Tell me about asynchronous classes for adults

December 3, 2020 6:18 AM

I am thinking of taking an online writing workshop, but it's an asynchronous class, and I'm not sure how well that would work. Please share your experiences.

Most of what I'm finding online seems to be focused on whether asynchronous classes are or aren't a good idea for young people. This is a writing workshop for adults with lectures, writing prompts, and discussions. Students post work and receive feedback.
I am just having a hard time wrapping my head around this. I think one issue I have is that I'm a member of an online cancer support group that I've had to back away from for my own mental health. I think that not actually meeting people results in a kind of anonymity that can lead to misreadings and misunderstandings. I took a Zoom writing workshop over the summer that I was very happy with, but I did feel like I got to know my classmates because we were seeing each other in real time for several hours a day.
So if you've participated in an asynchronous class, please share.

posted by FencingGal to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

Hi! I've been teaching asynchronous classes (not about writing, but including writing, presenting, and peer feedback) for seven years. I'd encourage you to contact the instructor, if possible, with a few questions about how the class works:

* What are the ground rules for discussion and feedback? (Can you live with them? If there are none, that's a fairly red flag.)

* What are the procedures in cases of hateful speech or harassment? (There will be procedures. You want to be sure the instructor knows them.)

* How often do instructional staff check in? (If something went thataway, could you wait that long to have it dealt with?)

For what it's worth, yes, I have had to step in to deal with a discussion that went thataway -- but I can count the number of times it's happened on one hand.
posted by humbug at 7:41 AM on December 3, 2020

Is the feedback forum moderated? If so, does feedback have to be approved before it appears, or is the moderation responsive only (ie. anyone can post anything but a moderator will come along at some point)? Does the feedback definitely come from other students rather than the tutor? If from other students, will the tutor start out by providing a framework for feedback to be provided, or at least some guidelines? Are there any online reviews from people who've taken a course with this tutor/organisation before?

Finding out the answer to those questions would probably help you evaluate.
posted by penguin pie at 9:01 AM on December 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

Asynchronous writing workshops did not work for me and I've noticed that in general people are less engaged. Sometimes writers are surprisingly bad at writing comments and I received more WTF feedback from the asynchronous workshop than the zoom one. I was once in a different online workshop that was so poorly run that everyone got refunds.

If it is a free class, people will ghost like it's Halloween, so I treat those as more of a solo activity, a place to find some prompts when I am out of ideas.
posted by betweenthebars at 11:09 AM on December 3, 2020