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Tiffany Smith
December 11, 2016
ePortfolio Item 4: Article Reviews
In distant education, its important for future teachers/educators to understand the
different aspects of online classrooms in contrast to on-campus classrooms. In this short
response, I will be reviewing 3 scholarly articles on distant education: Online Learning Tools for
Distant Education, Understanding the User in Online Education, Preparing Special Educators
for the K-12 Online Learning Environment: A Survey of Teacher Educators.
The first article, Online Learning Tools for Distant Education, written by Professor
Suzanne Stear and Professor Scott Mensch of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, gives a list of
innovative online tools to engage online learners better. The tools mentioned in this article, more
specifically, promote student interaction and learning in the online classroom (Stear and
Mensch, 57). The tools/programs include Camtasia, Schoology, Examview, Blackboard, Moodle
and Youtube. In addition to the tools, the article Online Learning Tools for Distant Education
paints a picture of the advantages and disadvantages worth considering while using these
educational tools (Stear and Mensch, 57). The disadvantages include when there is only one
type of interaction available to students and the loss of access to educational material when
power outages occur (Stear and Mensch, 58, 60). This article is important because its essential
for educators to stay educated on the current technologies available for use, especially if an
educator intends on teaching through distance.
The second article, Understanding the User in Online Education, written by Ryan G.
Wilson, Doctor of Philosophy, discusses the opinions and characteristics of online users. The first

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step in understanding the online user, as said by Wilson, is to define the audience (Wilson, 28).
In order to best define the audience, surveying seemed to be the best way to gage how the
audience reacted to online learning. After surveying distant education users, they had similar
comments to say in response to the interaction among other students: Im far more interested in
what the professor has to say than what other students have to say. Im paying the professional
to teach me. Im not there to improve my social life. Or As a professional adult finishing up
my education, my goal is to complete my education NOT make friends with students who are the
same age as my children. Or Meeting a person in real life builds better relationship than those
in a discussion feed (Wilson, 40). Although there was a variation of opinions to the online
courses, Wilson strove to convey a feeling of inadequacy in the distant education field. This is an
important article because feedback is crucial in improving the education field. The more
educators know about their students and their online class, the more they can do to cater to their
needs. If I ever teach online, I would use this article in order to shape my online classroom in the
best way I can.
The third and final article, Preparing Special Educators for the K-12 Online Learning
Environment: A Survey of Teacher Educators, written by Sean J. Smith, James Basham, Mary F.
Rice, and Richard A. Carter Jr., is centralized around measuring the standards of teachers to be
met through online learning (Smith, Basham, Rice, and Carter, 170). Through deep study, a
research base that was looking to set out standards resulted in the development of iNACOLs
National Standards for Quality Online Teaching (Smith, Basham, Rice, and Carter, 171). The
standards outline what is expected from teachers who are primarily online educators. These
standards shed light onto what is expected from teachers online, but they are not an
accreditation body (Smith, Basham, Rice, and Carter, 172). This is important because a set of

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guidelines in necessary to lead new instructors on a path to best teach their students. As a future
educator, this applies to me if I decide to teach online. I personally benefit highly from being
able to follow a set of instructions in contrast to trying something new out with no guidelines.

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References
Smith, S. J., Basham, J., Rice, M. F., & Carter, R. A. (2016). Preparing Special Educators for the
K12 Online Learning Environment: A Survey of Teacher Educators. Journal of Special
Education Technology, 31(3), 170-178.
Stear, S., & Mensch, S. (2012, September 1). Online Learning Tools for Distant Education.
Global Education Journal.
Wilson, R. G. (2015). Understanding the User in Online Education. ProQuest Dissertations
Publishing.