Sooooo, I was involved in a discussion concerning synchronous and asynchronous online learning activities and whether they should be the same. As many know, learning strategies cannot be cookie cutter for both. Think about it, would you prepare for a game that requires a coach such as football the same way you would prepare for a game that doesn't require a coach, such as hop scotch. No, you would not. If the instructor is going to be in class, at the same time as the student (synchronous) then you would build in instructor interaction and learning activities that go along with that interaction. If the instructor is not and the student is working on their own with the instructor facilitating from afar, AND NOT AT THE SAME TIME, the instructor interaction and activities would have to be designed differently. It goes back to what I have always said before; NOT everyone is an instructional designer. Bottom line; everything can not be the same.
I ran across this article which breaks it down for even the most inexperienced.
Differences of Asynchronous Learning and Synchronous Learning: Definition of Asynchronous and Synchronous Learning
