Communication Technologies in e-Learning

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Communication technologies are generally categorized as asynchronous or synchronous.

Asynchronous activities use technologies such as blogs, wikis, and discussion boards. Participants may exchange ideas or information without other participants’ involvement at the same time. E-mail is also asynchronous since only one participant needs to be online to send or receive an e-mail.

Synchronous activities involve all participants exchanging ideas and information at the same time. Examples of synchronous communication include face-to-face discussion, online chat sessions, and virtual classrooms or meetings.

Virtual classrooms and online meeting spaces often use a mix of asynchrnous and synchronous communication technologies.