The Critique Essay

Writing Assignment Number 1

The Critique Essay

The Critique Essay

In the eighth chapter of the book titled, Brave New Classrooms: Democratic Education & the Internet by Joe Lockard, ‎& Mark Pegrum, Kate Kiefer poses a question: Do Students Lose More than They Gain in Online Writing Classes? The author talks about various challenges students face while taking online writing classes. The author’s arguments discuss the manner in which students potentially lack from the various circumstances associated with online writing classes. Kiefer acknowledges that there are other important aspects of online learning, there are also numerous challenges associated with online learning. Reading through this chapter in the book, it becomes apparent that online writing programs at the university level may not necessarily be capable of meeting the educational needs of every student.

According to Kiefer, “In most instances, teaching usually takes place in small classes because of numerous factors associated with workload and classroom management”. While some of the issues that the author discusses in chapter eight are theoretical or pedagogical factors since the author seems to believe that they are the issues determining the students’ successes or failures? The author also indicates that such factors are associated with theoretical issues of language development. The author further addresses concerns of cultural, language principles, and socio-cognitive theories.

Kate Kiefer concentrates on contemporary writing and learning methods that affect the learning process during online writing classes. The author believes that the benefits of online classes barely benefits students since interaction is only through texts. The author closes the article by indicating that students must play their role in online classes by embracing the urge of sharing ideas and valuable insights.

To quote Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones, “compared purely online and blended learning...