By learning to summarize large works of literature, I can critically analyze the piece and gain a deeper understanding of the ideas and themes and purpose of a piece of writing. Thinking critically will benefit writers by establishing a form of credibility, the fact the writer took time to really pick apart a piece of work and use an open mind to understand the point of view makes people view the writer as educated and intelligent. Critically analyzing pieces helps to prevent miscommunication between author and audience. This would benefit individuals in society because they would have a developed opinion and be able to utilize their voice in a clear way, while also being objective to new ideas. Anything that expressing ideas, feelings, or thoughts is considered text. Looking through this lens of what is considered text, leads me to believe that anyone can be an author. When reading the blog about blogging it helped me to understand that everyone has a voice and that we can better understand people around us by viewing them as an author.Photography as a text means we have to use critical thinking to get at what the artist is saying. Tweets are used to display our interests, opinions, and share them with the world. This gives us a platform to share our voices and communicate to understand a person or community.
In “Combating Myths about Distance Education”, Todd Gilman writes of his experiences in online and in person teaching as he explains how to have a successful online career of teaching and learning. He starts by establishing his credibility as an online instructor since 2002. Once he listed his credentials,he dives straight into the ignorance surrounding online courses. According to Gilman, large state universities do not see him and other online teachers as “a real boy” (Gilman 100). By this he means to show that he doesn’t feel as though schools recognize online teaching as effective. The author uses logos to appeal to the audience’s logic when he states, “... good students in a traditional classroom also make good online students because the key to online learning is initiative and a strong sense of responsibility, qualities that all really good students seem to have”(Gilman 101). He uses this specific example of logos to prove that the success of any class is in the hands of the student’s attitude as much as the professor’s attitude towards the course. This is also used to explain why good classroom teachers have a hard time adjusting to online teaching -- because online instructors have to be organized, and have an easy to understand course design to be successful. Gilman also makes the claim that successful online courses are effective through non-flexible due dates (Gilman 102). His claim is proven through his comparison to deadlines in classrooms. When Gilman says,”... think of your new role, not as the sage of the stage, but the guide on the side”, he is using pathos to make future online educators feel a sense of relief as well as place some responsibility on online students. Overall Gilman’s arguments are effective in clarifying his ideas and using reason to persuade the audience that online education isn’t what myths about distance education make it out to be.
Works cited
Gilman, Todd. "Combating Myths about Distance Education." Ethics in Higher Education: A Reader for Writers. By Nancy Henke, Lisa Langstraat, Adam Mackie, and Emily Morgan. N.p.: Fountain Head, n.d. 99-103. Print.
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