Review of Literature

The literature review eventually becomes my paper's opening argument and what it does is provides the reader a written map of what my topic is and how it ties into the academic world. The review also shows how my sources are intertwined. 

Within the past decade, many academic conversations have involved the issue of implementing online writing courses for college freshmen, and these scholars, teachers, and students argue what effects are brought and what skills are given or taken with the use of this technology. The main issue here is between modern and online teaching and how they compare against each other to prove which method is more efficient. This is also important because depending on which teaching method proves better, then colleges could potentially change how writing courses are administered. However, in my research and in developing my paper, I hope to learn more about the mental skills students acquire and the arguments they have to include into the academic journals and conversation taking place.

            I have many sources that are in favor of online writing courses and they include the articles of: “First-Year College Student Beliefs About Writing Embedded in Online Discourse: An Analysis and Its Implications For Literacy Learning.” , “Online Synonym Materials and Concordance for EFL College Writing.” , “Virtual Academic Community: Online Education Instructors: Social Presence in Association with Freshmen Composition Students’ Critical Thinking and Argumentation.” , “Project Vision: An Online Learning Initiative for College Freshmen.” , “An examination of At-Risk College Freshmen’s Expository Literacy Skills Using Interactive Online Writing Activities.” , “Out of class – out of mind? The use of a virtual learning environment to encourage student engagement in out of class activites.”

            Also, my articles against the idea of using technology for writing courses include: “Examining the Influence of Multimodal New Media Texts and Technologies on First-Year Writing Pedagogies.” , “Do ICT Competences Support Educational Attainment at University?”

            Alternately, I found articles that contain a neutral perception or a way to infuse both positive and negative means in mind for a solution: “Promoting Engagement For All Students: The Imperative To Look Within. 2008 Results.” , “Moving First-Year Writing Online: Applying Social Cognitive Theory To An Exploration of Student Study Habits and Interactions.”

            What the first group of sources adds to my paper is the advantages of using online writing courses bring to a student’s education. Most of these sources involve the concepts of constructivism and how this idea strengthens students’ awareness and communication skills. It was also researched and proven on how online discussion boards enhance conversation between peers which helps bring together varied ideas and form into one greater idea. Another argued that online writing courses could easier focus on getting rid of common adjectives and phrases to emphasize a stronger base of vocabulary words for college freshmen. Despite the rigorous coursework, students in sample groups reported that these online modules do help and their higher GPAs reflect the difference.

            The second set of sources inserts along the negatives of using technology. One of the popular arguments includes how online writing courses wouldn’t be able to properly teach the rules and functions of grammar, spelling, organization, and punctuation to students. Scholars also feel that there is no problem with modern teaching and argue many teachers will lose their jobs due to the switch to more computer-based classes. Another concept was that researchers felt, compared to modern teaching, online writing courses had little to no effect on students’ educational attainment.

            In specific, the positive group of sources varies little by little if put under subcategories. “First-Year College…Implications for Literacy Learning,” brings to my paper specifically about online discussion boards and key skills derived from using these online modules. This article is also highly credible due to the author being a professor from University of Northern Iowa and their judgment is quite even-handed. “Online Synonym…College Writing,” brings into the argument how online modules can also help foreign college freshmen and how it can broaden these students limited vocabulary. Through a research project, this is proven as credible and is also un-biased. “Virtual Academic Community…Critical Thinking and Argumentation,” explains the theory of how critical thinking is linked with communication skills, which are all involved in online courses. This is then tested and students are evaluated to prove that a relationship does exist. Despite little credentials, the author seems credible, however she does seem rather prejudicial, in favor of technology for writing classes. “Project Vision…For College Freshmen,” this source brings the constructivism theory and brought an actual project focused on finding the precise communication skills developed from these online classes. Still, this source cannot be proven as credible due to lack of credentials and it seemed to be pretty un-biased. “An examination of…Online Writing Activities,” this adds that students acquire improved awareness as well as their literacy skills. This group of authors proves to be credible and their argument is even-handed. And finally, “Out of Class…Out Of Class Activities,” fully analyzes different types of learning and conducts one project split up in two groups of online and modern teaching and found that the web-based students progressed quicker and better. This author was credible and by far proved to be the most persuasive due to the extensive research and side-by-side comparisons with modern teaching.

            The negative sources include, “Examining the Influence…First-Year Writing Pedagogies,” which portrayed another comparison of different teachings similar to “Out of class – out of mind? The use of a virtual learning environment to encourage student engagement in out of class activities; however this source shows the downsides of online courses by explaining how teachers won’t always be present and students taking online classes need guidance while taking these classes. It is also credible, yet it does seem the author is biased towards modern teaching. The last negative source is, “Do ICT competences…Educational Attainment At University?” This source puts to the test of using online and ICT practices, but the test results show that the students’ literacy rates show little to no effect to SAT scores and GPAs. Also, this source is highly credible by having a doctorate-educated author and having references and links to the SAT board and ACT. This last source was also the more persuasive and valued reference due to it having more information to better signify the negatives of online teaching and showing them through results and test scores.

            Overall, all of my sources grant me many perspectives to fully assess the skills, advantages and disadvantages, and ideas associated with using online learning for writing courses with college freshmen.