RESEARCH PAPER TEMPLATE

North American University

Education Department
M.Ed. in EDLE & CUIN
EDUC 5324: INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY INTO EDUCATION
Name: Servet Oksuz

Date: 06/19/2016

Topic Selected: Topic 1: Traditionally, distance education courses lack face-to-face

interaction. What are the consequences of lack of interaction in distance education? What
can be done to increase interaction in distance education (online courses) so that same
type of learning can occur with face-to-face learning?

1. LITERATURE REVIEW:
What does the literature/research say about this issue/topic? By using NAU
Library or Online Search engines, conduct a literature review.

You need to include 5 different sources (book, journal article, web article
etc.) in your review. Try to use current sources as much as possible.

You need to summarize and synthesize your sources by discussing a

common theme or issue.

You don't need to critique your sources

You don't need to evaluate your sources (if the sources are trustworthy,
weather the author has a bias or not)

You need to provide background information such as history and

definitions

Brief Literature Review:

Background: As we are in 21st century, the distance education and online
learning is becoming very popular in post secondary institutions in US. The rapid
growth of internet technology made the distance education very accessible and
suitable for learning and teaching. According to a survey conducted by US
Department of Education in 2008, 97% of 2-year institutions and 89% 4-year
institutions offer some online classes. (Sarder, B) The argument is not whether
the distance education is helpful or not, but how to increase the interaction in
distance education since it does not have face-to-face interaction.
Literature: I have read 5 articles that are written from 2005 to 2014 that we can
also observe the change in the views of people about the distance education.
1) Abrami P.C., Bernard R.M., Bures E. M., Borokhovski E., Tamim R.M.,
2 March 2011
In this article, the researchers started by classifying the types of interaction as:
student-student interaction, student-instructor interaction, and student-content
interaction and discussed how to increase each type of interaction in distance
education or online learning. According to Bernard, the distance education have

two generations as he stated as IDE 1 and IDE 2 that in the first generation
usage of technologies are limited that it was used just to deliver the instruction. In
the second generation, the supplemental tools can be used to do online
discussions webcams, etc. One way to increase the instruction in IDE 2 is using
Web 2.0 tools effectively. Another important aspect in distance education is:
establishing self-regulation principles. Also, cooperative and collaborative
learning can be used to increase interaction in distance education.
There are some challenges of distance learning to set the self-regulation. Firstly,
since every individual have different understanding of responsibility, it is hard to
balance intrinsic motivation and extrinsic regulations. Another aspect is, the
students may not aware of what they can achieve and what is expected of them
to achieve. Basically, the learners do not want to be more responsible of what to
learn and believe new approaches may result in poor outcomes.
In this paper, the researchers discuss how to increase the three types of
interaction in distance learning and how to set the principles of self-regulation,
research-based motivational principles to increase the effectiveness of distance
education
2) Sarder MD.B, June 15, 2014
In this research, firstly the vast improvement in online learning is pointed out and
the high percentage of online learning is highlighted. The researcher discussed
some pros of cons of the online education. The main factor make the online
courses as advantageous is it can involve underrepresented population to be
part of the education. The main disadvantage of online learning is it has not
much interaction. The researcher admitted the online education cannot have the
same amount of interaction as face-to-face education, but he discussed some
ways to increase interaction. Since the researcher presented his research in
Indianapolis, where headquarter of Blackboard company is located, he introduce
a system by using Blackboard. However, the same system might be utilized with
different tools.
He mainly focused on how to design the curriculum to effectively increase the
interaction. In the system he used, there are three tiers to implement in the
lecture: In the first tier, the instructor keeps track of the students main events as
when they enter, and exit. In the second tier, he uses a Java application that
keeps files of the lecture and gives the students mini quizzes. In the third tier, the
students are tested about each segment and the student can move to the next
step as they passed the previous segments.
There are some additional techniques that an instructor can increase the
interaction as:
i)
Using inclusive language as us and we
ii)
Building rapport with the students
iii)
Having a positive attitude
iv)
Using own voice and being honest
v)
Setting online office hours
vi)
Establishing an online presence

3) Shanker M., Hu M.Y., 2008

In this research, the researchers firstly compare and contrast the distance
education and traditional face-to-face instruction. One of the main differences is,
online learning has one-way communication, while the traditional instruction has
two ways.
In this research, the researchers conducted an experimental study in Business
Statistics class. Many majors can take this introductory class so the researchers
have a large sample size. The class is divided into two groups that one of the
group was treated with the classic instruction (1027 students) and the other one
is treated with online instruction (113 students). At the beginning of the semester,
a survey is conducted to all students to see the differences between the
students, and we cannot observe a major difference. At the end of the semester,
the researchers conducted another survey as satisfaction surveys that the
students can answer in 5 different levels from strongly agree to strongly disagree.
They used Chi-square test for independency that the satisfactions are same
between two groups. At the end, the majority of the students in online section
seem to be satisfied with the content delivery; however, the students in the
traditional classroom look more satisfied with the instruction.
In this research, the researchers point out the online education lacks the effective
interaction that the students need. However, the researchers did not offer any
ideas about how to increase interaction.
4) Su B., Bonk C.J., Magjuka R.J., Liu X., Lee S., 2005
The researchers point out the fast growth in the distance education in the past
two decades. Also, they point out the crucial role of the interaction in the
education in general and distance learning in particular. They discuss the
technologies that enhance interaction and instructional activities that enhance
interaction.
According to Yin (1994) to answer what and how about the interaction, some
instructional technologies and activities used in online MBA courses. In the
research, 102 second year online MBA students aged between 26-40
participated. There were 58 Likert-typed scale questions and 4 free response
questions. The internal reliability of the survey was .91 Cronbach alpha.
In the research, the students respond about what tools are useful as (starting
from most useful to least): textbook, e-mail, discussion forums, interactive
quizzes, PowerPoint slides, Web pages, audio-video clips and telephone calls.
The question about what activities are useful to enhance interaction was as
following: Asking/responding the instructors questions, feedback on assignments,
instructors participation in class discussions, team based activities, virtual office
hours, etc.
In the conclusion, the researchers point out the key factor in the interaction is the
instructor. The instructors knowledge of using the online tools and the methods
of the content delivery makes the instruction effective or not effective.

5) Halberg B. 2010
This research is about the views of distance learning in West Pint Military
Academy. The researcher firstly mentions about the importance of service
academy exchange program and tells very few of the cadets take advantage of
this opportunity. He recommends the usage of distance learning to promote the
students learning of different academies.
The first argument is the conflict between distance learning and traditional West
Point system. The distance learning cannot be used in many classes in West
Point, as the researcher agrees. The second argument is, the lack of interaction
in distance learning. The researcher suggest some points to increase the
interaction in distance learning as:
i)
Frequent student-faculty contact
ii)
Collaborative teaching techniques and assignments
iii)
Discussion forums, team project and peer evaluation
iv)
Prompt feedback by the instructor
v)
Maintaining high expectations

2. REFLECTION:

What is your personal opinion on this issue? Do you agree with the
research? If you agree or disagree, please explain why?
Provide examples/experiences regarding this issue from school
perspective or If you are not working in a school, from your profession. Be
specific with your examples. You can mention software/hardware names,
specific methods that you plan to use, etc.
How would you implement this research in your career? (At least 1
paragraph)

Reflection:
As the technology improves very fast, we can expect the techniques in distance
education will improve in the future. The researchers suggest some techniques about
how to improve the interaction as they classify the interaction as student-student,
student-instructor and student-content. The main object of the research is students
learning and the subject is the instructor My point is, the key factors in the efficiency
are the instructors knowledge of technology and methods of content delivery.
As I teach in a high school, we offer all classes in traditional setting. However, the online
database, student e-mail system, ALEKS, etc. makes it necessary that any 6-12 teacher
knows about some sort of distance education. In my perspective, immediate feedback
for the assignments, constant track of grading encourage the students to engage more
in my class.
In my career, the design of the online assignments as ALEKS and keeping track of the
students that how much time they spent on the assignments give an idea about how the
students are engaged. I need to keep track of single students progress and give them
feedback. When the students know about the distance education, I may utilize as a
summer institution to recruit them for the upcoming AP classes.

3. REFERENCES:

Cite at least 5 References in APA.

You may use http://www.citationmachine.net/apa/cite-a-journal for citing
your sources in APA style.

References:
1) http://www.anitacrawley.net/Articles/Abrami%20Interaction.pdf
2) ImprovingStudentEngagementinOnlineCourses,Dr.MDB.Sarder,UniversityofSouthern
Mississippi

3) http://www.personal.kent.edu/~mshanker/personal/Zip_files/06.pdf
4) http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/pdf/4.1.1.pdf
5) http://www.usma.edu/cfe/literature/bhallberg_10.pdf