RESEARCH PAPER TEMPLATE

North American University

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

Date: 6/18/2016

Topic Selected: What are some of the innovative tools that research says is suitable
and works great for distance education? Choose one or highlight several tools that
works in distance education according to research.

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:

historical developments of online learning tools
The first teaching online started in the early 1980s, based on the invention of computer
conferencing by Murray Turoff in 1970 (Hiltz and Turoff, 1978). with the computer
conferencing user could communicate at any time and the first tool was 'Virtual
Classroom' which was offering lots of courses fully or partially online. This kind of early
developments were not so user-friendly, it was not so easy to communicate either
between student or teacher and student till 1990s. After 90s, since world wide web
(www) was developed the web based programs had been developed such as WebCT
which was designed for online courses. By 2013 about 20% of student had been taken

most of their courses online. After then teachers started to find way to instruct their
courses online and for this purposes there are even some universities which provide
almost all of classes online.
Distance education; students are able to study on their own way ate any time or place and
they do not have to contact to teachers face to face. For distance education technology is
a very critical element. Thus there are lots of innovative online learning tolls and
technologies. These tools are growing up very rapidly and this is one of the hottest topics.
A very big percentage of students either in k-12 or in higher education is using distance
education tools.
The tools provide opportunities to heighten project based learning, as well as engage and
motivate learners(Stear, Mensch 2012)
There are several technologies which have proven effective in driving teaching and
learning to higher heights in higher educational learning environments. Some of these
include the blackboard, eCollege -class live pro, Moodle, Desire 2 Learn, Angel, WebCT,
skype, moocs, and WebEx. (Mbuva,2015)
These kinds of tools are created to improve e-learning and enhancing teaching as well.so
the goal of these toll is to improve effective teaching and learning.
Now I want to explain some of these tools and besides I will some more tools and explain
some of them as well.
Blackboard Learning Management System
This is a tool which teachers to upload assignments and materials for learners to access
them online. There are PowerPoint, video, audio, captivate, animation and some others
are created and added to this system for student to improve teaching and learning.
Teacher and students can communicate at the same time, so it is live to teach and learn.
Students can post their works to be evaluated and given feedback.

So it is available for most of time, their quick feedback, interactive communication,

discussions, virtual classrooms, email, improving skills, time management. but on the
other side, there are some drawbacks; software is not so easy to learn, there are some
restriction with downloading materials and it is also expensive.
Canvas Learning Management System
This system is being popular in universities, college professors and student like this
system. Student s can see that their works are being graded and it is more stable than
other tools.
Moodle system
It is part of learning management system and it provides educators and learners across the
globe. Moodle is one of the most popular and used tools, it has teaching and learning
tools, it is free to use but you need resources, it is being improved every day.
Besides these tools I want to add Camtasia, Schoology, Quizlet, Khan Academy, Edmodo,
and Skype...
Camtasia is a product of Tech smith, you can record your screen, voice, so you can use it
through your screen, window, power points, web cam, web pages etc. you can customize
and edit video record any screen activity, import and add any media and you can create
some interactive content. Other people can reach and watch your works by your
permission. You can use this tool for education and also personal affects as well. This
software can be used in teaching, training, and business environments by linking the
presentation information to YouTube, web pages, and sharing videos (Screen Recording
and Video Editing, 2012).you can use this tool in business, education, and training by
giving the link of your presentation on YouTube or other sharing websites. it is really
useful for engaging of learner in anywhere. You can watch it again and again to cover the
topics very well.

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:

Distance education tools are improving every day, some believe that distance education
will replace face to face education in near future, I am on this opinion too, because when
we check tools for online or distance education they improving very rapidly and they are
giving really good opportunities for learners, you can save your time, your costs and you
may choice your own learning way, it looks more convenient and more attractive to
learners. According to all these researches the distance learning tools are being very
dominant in education as well and it is improving more and more. the percentage of user
are improving too.so I agree with these opinions, when you go back even 90s you will see
that most of people even were not aware of these learning systems, but on the other hand,
today you can get your whole life education on distance education, online, you can get
any degree online.
In my school there are lots of tools that we sue for online learning:ALEKS (Assessment
and Learning in Knowledge Spaces) is an online tutoring assessment program that we use
in mathematics, student s can see their improving and they can learn and new topics by
themselves, ALEKS Provides really good features for learning math. Teachers moderate
students and assign them the amount of topics or questions and they are being follower
for students. Naviance is a college and career readiness software provider, so we use this

tool to provide students planning of college career tools. Students take surveys to find a
best pathway, they can research career here that can take personal test sand they can get
ready for tests also. Schools counselors use this tool vert effectively to track students'
progress and also they can create very good reports on all of students. Another one Skype
or facetime, we this kind of tools to teach student who are not be able to come to school
for short times. Basically the teacher of students make schedule with parents and on that
schedule the teacher instruct student. I personally use Quizlet, Edmodo and google docs.
Edmodo is very convenient for me for my students they love to take their assessment on
Edmodo rather than on papers, they can see their grades and feedback very fast and they
can interact with each other, more it is very easy for teacher to control it, to grade and
give feedbacks. Student can also play some educational games; you may also link any
activity to Edmodo so they can enjoy it. My only concern is that students forget their
password often.
After this research, I released that the tools we use are not randomly chosen or are just for
activities. I understand that these tools are for education, they may replace the classic face
to face education in future. I learnt that there are thousands of tools for online learning or
distance education and they are being improving every day very rapidly. and I see that we
will use them in any way for leraning.in my career I will try to learn and use the most
effective tools for online learning because accept or not we are in technology era even
babies are growing up with technology and when they grow up they will expert of most
of technology tools when we compare ourselves to them.so if you want to catch the next
generation speed of learning you had better learn current tools to bridge to future tools.as
an educators or future administrator I understand that I need to be open minded to new
technology tools in education and I need to try to learn them to use the either in my
profession life or personal life.

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:

Hiltz, S.R. and Turoff. M. (1978) The Network Nation: Human Communication via
Computer Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Inc.
Mbuva, James M.. Journal of Higher Education Theory & Practice, 2015, Vol. 15
Issue 2, p113-127, 15p

Online Learning Tools and Technologies. (n.d.). Retrieved June 19, 2016, from
http://docplayer.net/450508-Online-learning-tools-and-technologies.html
Screen Recording and Video Editing Software. (2012). Techsmith.com. Retrieved
July 25, 2012, from
http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html

Stear, Suzanne; Mensch, Scott. Global Education Journal , 2012, Vol. 2012 Issue 3, p5764, 8p