Blog 11 - Online Courses

 In this recent reading, I like how this became a way to understand the benefits and cons of teaching writing online. The aim for the piece was to see the challenges and wins faced through this experiment and to see the reaction and earnest feedback provided by the students. Part of what I truly enjoyed are the templates provided by Scott. He gives an outline of his syllabus and as a potential instructor, I see it as a teaching tool for myself; I enjoy how he goes through the pieces and makes sure that the students are aware of what his class will incorporate. Although I did enjoy the reading, I was adverse to two topics introduced: the moderator and the teacher being a devil's advocate. 

Firstly, the moderator allows one person to continuously stimulate the arguments in the discussion board between the students. My only concern falls on the idea of this person failing to do their role and the other students having to squander in the confusion as to what would be the best means to addressing this concern. 

Secondly, the devil's advocate role seemed a little nerdy to me. I can see why adding fuel to the fire and having the student writers truly pen off their beliefs on the discussion boards but also notice that it can make the students a little uncomfortable with the idea of challenging the teacher's argument; even if it s faux pas statement. 

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