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How do you ensure this? Do you just clarify that such knowledg is
required, and people self-discipline themselves well enough? How do you
describe them what is "good knowledge"? Do you test it?
We just state the requirements and the potential participants are disciplined enough not to attend our courses when they don't know how to switch the Internet on. We just need the basics of using Windows and the Internet browser. Of course there is diversity in their PC skills but none of the participants are beginners.
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Was synchronous communication tested and was/would it be valuable?
What do you mean? I consider our Wikipedia classes to be a means of synchronous communication.