RESEARCH PAPER TEMPLATE

North American University

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

Name:My Bui____________________ Date: 10/23/2017__________________

Topic 2: 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:
 Distance learning was developed to better assist a wider range of purposes such
as online courses or training, and of learners for who cannot attend face-to-face
th
classrooms. “Distance education has been around at least since the late years of the 19

century and was based on correspondence via mail” (Geri N., 2012, pg. 3). Online
learning has been well-known for being low-cost, learner-centered (Udroiu, A. M.,
2016, pg.1), capability of enabling flexibility of time, place, and pace of learning.
Therefore, contemporary researchers and technologists have studied, invented, and
provided instructors and learners with appropriate opportunities for employing distance
learning.

However, previous studies conclude that students, in general, “prefer traditional

in-class studying, even when they are offered a rich e-learning environment that
includes video lectures, exercises, and personal online tutoring” (Geri N., 2012, pg. 3).
Moreover, student retention throughout online course has been considered as a draw
back of distance learning. Students’ preference of face-to-face instruction and retention
from online courses originate from the lack of social interaction.

“Socialization is the ability of learners to identify with community,

communicate purposefully in a trusting environment, and develop inter-personal
relationships by way of projecting their individual personalities” (Tucker, S. Y. (2012),
pg. 175). Socialization is essential between teacher and students, and among students
with students in order to reduce online class takers’ loneliness.

The purpose of this review is to introduce and explain three researched

innovative tools that help alleviating social-interactions. They are Centra, Progressor,
and video lectures.
 A. Centra:

Centra is an innovative “synchronous software system that incorporates real-

time audio and video”(Tucker, S. Y. 2012, pg. 178), enabling students to work, learn,
and communicate together online in real-time, while seeing each other and talking to
others simultaneously. Centra users can create interactive presentations and contribute
to learning content together by using software’s friendly content creation tools. Centra
also has content library, for participants can access to previously recorded sessions for
further references and reviews. “Participants were able to share apps from their own
personal computers for everyone to see” (Tucker, S. Y., 2012, pg. 5). Centra, by
increasing real time virtual interactions between instructor and students and among
learners, improves students’ participation and feeling of belonging. At the end of the
research constructed by Tucker Shelia Y (2012), “students asked for additional chat
sessions using Centra for the class; and, they scheduled additional sessions among
themselves without the instructor to discuss projects, assignments, and other
classes” (Tucker, S. Y. (2012), pg. 181).

B. Progressor:

Progressor is another promoting students’ contact with others by enabling

students to see other’s progress and modelings besides of their reports of progress
presented in an easy and holistic view. Based on comparing their progress with others’,
students are motivated to attempt more questions. Also, students are aware of levels of
easy, reachable, or challenging questions because of the whole class’s performances on
specific questions. Consequently, students were reported to explore more topics,
attempt more questions even beyond the course’s schedule, and to perform better on
questions with higher success rates. Furthermore, since students can track others’
performance, “the top students successfully led the way to discovering most relevant
resources by creating clear pathways for weaker students” (Hsiao, I. H et.al. 2013, pg.
2). Students can also set who will and will not be able to track their progress, so sharing
is based on students’ willingness.
 C. Video lectures:

Video lecture, even though not newly invented, is still mentioned in this review
due to its considerable contribution in easing the loneliness of distant learners. Videos
lectures can be synchronous or asynchronous. Students and instructors can interact
virtually with video and audio calls in virtual conference room in synchronous video
sessions. On the other side, “asynchronous video sessions provide the learners with the
opportunity to select the time, place, and pace of learning that fit their individual needs”
(Geri N., 2012, pg. 3). In the same article, the author also recommends educators to
motivate students to actively watch and interact with others. These activities may
consist of taking notes, answering online quizzes, or preparing assignments (Geri N.,
2012, pg. 5).

Suggestions for administrators:

Distance teaching and learning are more challenging than in face-to-face

classes for both instructors and students. Instructors spend significant time on preparing
lessons, providing resources, and maintaining contacts in order to support students with
qualified and resourceful individualized learning. Administrators of schools or
institutions offering online classes, on the other hand, have a significant voice and make
important decisions on what and how to deliver content. Following are several
suggestions to administrators listed by Olesen T. K. (2012): setting realistic goals and
benchmarks, determining deployment method whether solely as distance or hybrid,
establishing and communicating clear policies and procedures for reaching goals,
developing professional development goals, and communicating their genuine interests
in technology and online offerings (Olesen T. K., 2012, pg. 37-38).
2. REFLECTION:

1. I totally agree with those resources that I cited. As an online student for
several courses, I have been experiencing occasionally the lack of socialization while
not being face to face with my instructors and my classmates. At the beginning of the
semester, discussion’s question was to introduce about oneself, and I included a big
photo of myself, with the hope that others would do the same. I was so disappointed
that nobody did, and wandering if it was a real class, since I could not imagine how
humanlike my classmates look. The desire to get to know others and express myself
emotionally and humanly were so big that I spent a lot of time writing posts that my
classmates would be able to relate to. My needs were so huge that I would smile and
be happy when my instructor asked “How is it going so far for you guys?” in a
synchronous video session. I have been so frustrated that I have not received
feedbacks on my tests or not be able to discuss with whole class about questions that
I could never understand how I got wrong. Personally, these researches help me
realize I am not alone.
2. As being aware of students’ and instructors’ desires to be “virtually being
there and beyond”, I would like to accompany my high school students online
tutorials, virtual lectures and instructions as supplement to teaching in class. I can
use conferencing tools such as join.me, zoom.us or appear.in along with Twiddla, a
virtual whiteboard, to construct online tutorials or online reviews with my students in
needs. I will also record those synchronous video sessions with screen casting tools,
such as Screencast-O-Matic, so that my students can access to them at their own time
and pace. I will also upload those videos on class’ social media page, such as
Edmodo. This will help my students keep in touch with others and class’ content up
to date. Absent students will not be left behind when they can access to assignments
and video tutorials uploaded to class’ Edmodo. I will also from time to time design
flipped lessons, which requires students to watch video and master concepts at home
for in-class practice. Acknowledging that students might passively watch those
videos in real time or at later time, I will provide my students with notes so that
students can take note on designated sections, write questions and practice. For
increased students’ participation, students will be required to discuss and summarize
what they learn from videos at the beginning of the class before moving on to
practice section in class.
3. If I teach a solely online class in the future, I will implement those ideas
from cited researches for a better socialized environment. At the beginning of the
semester, I will prepare a video on how to use a specific conference tool, such as
Centra, appear.in, join.me, zoom.us or GoToMeeting by using Screencast-O-Matic.
This is to set my students ready for first virtual conference with all of my students, so
that everyone can introduce oneself and visualize how their classmates look like.
This is to emphasize the importance of socialization in my classroom. I will also
require my students to insert their personal photos for profile pictures, so that
students can visualize whom they are responding to on discussion boards. Weekly or
bi-weekly synchronous conferences will be conducted for lectures. Throughout
lectures, questions will be posted for students’ active participation, and pop-up short
online quizzes will be given at the end. Students who cannot attend virtual
conferences are required to write a report or a summary for participation grade.
There will be a window of time for students to take quiz, so that students can discuss
and ask questions on tests or quizzes. I will have office hours, accept phone calls in
my working hours, and encourage my students to call me for assistance. The
message of me-being-in-reach will be delivered eagerly in the first conference.
Progressor might also be implemented for students can track and compare their
progresses with others’. Students are also required to collaborate with others for
group work such as group presentations.
3. REFERENCES:

Geri, N. (2012). The resonance factor: Probing the impact of video on student

retention in distance learning. Interdisciplinary Journal of E-Learning and

Learning Objects, 8(1), 1-13.

Hsiao, I. H., Bakalov, F., Brusilovsky, P., & König-Ries, B. (2013). Progressor: social

navigation support through open social student modeling. New Review of

Hypermedia and Multimedia, 19(2), 112-131.

Olesen-Tracey, K. (2010). Leading online learning initiatives in adult education.

Journal of Adult Education, 39(2), 36.

Tucker, S. Y. (2012). Promoting socialization in distance education. Turkish Online

Journal of Distance Education, 13(1).

Udroiu, A. M. (2016, January). NEW PERSPECTIVES ON DISTANCE LEARNING

IN INTELLIGENCE EDUCATION. In The International Scientific

Conference eLearning and Software for Education (Vol. 1, p. 405). " Carol I"

National Defence University.