One of my online writing classes had an assignment last week that asked them to choose a grammar/mechanical issue they had had trouble with in their own work, and to produce a two-sided brochure with advice for others having the same problems. Part of the assignment was to watch a LinkedIn Learning course on Canva, a free graphic design program.
The students basically handled the Canva challenge, though a good portion did not/could not visualize that the page they were working on had TWO sides. That led to some students jamming too much into too little space.
But the disturbing part was the number of errors I encountered as I assessed their work. The best (worst) was the brochure claiming to help overcome spelling errors, It featured "recieving" in the text. Ugh. I was embarrassed for that student and it is likely the student was equally embarrassed when she looked at my comments.
Another student typed "sentance" eight times in the one brochure. That means I have at least one student who honestly has no idea how to spell "sentence" and also doesn't make use of spell check. That student will be entering the job market next year.
I have mentioned in an earlier post that this semester has been the most trying for me in the past decade due to the fragility of so many college students, and the inattention to detail and basic inability to create a clear position and defense for that position.
A different recent assignment asked students to write a proposal to a company CEO or equivalent to hire the writer to produce a white paper of some sort that would address a specific problem in the company. They had done some previous assignments that built up to this, and the goal is that the students will create that white paper as the final project for the course (about six weeks off).
I had to write this several times about a highlighted phrase or word that made no sense or was just misspelled: THIS is the point where the CEO would consign your proposal to the shredder. BTW, this wasn't because there was one stray typo (though that would be bad enough), but after a half-dozen or more.
I worry that my bluntness may be the final straw for the more fragile in the class, but there really is a point where honesty is essential and we are now at Week 9. If not now, when?
Most weeks one course has a short discussion post due on Wednesday, and then students are asked to comment on at least two of their classmates' posts by Sunday night. I know. What an ask! They do have to log in, gulp, twice, in a week, once to submit the original post and once to write a few sentences in response in the discussion thread.
Amazingly, only about half of the students bother to check back in and make those two (the horror!) comments. I try to model more expansive behavior, making it a point to comment on every initial post, often expanding on some writing issue or document design challenge.
I deduct 20 percent of the potential points for the discussion when students only post that initial offering. I include a comment that details exactly why they are not earning 20/20, and urge them to not miss those points in the future. Perhaps they honestly don't care. Perhaps they simply cannot organize their lives to accommodate ten minutes between Thursday and Sunday to check in, browse some posts, and respond. Perhaps they are so frazzled that they don't even notice the missing points or my comments.
At the heart of all my writing courses is the importance of writing for your audience and not expecting your reader to "want to read" your writing. No one wants to read our writing, particularly in the case of professional situations, where everyone is busy and has work to do.
I try to emphasize that the very first bar to hit, so to speak, is that we have spelled the words correctly. A step up is to avoid confusing readers with fragments and run-ons. I acknowledge that creating a strong claim and providing support for that is a bit tougher challenge. Do all three of those things and success is in their future.
I have taught online exclusively for nearly eight years and I have never seen anything like the struggles I see right now. The pandemic may be "over," or at least the world is out of sheer panic mode, but the American college student is suffering some sort of PTSD.
I hope some "tough love" right now will right the ship for some of my students. But what if that doesn't produce any changes?
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