RESEARCH PAPER TEMPLATE

North American University

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

Name: ERTUGRUL GAZI BAHAR Date: 24.11.2019

Topic Selected: 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: (250 Words)

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

Literature Review:
The feeling of isolation seems to be dominant among the learners’ general
feelings about their experience in DL (Dzakiria,2004). They need more attention
from their respective distance teachers. The fact that the distance teachers are
not there all the time, and not comparatively ‘the same’ as the lecturers or
instructors teaching to the full-time learners was a major setback to some
distance learners. They found themselves lost, isolated, and in due time,
potentially demotivated to learn. Such a situation is more prevalent in a distance
situation than in a traditional classroom. In a situation where eye contact and
proximity are limited, students cannot be assisted nor affirmed by eye contact
and body language (McKnight, 2000). Students may also have a difficult time
interacting with other distance learners.
Distance teachers, on the other hand, have, the moral duty of helping learners
coping with these challenges and helping them to develop learning strategies
and make the options clear to the learners. This includes helping them to
become responsible learners; know their own strengths and weaknesses; have
confidence in their own ability; relate to others; clarify what is learned; redefine
what legitimate knowledge is, and deal with content.
A highly successful learner has always been described as one who exhibits
initiative, independence, and persistence in learning; one who accepts
responsibility for his or her own learning and views problems as challenges,
not obstacles; one who is capable of self- discipline and has a high degree of
curiosity; one who has a strong desire to learn or change and is self-confident;
one who is able to use basic study skills, organize his or her own time, set an
appropriate pace for learning, and develop a plan for completing work; one who
enjoys learning and has a tendency to be goal oriented (Moore, 1994;
Guglielmone, 1977).
It is possible to organize distance teaching in such a way that there is dialog,
Where a tutor meets distance students face-to-face, the tutor’s role is changed
from that of a communicator of information to that of a facilitator of learning,
Group discussion is an effective method of learning when distance teaching is
used to bring relevant information to the group, In most communities, resources
are available that can be used to support distance learning to its educational and
economic advantage.

2. REFLECTION: (250 Words)

 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:
Personally, I am with the idea that distance education has some drawbacks just
like not having the face-to-face interaction. I agree with the researches I have mentioned
above. I am totally okay with them. However, I am going to provide some additional
things I would use to make the distance learning interaction more efficient.
My experience with the distance education has started when I began taking the
online courser courses about education and language teaching. I enjoyed it a lot.
However, some days, I was like ‘I wish that professor was just in classroom, s/he would
have a greater effect on me. Here are the things I would implement for my career by
distance teaching.
When we approach the topic objectively, of course, distance learning has some
disadvantages. Also, it has been emphasized in many articles and provided with
scientific data that the communication between teachers and students is less than the
face to face education. In my opinion, to make distance education more efficient, useful
and fun, it is necessary to take full advantage of all the possibilities of technology. For
example, e-mail, WhatsApp, YouTube, Instagram facilities as possible as possible to
use, webinar lessons should be tried to make online with images, more frequent contact
with students should be established, students should be forced to present feedback to
teachers to form the conditions. We can do it with education, TV or big screen
computers. We can offer precious gifts for economic value that will make distance
education attractive. We can keep the GPA high.
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:
Dzakiria, H. (2004). “The Teacher is Always there, but isn’t…” Distance Learners’
Experiences & Perspectives On Distance Learning at University Utara
Malaysia. Unpublished thesis.

Learning Theories and Distance Learning. (2011, September 18). Retrieved from
https://lynnmunoz.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/learning-theories-and-distance-
learning/.

McKnight, S. (2000), Delivering library services to remote users: The Deakin learning
toolkit. InP. Brophy, S. Fisher & Z. Clarke (Eds.). Libraries without Walls 3:
The Delivery of Library Services to Distant Users ed. London: Library
Association Publishing, pp.175-182.

Moore, M.G. (1994). Is there a cultural problem in international distance education?

American Centre for the Study of Distance Education (ACSDE) Research
Monograph, No.10.

Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education by Michael

Simonson, Sharon Smaldino, Michael Albright, and Susan Zvacek (2003)