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Why Do Students Gain In Online Writing Classes?

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Kate Kiefer in her essay, “Do Students Lose More than They Gain in Online Writing Classes?” addresses many shortcomings of online learning, particularly in regards to the subject of writing. Kiefer discusses numerous issues concerning how online learning has become a popular trend among students, but this online process is flawed and students are not acquiring proper learning skills—as they would within a class. Kiefer goes on to discuss deficits such as classroom support software, students facing time constraints, and models of education based on how the “market” wants to learn. An important aspect of the essay Kiefer discusses is the high-level of disconnect caused by an online educational platform between students and instructors, as well …show more content…

In reading “Do Students Lose More than They Gain in Online Writing Classes?” Kiefer has many concerns in whether or not a student truly benefits from an online educational platform. I, myself, am more proactive and diligent in an online learning environment than an actual classroom I have come to realize. Though overall, for the majority; there is much to be lost in the online learning process as there is a disengagement caused by an online educational platform between the student, fellow classmates, instructor, and the class itself. There is a concern whether or not there is much value in online learning for numerous reasons. Kiefer discusses the effectiveness of online learning, specifically writing and how it’s affected by the teacher to student ratio. Kiefer discusses, 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). It is an obvious fact that more students an instructor has to attend to, the quality of instruction will be degraded and eventually diminish the purpose of a …show more content…

A student’s ability to ask questions and share opinions are fundamental learning activities. Kiefer discusses, “political and economic realities are pushing more and more students into online education” (Kiefer, 2007). I believe this to be true and this is affecting core values of learning. Also, a student learns and understands more effectively when they are teaching others. This is not possible in an online environment, and especially with writing courses where peer-to-peer review is necessary. Online learning requires adjustments to be made by instructors and students for successful interaction to occur. Online courses often define classroom interaction by having discussion boards, synchronous chat, electronic bulletin boards, and emails. Statistics show that, “67% of college instructors believe video, blogs, podcasts, and other online media are necessary teaching tools” (University of the Potomac n.d.), whether courses are being taught online or through traditional methods. Though, effectiveness of such interactive venues are not without

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However, the opposite tends to be true. Online classes show a correlation to student "attrition" (Carr, 2000). Bambara et al. recognized that the idealistic view of online courses (helping students become better with technology and offering convenience) is based off of opinions and not off of facts and data (Cox, 2005; Kozeracki, 1999). They also found from (York, 2003) that student retention rate is very low in online courses.

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