RESEARCH PAPER TEMPLATE

North American University

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

Name: SEVDA ERDAS Date: 27.7.2019

Topic Selected:

Topic 3: What does the research say about advantages and disadvantages of distance
education?

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:

Distance education is defined as the practice of using correspondence, either written or
virtual, to learn. This helps students access teachers who may live geographically too far
away to attend a class; it also assists students who cannot take classes during
traditional hours because of work or other responsibilities.

The history of distance education

1892: Check the mail for corresponding course materials
1922: Turn it up to hear your course over the radio
1953: Turn it in to watch your course on TV
1965: Phone-based course calling
1969: ARPANET AKA “The Internet” is invented
1981: Fully online courses are established
1989: The World Wide Web is born
1996: Drexel starts one of the first online programs
2003: 81% of colleges have at least one online course
2013: One third of higher ed students are enrolled in at least one online course

Advantages of distance education

 The attribute of convenience is cited as the foremost advantage to online
learning. It is easy to access and communicate with the instructors and the
peers.
  Ease of participation is an appealing attribute of the cyber classroom. All
students can participate with reading the posts and replaying them, reflect on
responses, revise interpretations, and modify original assumptions and
perceptions.
 The hybrid or blended course is another advantage of distance education. The
aim of it to be more flexible and better performance.
 This is also reduces the cost of the education.
 Students are comfortable with the technology and delivery environment. 

 Online courses draw many international students, allowing people to
communicate globally and gain many new perspectives that would not be found
in a traditional classroom.

Disadvantages of distance learning

 The primary negative element is the lack of personal interaction. It may not be
suitable for the students who can learn via the tactile/kinesthetic modality.
 Consider one of the basic facts pertaining to online learning: students and
faculty have to be computer literate.
 One of the major limitations of online learning is the online access. It may lead
the lack of interest to the program.
 Design and implementation is another disadvantage to online learning. The
instructors have to consider online teaching and online learning for the students
 Large workload for instructors.
 Risking cheating during quizzes and exams
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:
 I can not say I am agree or disagree since it is still under the research. Because
when I looked at the advantages I decide it must be the most beneficial thing in
education but when I looked at the disadvantages, I think face-to-face learning is
the best system.
 For example if you are unable to travel for some reasons online learning is the
best practice you need to enroll. Or you are working and the school timing is not
convenient for you but you also want to study, this is a good solution for you.
Another one assumes you are handicapped student and you can not walk, so
online learning the best choice for you to study. But if you like immediate feed
back or personal caring face-to-face learning is suitable for you. Assume your
place has no suitable Internet connectivity therefore face-to-face is the best
choice for you. In Nigeria there are some parts are less developed and the
Internet connectivity is very poor. So for those people are living there online
education is not the best for them.
 I am an online education student. I also graduated my BSc program and the
second MSc program from traditional education. I can now see the most
convenient ways of two systems. If I am an online educator I will make sure the
design of my course, which must satisfy my class’s expectation. I also need to
take a course for online teaching. If I am a face-to-face instructor I will make sure
 to show my care to the students and put the best practice for them. I make sure
they will follow up highest standards of teaching aids and innovative projects to
put the students also into the system.

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:
Weber J.M. & Barry R.L. ( 2007). Multi-course comparison of traditional versus web-
based course delivery systems. The Journal of Educators Online, 4(2). 1-19.

Graham D.A. (2019). Befits of online teaching for face-to-face teaching at historically
black colleges and universities. Online Learning Journal,23(1). 144-163

Fedynich L.V(2013).Teaching beyond the classroom walls: The pros and cons of cyber
learning. Journal of Instructional Pedagogies,13.1-7.

Derexel University. (2019). A Brief History of Distance Education and Learning.

Retrieved from https://online.drexel.edu/history-of-distance-learning.aspx

Labadessa. (2010). The Pros and Cons of Distance Education. Retrieved from
https://wiki.uiowa.edu/display/edtech/The+Pros+and+Cons+of+Distance+Education