Hickey, 2014). Unfortunately, this affects student enrollment and engagement as students can consistently rate online courses lower than inperson courses (Lowenthal, Bauer, & Chen, 2015).

Approximately 30–50%of students enrolled in online classes drop out before completion of their program (Allen & Seaman, 2010). This is a 20% higher dropout rate than traditional brick-and-mortar students (Shea et al., 2015). Dropout rates from online classes can occur due to many factors, but common are problems negotiating technology and problems negotiating or understanding course content (Tyler-Smith, 2006). Online programs have an increase in nontraditional students. Due to this, there is a higher risk of dropping out. Research highlights that for nontraditional students distance education appeals the most, but the professional and family obligations that led them to distance education, is often the same reason that causes the dropout from the program (Stoessel, Ihme, Barbarno, Fisseler, & Stürmer, 2015). Dropout rates can be reduced by having staff engage in early interaction with new students and then having them continue to have regular interactions until the program is complete (Shea et al., 2015).

The dropout rate declines when student satisfaction is high (Horzum, 2015). Students’ feelings of satisfaction with a program can stem from many sources. Common issues that impact student satisfaction may include: the ability to learn from the provided content, the amount of interaction or communication with others, and properly understanding the course standards for success (Ali, Ramay, & Shahzl, 2011; Vincenzes & Drew, 2018). Satisfaction with a course is also often linked to the delivery system for the class (Horzum, 2015). For example, the computer literacy of individuals as well as the technical support that is offered to students can significantly impact satisfaction rates (Appana, 2008). Importantly, modeling behavior in the online class for students supports development and increases program satisfaction for students. It also allows for students to feel connected to the program and faculty (Vincenzes & Drew, 2018).

Student satisfaction can be improved in many ways. Giving students access to interactive online tools, such as Blackboard Collaborate, discussions, or forums may help to improve students’ satisfaction of a course. Another strategy to improve feelings of satisfaction is to increase the amount of social presence and integration provided by a program (Horzum, 2015). When students can actively participate throughout a program, Cowman and Mencha (2014) found that students feel satisfied with the learning program. By creating learning communities within the online classrooms, it builds relationships and supports with peers and instructors (Glassmeyer, Dibbs, Jensen, 2011). Distance education programs do require students to self-organize and self-regulate (Stoessel et al., 2015), which is something that instructors can help support and develop with students.

Students in a brick-and-mortar setting have an easier opportunity to interact with others (Furlonger & Genic, 2014). Online learning and interaction can lack face-to-face contact and nonverbal cues, which can reduce the amount of interactive communication that occurs (Appana, 2008). Interactive communication not only applies to students connecting to other students, but also allows students to interact with instructors and fellow classmates (Horzum, 2015). Often, an instructor can increase interactions by offering guidelines on how to properly interact and respond in the course platform (Dynbye et al., 2009). As instructors, it is important to connect with students, even in online communities, as the connection to academic success and retention rate is evidenced (Vincenzes & Drew, 2018). By integrating positive and organized interactions, educators can foster a sense of community. Another strategy is to offer students challenging learning opportunities and prompt feedback (Holzweiss, Joyner, Fuller, Henderson, & Young, 2014). Finally, synchronous communication platforms such as Blackboard Collaborate (BBC) can help to improve the amount of interaction by offering real-time communication, which fosters the formation of peer networks and builds rapport with professors (Furlonger & Genic, 2014).

One example of an online synchronous platform is Blackboard Collaborate or BBC. BBC is just one of the many different online platforms used to maximize opportunities for diverse learning and provides synchronous learning through the use of virtual classrooms and meeting spaces. BBC is considered a simple and convenient learning solution, which allows for online collaboration and allows students to have class together even when separated by long distances (Blackboard Collaborate Inc., 2020).

BBC is an online venue in which people can converse for various reasons. Some examples include meetings, classes, and business opportunities. This online tool provides many features that make BBC versatile to use. By using BBC, a college or university can provide online classes and hold meetings with people from various locations. BBC uses web conferencing so that teachers and students can meet in “real time” for an interactive learning experience (Blackboard Collaborate Inc., 2020). By integrating this technology, schools can reduce costs, yet be able to conduct meetings or classes with people all over the world.

Blackboard Collaborate has many features that can significantly impact the learning opportunities for students including audio, video, private and public chat, recording capabilities, whiteboard application sharing, clip art, and the ability to add or edit content. When using BBC, students can see themselves, as well as their peers and instructor. Students and faculty can send a private chat message to anyone who is participating, or the public chat can be used to send information to everyone. Another advanced feature for programs is the ability to record the session, archive it, and then view it at another time. The recordings can be converted to other files such as MP3 or MP4, which can then be emailed and shared. These options are extremely beneficial for students who could not attend class or would like to review the information again to ensure understanding of the content.

Blackboard Collaborate integrates various tools to increase the communication between the participants. For example, there are buttons to applause, give thumbs up, and raise your hand. The thumbs up button can be used to show that you agree with the speaker. The applause button can be useful to applaud a presentation or a comment without interrupting the speaker. Finally, the hand raise button allows a person to show that they would like a turn to speak or they have a question. Furthermore, when participants raise their hand, a number appears next to each individual’s name to illustrate the sequence of when people raised their hand. This helps the instructor to go in an orderly fashion.

BBC has more features that allow for accessibility. BBC has VoIP or voice over internet protocol, which helps with hearing and distinguishing speakers. The video feature can be set to follow the speaker so; the person speaking is always on the top of the video screen. There are third-party options and multipoint video as well. Currently, BBC only allows six cameras to be on at one time, which can be challenging when class sizes are larger than six. Instructors can offset this limitation by asking students to take turns on the video.

BBC offers additional tools to increase students’ participation throughout the class. For example, breakout rooms make it possible to split large groups into smaller groups to work on projects or various discussion topics. BBC integrates a tool for polling the participants. This is helpful because the instructor can ask a question and all students can respond. PowerPoint import is another unique tool that allows a PowerPoint presentation to be uploaded and used within the platform. Finally, BBC offers a whiteboard that allows students and faculty to add and edit content on it just like students may add information to a whiteboard or smartboard during a brick-and-mortar class.

In summary, Black Board Collaborate offers online, blended, and mobile learning with a variety of tools, features, and options to help maximize learning for a diverse population. BBC can be used not only in the classroom setting, but can also be used for meetings and other agency collaborations. This synchronous tool is an excellent opportunity to help students, educators, and companies engage and collaborate.

As distance education continues to rise, it may be advantageous for higher education to integrate the world’s technological advancements into various programs. One program that BBC has been used in is counselor education. The use of synchronous tools provides an ongoing interaction between faculty and students. By integrating Blackboard Collaborate, a university in the rural Northeast is flourishing and meets the rigorous Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs (CACREP) as evidenced by their recent 8-year accreditation. Based on informal student and faculty feedback, the synchronous seminars are enjoyable because it allows for a relationship and connection between individuals. Students report that they enjoy Blackboard Collaborate sessions because it offers them a chance to role-play with their peers and receive instant feedback on skills from the professors. Other students report enjoying the opportunity to converse in real-time with their peers and faculty on relevant topics in the field, discuss case conceptualizations, converse on challenging ethical dilemmas, and participate in group supervision as well as a processing group.

Blackboard Collaborate also promotes the ability to engage students in continuous dialogue throughout their program of study. This has been particularly beneficial for Lock Haven University’s program because it enables the faculty to monitor and evaluate students’ progress as required by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs (2016). Because the counseling profession requires the ability to have positive inter and intrapersonal skills, the faculty embed the use of Blackboard Collaborate into almost all of the courses in the program so that these skills can be consistently monitored. This enables the ability for professors to monitor these required skills on a continuous basis rather than relying on limited interactions with students’ in short condensed time frames, such as residencies. By using the Blackboard Collaborate for courses throughout the program, the faculty can establish baseline skills and monitor these throughout the program to further evaluate student growth or decline. When the faculty see a change in a student’s skill or comportment within the Blackboard Collaborate seminars, it can be quickly remediated to help the student.

Online programs will continue to rise to meet the ever-changing needs of both higher education institutions as well as students. In order for programs to adapt to these changes, faculty need to be creative and infuse technological tools to efficiently teach the necessary knowledge and skills to the students. Furthermore, the infusion of synchronous tools such as Blackboard Collaborate enables faculty with real-time opportunities to monitor students throughout their program. While there are challenges to distance education, programs will need to adapt to the unique demands of the present and future students.