Strategies for Online Learning—Week 5, Assignment 3
Based on your experience so far, how do you think your opinions of others are formed in an online environment?
My opinion of others online is limited mostly to their academic abilities. All I know about them is through their schoolwork and in-class participation. All I see as a representative sample of them is their writing (and in a few cases, their drawing). As shallow a conclusion as can be drawn about someone as through their writing, I have done.
I am a stickler for grammatical and syntactical correctness. I don’t appreciate people misusing the English language, whether it is through misspelled words or improper punctuation. As an editor of my high school newspaper for my entire high school career and teacher’s assistant in my grammar class, I have been taught to appreciate good writers, those who value and show appreciation of our language by caring enough to learn it carefully and use it effectively. Of them, I form a much higher opinion than those who obviously have no regard, those who do not even care enough to check their spelling.
While not mentioning any names, give an example of an opinion you have about someone from another online class, preferably a comment that is less than positive. Discuss how you arrived at this opinion and talk about what you can do to turn it into a positive opinion.
Just yesterday, while reviewing another student’s work, I came across some very familiar material. The student had directly copied from a “source” and pasted to the class discussion board, presumably as his own work. While the student did cite his source, none of the work was his own. Of him, I hold a low opinion for his lack of ingenuity and creativity, for not holding himself in high enough regard to trust his own abilities to achieve an acceptable, passable grade in the course.
My response to his post:
[Student’s name], is any of this your writing?
Your first three paragraphs are written by Joseph P. Ulibas from Sacramento, CA as evidenced on http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/usercomments. This is his copyrighted material.
The rest of your post is copied from your second listed “source,” Wikipedia. Luckily for you, there are no copyright issues with copying directly from Wikipedia.
You should not hope to get a good grade—or any grade at all—if you simply copy someone else’s work. I don’t know whether you are planning to turn in your own work, but surely this will not cut it for the assignment.
Working at a newspaper, I have the privilege of working with people who know the value of words—in a very real, monetary sense. A simple typographical oversight can result in an onslaught of phone calls and nasty e-mail messages berating our establishment for its carelessness. It has been rather difficult at times to have been forced by the mandate of the course requirements to read other students’ work. At times, I have encountered sentences whose meaning, despite my best efforts, I truly could not decipher. Even the course lectures themselves are in places, albeit few, poorly written.
In the case of this person’s writing, I see nothing that I can do to change my opinion positively other than to lower my own literary standards, which I am afraid I cannot in good conscience do. What he could do to better his own standing in my eyes is to show the work ethic required to turn a complete, cohesive assignment that utilizes, not copies, his sources to reinforce the points he attempts to make.
Discuss your strengths that have been pointed out by other students in the class.
People have noticed my attention to detail as it pertains to my writing. Yesterday, Tiffany Martinez, a classmate in this course, stated that she “did not see any grammar or spelling errors on [my] paper,” which she had reviewed. She also said that my school Web site “is well done and easy to read,” implying that another of my strengths is my adeptness at Web design.
What can you do to turn your negative attitudes around?
I don’t believe that my high standards should be misconstrued as negative attitudes, haughtiness, or self-absorption. Therefore, I also do not see a need to change.
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