This writing was done in collaboration with Tori Brown.

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The term online courses was not very appealing in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The internet was in development stages in the 1990’s. Today in the 21st century everything is possible and acceptable when it comes to using the internet. Especially in education having access to the internet is a huge resource.

More and more of today’s university students screen time is competing with seat time. Today colleges are offering online courses to students which sound wonderful. Not having to go to a sit in class and show up on campus, no meeting the teacher in person and having test and quizzes online. Online courses for individuals juggling other things such as a work and family life, online courses seem to sound great until it comes time to do the online course. As for the universities online courses cut cost and provide student with more opportunities.

Online courses can be helpful when juggling day to day life but sometimes they are more trouble than they are worth. Students tend to be more lazy in an online class and things can be hard to negative. With online courses the students do not get to see the teacher in person and  usually communication is by via email which tends to delay response time. Another risk of online courses is the simple fact of the fail of technology. It is the worst when trying to complete an assignment and then the internet is acting up.

Advice for anyone jumping into an online class is to simply research it and talk to others to get advice and know what to expect. Some times with online classes one will learn to love it or hate it.

Annotated Bibliography

“CentreTech Campus.” Community College of Aurora in Colorado: Aurora, Denver Metro, and Online, www.ccaurora.edu/programs-classes/online-learning/benefits-online-education.

An online education course offers many benefits for students at both community colleges and universities. The first major benefit that students love is flexibility. Taking online education is the best option for students with other priorities that need to have a flexible school schedule. Online education allows students to manage their class assignments when it is convenient for them. Another benefit is the expense of taking an online course. College courses are typically expensive, but when taking education online the expenses tend to be less. The savings come from not having to spend money on fuel for transportation or for a parking pass on the campus.

The Community College of Aurora in Colorado states “Most people who choose online learning tend to have other commitments, and prefer this mode of learning as it gives them power over how they will delegate their time towards their different projects.” I agree with this statement and found it helpful to students who work a job or have kids and need to have a flexible schedule. When taking a seated course you have to plan your work and home life around that class on campus, whereas when taking an online course you can plan your school assignments around your work schedule and home life. Transportation plays a big role in college as well as money and I thought the information from this source was good advice for anyone trying to save money.  

Estelami, H. (2016). An exploratory study of the effects of online course efficiency perceptions on student evaluation of teaching (SET) measures. American Journal of Business Education (Online), 9(2), 67-n/a. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.19030/ajbe.v9i2.9613

An exploratory study of the effects of online course efficiency perceptions on student evaluation of teaching set mesures. “The results indicate, that contrary to belief, students who view online courses as efficient exhibit lower sentiments towards the course and the instructor, and are also academically weaker than other students.”

In the exploratory study it was found that students tend to think that taking an online course will be easy and sometimes that is not the case. Online courses tend to come along with more work and the student has to be able to stay on top of their assignments just like in a normal class. Also students tend to lower their expectations even towards the instructor of the online course.

Purdue University Global, Purdue University Global. “Classroom vs. Online Education.” Purdue Global,PurdueUniversityGlobal,8Jan.2019,www.purdueglobal.edu/blog/student-life/classroom-versus-online/.

Purdue global talks about the ups and downs of taking online courses and how it all depends on one’s work status, where someone lives, and someone’s learning style. Purdue states that the traditional classroom education experience requires you to attend classes in person, on a campus. This is still the most common way of learning, although a recent report suggests a decline in traditional college enrollment. Online education is becoming a more appealing option for many students. While on-campus enrollment saw slight year-over-year declines from 2014 to 2016, online enrollments saw increases.

Online courses are becoming more and more popular especially in today’s generation. Students are not just students they are parents, full time workers and have lives outside of school which makes it hard for them to be able to be in a classroom. Online courses are very helpful for students and some students even do school fully online due to their busy lives. The Journal of Public Affairs Education published a study that compared the effectiveness of online learning with in-classroom learning and found that Because of the distributed model of group studying, members may be slower to respond in the online setting. Although response time may be longer online, the quality of feedback tends to be more detailed and focused than in the classroom setting.

Tallent-Runnels, M., Thomas, J. A., Lan, W. Y., Cooper, S., & al, e. (2006). Teaching courses online: A review of the research. Review of Educational Research, 76(1), 93-125. Retrieved fromhttp://nclive.org/cgi-bin/nclsm?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/214117877?accountid=9935

Online courses are helpful for students who struggle to focus in a classroom setting. It allows the student to view the lecture powerpoints on their own time and at their own pace to retain the information. When students take a seated course on the campus, professors tend to move at such a fast pace that some students have a hard time keeping up. Professors moving quickly through the lecture can cause a negative effect on the students grades. Often times when a student falls behind during a lecture due to the speed that the professor is going, the student starts to lose focus and misses even more information.

I found this source useful because it gave solid results from data that was collected through an experiment. “Researchers collected data from undergraduate students who enrolled in either online or lecture sections of a psychology course throughout an academic year and then compared the results. They found students in the online sections acquired more content knowledge and performed better on in-class examinations than those in the lecture sections.” It is a struggle for a student to take an exam for a class and score a high grade on it if they did not retain the information from the lecture. Not everyone can learn at the same pace. Online courses are helpful to those who need to go at a slower pace to take notes and actually retain the information.

A word is dead by Emily Dickinson is a small six-line poem. Although small it has tremendous meaning. The small six-line poem gets your mind turning and thinking what might this mean? The first half of the poem ( lines 1-3.)

A word is dead

When it is said,

      Some say.

“A word is dead” ( line 1.) Can a word really be dead? Even after saying a word it still has meaning and purpose no matter how big or small. When ever words leave ones mouth it has meaning because the simple things that people think and say matter. Communication matters and is a huge factor in day to day life. Words are our way of communicating and without communication where would we be? How would the world get all of its wonderful thoughts and ideas? The second half of the poem (lines 4-6.)

I say it just

Begins to live

    That day.

Instead of a word dying after it is said, it simply lives. A word always lives because it has a purpose. No matter what the purpose might be. A famous quote “ Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King Jr. That is a powerful statement and after being spoken it is not dead simply because it left the speaker’s mouth. After it left Martin Luther King Jr.’s mouth it became living and is still living in the minds of people to this very day.

I believe A word is dead is an autobiographical poem in a way. Dickinson wrote almost 1,800 poems but only published a few and remained secluded in her family home. Dickinson was little known to the public, but after her death her friends and family made efforts to make her works widely read and celebrated ( page 847.) The poem relates to her life in a odd way. (lines 1-3.)

A word is dead

When it is said,

       Some say.

The 1,800 poems Dickinson wrote were not widely known. Perhaps they in a way were dead, but in the second half of the poem (lines 4-6.)

I say it just

Begins to live

      That day.

After Dickison died, through her family and friends her words lived and became widely read and celebrated.

Words. They are the window into peoples minds and thoughts. Words are powerful,  encouraging, inspiring, hateful, disgusting and even hurtful at times. Although words no matter how big or small shall never be forgotten.

Work Cited

Dickinson, Emily. “A word is dead.” The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings and Handbook. 4th ed., by Richard Bullock, Maureen Daly Goggin, and Francine Weinberg, 2016, p. 847.

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Alison Bechdel is a cartoon artist and a writer. Her graphic autobiography Fun Home : A Family Tragicomic was made into a Broadway musical. Within the tragicomic, Bechdel is telling a story of her childhood. Bechdel came to recognize her own sexuality and her father’s after his death. Fun Home provides a glimpse into Bechdel’s home where “[They] ate together but otherwise were absorbed in [their] separate pursuits (1002).

Bechdel’s tragicomic is a different way to tell a story. She serves as an example with two nights before her father died. Bechdel was trying to persuade her father to go uphill to see a beautiful sunset, but he never made it in time. Bechdel states that she was numb after the death of her father. Bechdel wonders what things would be like if people said what was actually on their mind. At her fathers funeral someone stated “ The lord moves in mysterious ways” (993).

Bechdel’s response was “ Yes. He does” (993). What she really wanted to say was “ There’s no mystery! He killed himself because he was a manic-depressive, closeted fag and he couldn’t face living in this small- minded town one more second” (993).

Bechdel’s tragicomic then moves on to the simple face of what if things would have turned out differently? She wonders what life might have been. “ If only he’d been able to escape the gravitational tug of Beech Creek” (1006). Through her tragicomic she explains how her mother and father influenced her. Bechdel says that from their example  she quickly learned to feed herself. The more gratification they found in their geniuses, the more isolated they became as a family. In the end of the tragicomic there is a photograph of the Fun Home with everyone in the home doing different things. “ Our home was like an artist colony” (1002). “ And in this isolation, our creativity took on an aspect of compulsion.” (1002). The Fun Home is an interesting view into another’s life. The little things such as parents being involved in amazing and creative things yet being set so far apart from their own family.

Works Cited

Bechdel, Allison. Excerpt. “Fun Home.” The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings and Handbook. 4 th ed., by Richard Bullock, Maureen Daly Goggin, and Francine Weinberg, 2016, pp. 990-1003.

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Twelve years ago at the age of six I received the greatest Christmas present ever. It was a four month old French Bulldog! His name is Mugsy. He is tan with big ole ears that always stick straight up. He has the cutest and squishiest face. He is a huge part of the family! Mugsy goes on all vacations with us and he just eats it up. Mugsy’s two favorite things are begging for food and being lazy, he is an expert at being lazy!! That is why he is the best cuddle buddy. My life would not be the same with out my chunky frenchie (:

Mugsy & I when we were both little, and Mugsy eating ham (:

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton