At the conclusion of our elevator pitches in April I was approached by Nola Campbell who challenged, "Why are you looking for solutions for which there are no problems?" This threw me a bit as I had no idea that people would have such strong reservations about what I was proposing to investigate. It did however give me a very big clue about where to start my inverstigations - the debate on whether synchronous environments have any place in distance learning.
I uncovered a wealth of opinions. Much of this is outlined in more detail HERE. In brief, I uncovered a number of people who believed strongly in the role of synchronous meetings to icnrease the interactivity of the online learning experience, and enhance the distance learning experience in general. It was agreed by all too that all not students require synchronous contact. Some truly preferred the utter flexiblity of the anytime anywhere anyplace approach.
