Internet Class Why Have You

Internet Class

Why have you opted to take ENGL 1010 via the Internet? What advantages does this offer you and what obstacles do you foresee given this learning format and your personality/learning style?

Why take a class where so many students already spend far too much of their social life, namely in the virtual reality of the online universe, when one instead has the opportunity to leave the claustrophobic of one's personal office and head out into the relatively fresher air of a real world classroom? Some of my reasons, of course, are practical -- the Internet class format offers unprecedented convenience in terms of personal scheduling. It offers a certain relief and release from the confines of an already cramped class and personal schedule. There is no commuting time from class to class, no long spaces between classes to while away -- those annoying break periods too short to do research, but long enough to add up at the end of the day.

However, the Internet format also offers some unintentional learning advantages. One may judge classmate upon his or her input alone, rather than appearance, age, race, or even gender. One simply reads classmates and teacher postings and judges accordingly, upon writing alone rather than upon more subjective, visual criteria. Furthermore, taking a beginning English class forces a student to express his or herself clearly and concisely in print, rather than to rely upon one's own personality, appearance, or rhetorical skills as in a class, when debating or expressing a literary opinion. Thus the Internet format hones a student' abilities in a very focused fashion on the page. This also increases the student's focus on to the texts of the course, when writing, as he or she is more likely to have the text open in front of him or herself when responding to classmates' posts online.

In online print, one cannot meander. Unlike in life, where an individual may pretend to listen out of politeness our courteous respect, if one does not write well in an online class, one's posts are likely to be ignored, not taken seriously, or very rigorously critiqued. But what better introduction is there to writing than to be judged solely upon one's critical writing? Although one does not interact personally with other student writers in the online class format, one does not have the ability to interact with the writers of the texts one reads, either. One judge a classical essayist based on his or her quality of prose, and in an Internet forum one can judge a fellow student opinion based on the same standard, the quality and fluidness of the prose and the soundness of the student's opinion. Also, without the pressures of personal interaction, one is likely to be more honest about one's opinions and to take more risks about expressing one's own, potentially risky thoughts about a controversial subject.