The Activity Type determines how an activity is delivered by the Facilitator.  An Activity can be either a Real-Time activity or a Self Paced activity. 

Real Time activities rely on the Facilitator being "present" in order to "ask" questions and batches.  Since participants can only access the batch of questions which has just been asked, they cannot access or contribute to other questions or batches in the same activity.  The Facilitator can choose when to ask which batches, and can choose to not ask some batches. 

Since in a Self-Paced activity there is only one "batch" of questions, this batch (ie all the questions in the activity) becomes available to the participants as soon as they access the activity, whether or not the facilitator is present.  There is no dependancy on the Facilitator to "ask" questions, or to wait until all participants in the group have finished a question (batch) before being able to access another.

See also: 

When should I use a Self-Paced activity, and when should I use a Real Time activity?

How do I... Launch an activity for a Real Time (live, or synchronous) session?

How do I... Launch an activity for a Self-Paced (a-synchronous) session?

Feedback to Participants in Real-Time activities

Feedback to Participants in Self-Paced activities

Categories: Xorro-Q, Facilitators.