Synchronous Communication

Interactions that are synchronous occur live and in-real time.

Examples are:

- - a Canvas Conferences or Zoom session, where your students hear what you say, as you say it, and can respond to your questions immediately.
  - a virtual "Office Hour" where you meet one-on-one with students via Conferences or Zoom.
  - a live-proctored exam through Zoom.

Synchronous Meetings in "Online" Instruction

In classes marked as online instruction, there can be no requirement for synchronous participation.

Online courses, by their nature, are intended to provide a flexible schedule for those who may have work and family commitments that preclude them from attending class at a given time.

As such, while synchronous meetings may be offered in an online class, they cannot be required, graded, or counted for points. If there is some kind of required, synchronous interaction, students MUST be given an alternative that is asynchronous.

Examples:

- - if you hold a live-proctored Zoom exam, you must be willing to configure an asynchronously proctored exam for those students whose schedules require flexibility.
  - if you wish to provide points for attendance at a live lecture via Conferences/Zoom/etc, you must also give the students another way to achieve those points which does not require them to be online at a specific time.

COVID-19 & "Live Online" Instruction

Because of COVID-19, there has been a huge surge in the use of Synchronous communication for virtual instruction.

It is important to note how your course has been listed on the official searchable class schedule, to know what your boundaries/requirements are.

- - For Summer 2020, those courses indicated with the words "SYNC ZOOM" are those where synchronous communication is/may be required. Those indicated with "ONLINE" must make alternate, asynchronous methods available to their students.
  - For Fall 2020, those courses indicated with the words, "LIVE ONLINE" are those where synchronous communication is/may be required. Those indicated with "ONLINE" must make alternate, asynchronous methods available to their students.

If you choose to teach "online" now or when instruction methods return to normal, please keep in mind that purely online classes cannot require synchronous communication without providing equal asynchronous alternatives.