In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr used an experiment as an example and what the authors of this study said which was “Indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.” The old way of reading is rarely used now; the new way of reading is to “skim” and “power browse”. This as Carr explains in his essay, people do not want to read whole, articles, book, and or stories like it traditionally was done. Takes far too long compared to how the internet provides so many tool to get around searching and just give us the a main point of summary to any type of literature.
Not that I think it is the best studying technique to skim and miss a lot of the information important to know, but it all needs to be considered that the more work that is given to for example a student in high school the less time they have for homework and time to themselves. For most high school students they do not want to spend hours on homework and missing out on their social lives and or free time to themselves. Students have lives outside of school, but that is seems to be overlooked by our educational system. I do not support skimming and instant answers but the fact is there is no other choice for students in this day and age who want lives outside of their education.
We may also look at this at a different angle, the more students skim the faster the assignments get done. So as a result schools start assigning more work to students because they can handle it, or at least assume most students can. Skimming and all the fast answers are really what caused more homework and or assignments given to students. I believe that the internet really caused all added work to happen, because it is a sure thing that students at any level of their education 10 years ago had less work assigned to them. Why is skimming such a bad technique? Because obviously if we all skim threw are assignments are half of them really even important to know? Is literature we are assigned to read that we look up on Sparknotes to just find the main points really that relevant a student’s future? Do students even remember what they read a few months afterward?
Welcome!
Welcome to our Eng 100 Blog “Conversations Beyond the Classroom”! The title of this blog refers to the community of active readers & collaborative learners we are creating by sharing our academic writing for Eng 100 with each other + a larger group of students, instructors, academics, and just about anybody who chooses to follow our blog! When you write and post your reader responses here (and, later, as you write your essays for the course), I encourage you to use this audience to conceptualize who you are writing for and, most important, how to communicate your ideas so that this group of academic readers and writers can easily follow your line of thinking. Think about it this way: What do you need to explain and articulate in order for the other bloggers to understand your response to the essays we’ve read in class? What does your audience need to know about those essays and the authors who wrote them? And how can you show your readers, in writing, which ideas you add to these “conversations” that take place in the texts we study?
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
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