Kiefer's Essay Do Students Gain In Online Writing Classes

Kiefer, K, author of essay, “Do Students Lose More than they Gain in Online Writing Classes?” revels her issue with students not gaining from the curriculum on web-based/online classes. She discusses her opinion based of past and present experiences, while teaching both distant and face to face classes as an advanced writing professor. She describes online writings classes as erroneous and deceitful. Kiefer explains although online classes are offered by many institutions it is not in the students favor and often used as an incentive for colleges. Kiefer believes that online classes are dreadful to not only the professors but also the students. I disagree with Kiefer for may reason on her outlook and view on distance learning. In Kiefer’s essay she writes about students time constraints, she states, “Students’ situations differ, of course, but most of my students work full-time and take one or two online

Kiefer writes, “Little wonder, then, that teachers of writing insist that students are best able to learn to write most effectively when they can create and respond to specific language contexts in small groups of students (15–25 students in the class as a whole, with smaller groupings of 2–5 students working on targeted collaborative activities).” (Kiefer, 2007). Although students can interact with other students via email, chatroom, or discussion post, it is difficult for a student to learn from a classmate through these lines of communication. Face to face interaction allows a student to feed off and learn from a classmate because they are in the same space and able to exchange ideas in a direct approach. In some cases a student may learn from a peer better than they would a teacher because they are more comfortable and willing to receive the