RESEARCH PAPER

North American University

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

Name:___Muhammed Toker_______ Date: __28.06.2020_____

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)

Background information
Kaplan and Haenlein (2016) define distance education or distance
learning as the education of students who may not always be physically
present at a school. They also state that other terms like distributed learning,
e-learning, m-learning, online learning, virtual classroom are used
synonymously with distance education. Tabor (2007) points out that
although a distance learning program can be completely distance learning, it
can be a mixture of distance learning and traditional classroom instruction,
which is called hybrid or blended learning. It can be done through all sorts of
communication technologies like internet, TV, radio, etc.
The demand for the distance education has increased dramatically with
COVID-19. According to a report by UNESCO (2020), nationwide closures
of schools and universities in 192 countries because of the COVID-19
pandemic have disrupted the education of nearly 1.6 billion learners, or 90%
of the world’s student population. As the demand for online learning system
increases, quality of the system should be reevaluated.
Consequences of lack of interaction in distance education and what can
be done to increase interaction?

Although there are many advantages of distance learning, it poses some

disadvantages including less chance for interaction depending on the type of
distance learning. According to Smith (2010) because of lack of interaction
and some other issues online courses have a 10% to 20% higher failed
retention rate than traditional classroom environments. Totally, 40% to 80%
online students drop out of online classes. Croft et al. (2010) state that the
lack of interaction and discussion between students on non-cohort based
courses lessens the richness of the learning experience and omits a
significant element of the constructivist approach to learning.
According to Bernard et al. (2000), for collaborative learning to be
successful a learning community needs to be created so that the student feels
part of a wider group. If the Internet is acknowledged and developed as a
communication tool, the ‘collaborative learning’ mode can be promoted, so
embodying the social aspect of learning by encouraging students to interact
with one another.
So, what can we do to increase the interaction in distance education?
First of all, we need to reevaluate the effectiveness of distance learning in
terms of interactivity. Sun and Chen (2016) argue that effective online
instruction that increase interaction is dependent upon 1) well-designed
course content, motivated interaction between the instructor and learners,
well-prepared and fully-supported instructors; 2) creation of a sense of
online learning community; and 3) rapid advancement of technology.
When we talk about interaction, we shouldn’t just think it is among students.
Moore (1989) mentions three types of interaction: student-student, student-
teacher, and student-content interactions. According to the researcher
student- student interaction can be enhanced through tow-way video, audio
conferencing and web based synchronous courses, or asynchronous
discussion and mail messaging.
According to an article by Vioreanu from study portals website online
learning doesn’t mean isolation, it has many ways of interaction. She says
the first and most common way is discussion platforms used for online
learning Students can share their ideas and make comments on other
students. Students may also use Facebook, What’s App, Zoom, Skype or
other tools to chat and interact. She also mentions as a way of interaction
between teacher and students is getting guidance and support from
instructor.
Rovai et al. (2007) mentions the importance of motivation to increase
interaction whether traditional or distance education. If students don’t have
enough motivation, even great tools are used, students may not be willing to
participate in lessons and interact with their peers.

2. REFLECTION: (250 Words)

Reflection:
Distance learning has numerous advantages like flexibility in time and place,
accessibility, cost-effectiveness, and increased access to more experts. With
more access to internet and circumstances like COVID-19, we use distance
education more and more. But, how effective we are using it?
First of all for an effective and more interactive lesson we need to consider it
just like traditional classes. If we have sixty students in a traditional class
and a busy curriculum, together with teacher centered approach, we cannot
have any interaction in the class. So we need to prepare our lesson with
interaction wise. Before that, we need to believe the importance of
interaction. Constructivist approaches assert that students learn more if they
interact with their peers and learn from their peers’ feedback and from their
mistakes. So, we need to include this interaction in our lesson whether
online or face-to-face lessons. Some distance learning programs gives little
room for interaction; you just write comments for specified topic. And some
other programs (or instructors who design the lesson) allow different ways
of interaction by having live lessons and question and answer parts.
This year as school we had to implement online learning for the last two
months because of the COVID-19 curfew. I had chance to experience e-
learning as teacher after experiencing it as student at NAU. The first lessons
were a bit difficult as I wasn’t used to give lessons through internet and the
classes were crowded. Then we lessened the number of students in each
class. That helped me a lot in terms of interaction. We used ZOOM meeting
program for our lessons. It provides some tools for interaction. It has private
and class chat part; students can send messages me directly or they can share
to whole class. It also allows screen share that students can share their
presentation with ease. Camera and microphone options are great as it boost
the interactions among students. You can also make groups using a ZOOM
breakout room which is great for forming small discussion and presentation
groups.
This research assignment is helpful in that the research result that I found
provide theoretical base for our everyday teaching practices. It also help me
to stick to what I am doing in the class. It also helps me modify my practices
as they may not yield intended purpose. During research for the assignment I
discovered some other helpful tools to implement in my online learning. For
example I realized that I can use zipgrade for my online quizzes.

3. REFERENCES:

References:

Kaplan, M.; Haenlein, M. (2016). "Higher education and the digital

revolution: About MOOCs, SPOCs, social media, and the Cookie Monster".
Business Horizons. 59 (4): 441–50.

Tabor, S. W (2007). "Narrowing the Distance: Implementing a Hybrid

Learning Model". Quarterly Review of Distance Education. IAP. 8 (1): 48–
49.

Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities. (2020). How

COVID-19 Is Changing The World: A Statistical Perspective. Retrieved
from https://unstats.un.org/unsd/ccsa/documents/covid19-report-ccsa.pdf

Smith, B. (2010). E-learning technologies: A comparative study of adult

learners enrolled on blended and online campuses engaging in a virtual
classroom

Sun, A., & Chen, X. (2016). Online education and its effective practice: A
research review. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research,
15, 157-190. Retrieved from
http://www.informingscience.org/Publications/3502

Croft, N., Dalton A. & Grant M. (2010) Overcoming Isolation in Distance

Learning: Building a Learning Community through Time and
Space, Journal for Education in the Built Environment, 5:1, 27-
64, DOI: 10.11120/jebe.2010.05010027
Vioreanu, Dana. How Do Online Classes Work? 6 Tips About
Communication During Online Studies. 20 Apr. 2020,
www.distancelearningportal.com/articles/248/how-do-online-classes-work-
6-tips-about-communication-during-online-studies.html.

Moore, M. G. (1989) Three types of interaction. American Journal of

Distance Education, 3 (2), 1-6

Bernard R. M., Rojo de Rubalcava B. & St-Pierre D. (2000). Collaborative

online distance learning: Issues for future practice and research. Distance
Education, 21 (2), 260-277