No Credibility, No Clue! In his 2011 article, “Reliance on Online Materials Hinders Learning Potential for Students,” David Smith attempts to build upon student’s obligated online interaction to make a case against online classes. Smith first shows how much today’s learners must use online materials by using the example of his own Alma Mater. By referencing his own experience at the University of Nebraska—Lincoln, with MyRED and EBSCO search engine, Smith lays the grounds for the focus of his argument. He then attempts to use what seem to be personal examples of experience with online coursework while begging the question through repeated examples. By failing to establish the credibility of his facts, attempting to force his own …show more content…
Because Smith never offers up any backing for his word, the reader is left to speculate how he came up with all his information and why they should believe anything he has to say. Smith goes on and on, mentioning example after good example while never once backing up what he has to say. Smith fails to cite an outside source or use any statistic to back up what he’s saying. On the other hand, his writing fails to account for his audience, the University of Nebraska—Lincoln Students that are reading The Daily Nebraskan should have a basic understanding of all the things that he mentions: Blackboard; EBSCO; MyRED; but instead Smith builds his argument upon information that is more distracting than helpful (4). Smith introduces his audience to the benefits of online coursework and resources at the beginning of his argument, builds upon what some of these resources are, before finally moving on to explaining how online classes encourage irresponsibility. Finally Smith exposes himself, clearly using his own experience as his only reference. As he begins his argument against online coursework, he cites his own experience, “The instructions for such courses are, at least in my experience, pared down to the following: “Read this by this date, this by this date, and this by this date.’” (11). Going on, many of the sentences in his argument begin with “I” as Smith uses his own opinion and
In order to unravel college students’ desperation of choosing whether they should enroll in an online course, Content Marketing Specialist of Collegis Education, Kristina Ericksen, has devoted experience from taking online courses to produce and provide a solution for any student. Her written article for Rasmussen College, “What I Wish Someone Told Me BEFORE Taking Online Classes,” exploits the hidden challenges and the usual shortcomings that bears in the name of online learning, such as there are certain learning styles that are not meant for staring at a computer screen, so according to Ericksen, “an advantage to one student may be a disadvantage to another.” While learning styles is only one of her subtopics in the article,
There are many different ways to obtain a college degree, whether it is attending class in a classroom or taking online courses. Online learning is the more popular way nowadays because it is more convenient and more flexible, however, there are stipulations to taking online classes. In the "Read-Only Participants: A Case for Student Communication in Online Classes” article, it breaks down the ins and outs of online learning and how it can be beneficial to the students, the advantages and disadvantages, and how you can be a successful student by participating and not just being a “read-only” student.
However, Barszcz points out that freshman enrolled in only DL courses are 15 percent more likely to drop out, and that the “Students themselves seem to understand the weaknesses inherent in the setup.”(7) Another example of this is where the author speaks of a survey conducted for eCornell. The survey showed that “Less than a third of the respondents expected the quality of the on-line courses to be as good as the classroom course.”(7) Barszcz strongly produces yet another illustration: “Regardless of their expectations or desires,” (7) Fairleigh Dickinson University students, “are now required to take one DL course per year.”(7) This is supposed to give students the skills necessary to function properly in today’s technological age. Conversely, he explains that these universities are more interested in making money that preparing their students for the future.
Online courses have started within the past 30 years as a means of learning. With increases in Internet use, many U.S. schools offer online classes. Because of the main disparities amid online course and face to face instruction, numerous questions have been brought forth in regard to the quality of online courses. This research will help American college students to understand the difference between online classes and face-to-face courses, and give them an idea that how effective that online classes are. Therefore, the leading research question of this study is what advantages and disadvantages of
in oneself (page 34)." Michael Smith, born in 1945, always had his head in the
It could easily be said that Harris’s writing style in his arguments is so narrow minded and one-sided that it is the ultimate detriment to the many points he is
One other conventional wisdom is from the writer of the essay. She states in the sixth paragraph, that by taking online classes, we are missing out our experiences with nature, and also has negative impact on our physical and mental health. I found this argument true is some way. Yet, staying behind a computer for a long period of time will not benefit our health, but this does not imply the negative effects of online courses, since
During Smiths article, he goes into extensive detail by viewing multiple concepts, while taking considerable care to never swaying one way or the other, as such, Smith remains unbiased throughout his entire work. Smiths article was fascinating reading, even though, as a species, humans have evolved a higher level of consciousness, we still in moments of
“I’ll let you know when I have reached a decision,” replied Professor Smith. “My work is of extreme danger and importance. I’m not sure if I can trust my work to you yet.”
What do you think of when you hear the word Credibility? If you ask around, then you are sure to end up with many different answers and they all may be the right answer. Being credible is a very important thing for any person or business because it only makes you look better. For someone to know that they can depend on you to get things done correctly and on time could never be a negative thing. I will now discuss exactly what the word credibility means and its significance to me and the corporate world.
In today’s society, so many people are continuing their education beyond high school. We realize that in order to make a decent living, a degree is most likely a requirement. In some cases even a bachelor’s degree is not enough to qualify for many positions. Nevertheless, thanks to technology, we now have the option to learn online or in a traditional classroom setting. There are very few differences between the two, and students need to understand that as much time and energy will need to be devoted to the online courses as on a campus. “A 2010 meta-analysis and review of online-learning studies concluded that online learning was as good as or slightly more effective than traditional face-to-face instruction” (Mendenhall, 2011).
Online college courses are almost becoming traditional for students. Some may perceive that a student does not receive an equal education when taking an online class. People tend to think that if a teacher is not directly giving the information about the subject, the course learning experience is different or unjust. This assumption is wrong according to the perception of many online course takers. Online college courses offer students the advantage to learn on their own time. The skills that a student learns in self-discipline, scheduling to complete graded assignments, and advantages learned with technology gives online classes equal education experience compared to classes on campus.
However, advocates of classroom learning believe the online method isolates the students from one another as well as their professor minimizing the overall value of taking the course. They also claim that students learn better when working together with their instructor and their fellow classmates. Students learn better when they are given the opportunity to ask questions, join in class discussions, and they move the process of learning forward through their participation. Face-to-face advocates firmly believe that this kind of interaction is not possible over the Internet; and for many types of education, e-learning will never meet the potential of live human interaction in the classroom. An article in the New York Times titled, “Second Thoughts on Online Education,” backs up the points made above. A recent research published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, comes to the conclusion; “A rush to online education
Technology is changing every aspect in our lives, even the way we learn. Online classes are a rapidly growing trend it today’s society. Online classes are a cost-effective substitute for traditional courses and more convenient for many, so more schools and universities are offering this option. Due to the increase in online course enrollment, people are questioning if students truly learn something from online classes because it’s not a traditional learning environment. Online classes are just, if not more, effective as traditional classes because grades have increased and online discussions provide students with the chance to interact through networking while earning a degree for less than what it would cost to enroll at the same university.
Education has undergone significant changes because of the development of information and communication technology over the 21st century (Lin & Jou, 2012:2). As a convenient and inexpensive way to gain knowledge while pursuing higher education, online learning, a form of training or teaching that takes place over the Internet, has been considered as an alternative to traditional classroom learning (Zhang et al, 2004). This essay will argue that even though online learning has benefit such as flexibility which could outweigh traditional learning, traditional classroom learning might still not be entirely replaced. This essay will discuss positive and negative aspects of online and traditional learning in terms of four criteria: