Reference no: EM133252811
Compose a critical response essay-including, ideally, an introduction, at least three body paragraphs, and a conclusion-to the text below.
Goals: Your essay should include the following:
- A brief summary of the author's argument
- Your own argument which should either:
- mostly agree with the author and provide your own persuasive assertions that extend support for the author's position, or
- mostly disagree with the author and provide your own persuasive assertions that defend your counter-position
- Your refutation of at least one objection a reader might have to yourargument (or any point therein)
PROMPT:
Virtual Reality: The Move to Online Education
by Don Landau
Why, in the age of computers, smartphones, and the Internet, are students continuing to attend classes the same way they have for hundreds of years? Despite the technological progress of the past few decades, every day students must physically travel to educational facilities from their homes to take classes. All of the resulting services, such as classrooms, libraries and parking spaces, are no longer necessary: we now possess the technological capability to put everything a student needs online. Doing so would save money, as physical campuses would become unnecessary. Classroom space would no longer be an issue: instead of being limited by the number of seats in a classroom, teachers could teach any number of students, so classes could be much larger. All of these advantages would save enormous amounts of money, and students would receive an education that is just as good, if not better, than what they are receiving now. Schools, colleges, and universities should thus convert all courses to online immediately.
Think of a cold, snowy morning in February. Instead of going out the front door, waiting at the bus stop, battling the crowds on the bus, standing in line to get coffee, and rushing to make your early classes, you could stay home, turn on your computer, and attend your class virtually via video chat over your high-speed internet connection. More and more, entire college and university programs are being offered this way: for example, I recently completed an entire university program online, even though I have never visited the campus, the city, or even the province where the university is located. During the two years of my studies, I sat in coffee shops, airports, relatives' houses on vacation, and, of course, my own home with my laptop, reading online materials, participating in online discussions, and emailing my assignments to the professor, all without ever setting foot in an old-fashioned classroom. If I can complete courses this way, anyone can.
Imagine any educational institution: a high school, a college, or a university. Now, imagine hundreds of classrooms with chalkboards, and hundreds or even thousands of teachers lecturing to groups determined by the sizes of these classrooms. Then consider the costs of the maintenance, heating and cooling, and electricity. The money that could be saved by eliminating these costs and moving all of the classes online makes the need to move to a virtual space even more obvious.
Other benefits of moving to an online model are equally obvious: no more rushing to get out of the house in the morning, no more waiting for the bus, no more spending money on expensive campus food because you forgot to pack a lunch for the day. Students can complete their courses from the comforts of their own homes, and teachers can teach from the convenience of their own offices. With all of these benefits, why are we continuing to offer courses that depend on students traveling from one building to a separate building halfway across town?
The reasons mentioned above completely justify moving immediately to online versions of all programs currently offered in high school, college, and university. Instead of paying for electricity and buildings somewhere else, students can complete their studies using resources that they are paying for in their own homes anyway. We should shut down our obsolete campuses, turn on our computers, and save ourselves money.