RESEARCH PAPER TEMPLATE

North American University

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

Name:_Thomas Nguyen__________ Date: ___November 24, 2019_______

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: (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:

According to Beldarrain (2006), summarizes a paradigm shift in framework and

pedagogy when it comes to the field of distance education as the rise for addressing the

need of providing education to those that cannot receive it traditionally in-person. This

paradigm shift is in response to meeting the missing aspect of social interaction that

affects learning processes. Rise in different technologies such as wikis and blogs, help to

foster this missing social aspect of traditional learning which influences theories of how

instruction can be structured. With Bernard, et al. (2009) they address the also the shift

from the medium of distance education from a similar shift from before under
correspondence education, depends on the technology required to bridge the gap of the

difference in education experience of in-person or not. Increasing interaction requires

increase in communication functionality and more immediate contact between student

and instructors (Bernard, 2009, p. 1244). In Moore (2019), he attributes the explosion of

computer-based communications similarly to Bernard in the need for meeting the needs

of those that are disadvantaged by institutions they do not have access to. The appeal of

self-directed learning brings about lack of interaction in distance education, however with

changing conceptual design of instruction and reconstruction of social knowledge to

make up for this can lead to higher levels of interaction. Piccianno (2019) brings in

keywords such as presence, social presence, learning effectiveness, outcomes, student

performance, and asynchronous learning in to the discussion of distance education. To

make sure the same type learning or greater is being achieved, all depends on how the

much interaction is required with others, such as discussion boards. Their perceptions of

interaction and actual participation was also important to the topic of increasing

interaction especially when comparing self-reporting to actual number of interactions

where the numbers would correlate and show high interaction students achieving higher

scores. Vrasidas (2000) talks about the paradigm to which the instructor subscribes to as

being the most important factor in addressing interaction levels. Either way, with

thoughtful consideration of all paradigms, increasing interaction comes about from

developing curriculum and designing instruction based on a continuum of paradigms

suitable for their particular student groups.

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:
My personal reflection on the matter is I am in agreement with the research. All

professors wishing to increase interaction amongst the student population should take in

to account the unique mixture and what technological limitations they may have because

of distance. Student voice and choice approach would be essential to perhaps give a

semblance to more authentic production and interaction and with a cohort setting,

requiring high levels of interaction is important. The same way we are guided and

instructed to follow the times when it comes to incorporating new technologies and

dynamics in to the classroom to facilitate greater student success, so should the approach

to distance education take when it comes to instructional design. However, since self-

directed learning also depends on the maturity and organizational skills of the class you

are teaching, it requires great effort and thought to create an instructional environment

which facilitates interaction and learning. Right now, I am trying to increase student

interactions that are authentic to the learning objectives and targets that my students must

achieve in their standardized test but incorporate a wider range of technologies such as

Padlets and Quizizz to generate not only more data on how they are learning but also

increase the amount of time they are spending on the subject they are struggling to learn.

The increase in interaction will hopefully also facilitate a greater love of learning or at the

very least, a greater appreciation of the knowledge to which they are trying to assimilate.

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:

Beldarrain, Y. (2006). Distance education trends: Integrating new technologies to foster

student interaction and collaboration. Distance Education, 27(2). 139-153. doi:

10.1080/01587910600789498

Bernard, R. M., Abrami, P. C., Borokhovski, E., Wade, C. A., Tamim, R. M., Surkes, M.

A., & Bethel, E. C. (2009). A Meta-Analysis of Three Types of Interaction

Treatments in Distance Education. Review of Educational Research, 79(3), 1243–

1289. doi: 10.3102/0034654309333844

Moore, M. G. (2019). Handbook of distance education. New York: Routledge.

Picciano, A. G. (2019). Beyond student perceptions: Issues of interaction, presence, and

performance in an online course. Online Learning, 6(1). doi: 10.24059/olj.v6i1.1870

Vrasidas, C. (2000). Constructivism versus objectivism: Implications for interaction,

course design, and evaluation in distance education. International Journal of

Educational Telecommunications, 6(4), 339-362.