Teaching is only demonstrating that it is possible. Learning is making it possible for yourself. ~ Paulo Coelho
Teacher professional learning is essential because it allows teachers to acquire new skills that they bring back to their students, ultimately leading to improved student outcomes, less teacher retention, and success meeting district goals.
At Alludo, we collaborate with school districts across the country to create robust, online professional learning environments that incorporate teacher choice. We also pride ourselves on making high quality professional learning affordable for school districts.
With that in mind, we’ve created this cost analysis of synchronous vs asynchronous instruction to help you understand the difference in both cost and effectiveness.
Let’s start by comparing synchronous professional learning with asynchronous professional learning to make sure that there’s an understanding of the key differences between them. We’ll start with synchronous learning.
Synchronous learning is the most traditional form of professional development. It happens on a predetermined schedule and in a predetermined location. The key elements of synchronous learning are as follows:
The expenses, which we’ll talk more about later in this post, accrue in two ways. The first is the cost to the school district, and the second is the cost to educators. While synchronous learning can be effective, the truth is that the cost of it can be too high when you consider both the monetary aspect as well as the effect it has on teachers.
Now, let’s talk about asynchronous learning and how it differs from traditional professional development. In general, all asynchronous learning happens online with some flexibility with regard to when the learner completes the learning – either fully at will or at will within a specific timeframe.
Here are the key elements of asynchronous learning with Alludo:
Asynchronous learning gives teachers the option to access courses and complete learning on a schedule that works for them. When you consider that educators spend hours of time each day outside of the classroom on things like lesson planning and grading papers, it’s essential for school districts to be respectful of their free time. Asynchronous learning does that.
There are several advantages to asynchronous learning that go to the heart of why we believe that school districts should adopt it instead of relying on synchronous learning.
Asynchronous learning is far more affordable than synchronous learning. We don’t need to dig very deep to understand the reasons for its affordability. With synchronous learning, classes only happen when an instructor is scheduled to lead them. The instructor must be paid and they need a space to hold the class, too. Teachers must travel to get there, accruing additional expenses.
By contrast, asynchronous learning courses are created once and can be taken many times without incurring any additional expenses. Teachers don’t need to travel, so those expenses go away, too.
Traditional PD is not easy to scale because adding new learners means hiring more instructors and finding more classroom space.
The opposite is true with asynchronous learning. Once a micro-learning activity or game is created and added to a learning environment, the only barrier to scaling its use is providing learners with a way to log in and access it.
Synchronous PD doesn’t account for teachers’ opinions or needs. The requirements are often handed down on a state or district level and teachers are left with no choice but to attend.
At Alludo, our asynchronous learning platform gives teachers a choice and a voice. We encourage the school districts we work with to gather teacher input about PD before we create a learning environment. We also build in the option for districts to specify mandatory courses while still allowing educators to choose electives to meet part of their total PD requirement.
One of the best things about asynchronous learning is its flexibility. With traditional PD, teachers must travel to reach a classroom at a specified time. If that time isn’t convenient for them, they have no alternative available in some cases.
With asynchronous learning, teachers can fit in their micro-learning activities at any time that’s convenient for them. They can do it on their lunch break or any time they have a few free minutes during the day.
Finally, asynchronous learning is measurable in a way that synchronous learning is not. The Alludo platform comes with built-in metrics for school districts to use to track teacher engagement and progress – and to measure the impact of professional learning on their district goals.
In other words, a lot of the guesswork that comes with synchronous learning is eliminated with the adoption of asynchronous learning.
It may surprise you to see the difference in cost between synchronous and asynchronous learning.
Synchronous learning can be extremely expensive. According to the National Council on Teacher Quality, school districts spend an average of $18,000 per teacher, per year on traditional professional development. A 2020 cost analysis published in Prevention Science found that the cost of sending a single teacher to one workshop could be as high as $1,132.78. When you multiply that out across an entire school year and add payment for in-service days and other expenses, it’s easy to see why the cost is so high.
In addition to the direct cost to the school district, there are related costs that accrue to teachers, which in turn generate hidden costs. Here’s a breakdown:
When you consider all of the expenses we’ve listed here, it’s no surprise that many school districts are overspending on teacher professional development.
Now let’s review the costs of asynchronous learning. We’ve created a quote calculator that will allow superintendents, assistant superintendents, and educational services leaders to estimate the cost of switching to Alludo, but here’s how it breaks down:
Your school district can get better results from asynchronous learning while saving thousands of dollars a year.
Alludo Learning specializes in creating high-quality, asynchronous professional learning environments at a price that’s far more affordable than synchronous learning – but we’re not just about affordability. Our learning model offers high-quality, comprehensive training and we ensure that our content is fresh and relevant to teachers.
We believe that the best way to take care of our students – something every educator wants to do – is to take care of our teachers. By emphasizing relevance and giving teachers a choice and a voice in what they learn, we help them to feel supported and valued. That’s a key component to reducing teacher turnover.
A case in point is the learning environment we created for the Campbell Unified School District. The School of Rock system we provided led to increased teacher engagement, with teachers praising the program’s friendly competition and incentivization of collaboration.
The bottom line is that asynchronous online learning increases teacher engagement, reduces teacher turnover, and delivers results both in teacher satisfaction and student outcomes.
What is your school district spending on teacher professional development? Whatever that amount is, we believe that you can benefit from switching to choice-driven asynchronous learning with Alludo. You’ll enjoy reduced expenses while giving teachers the support and training they need.
Want to reach up to 100% PD in your district? See how Alludo can help make it happen with our free professional development platform trial, including: