Technology and Education
Writing Assignment #3: Research-Supported Essay
In this essay, you will continue this theme of technological transformations.
Please note that this essay is identical to the choice that you had for writing assignment #2, which is the cause-effect essay. You may write on the same topic that you wrote on for writing assignment #2. Instructor might want to adjust the topic in any way your instructor directs you. In addition, of course, you will expand on the number of sources you use to defend your argument.
Technology and Education
Topic: Analyze the impact in technology on education.
Analyze the potential impact of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on higher education.
Outline for the essay:
The essay should have the following elements:
- An engaging introductory paragraph. You might even want to cite sources in the opening paragraph to make your opening engaging to the reader.
- an effective and clear thesis statement
- A statement of definitions and background on the topic on which you are writing.
- You will want to define any terms necessary for the reader.
- You may want to provide a historical background on your topic.
- unified, supported, and coherent body paragraphs that defend the thesis
- sources cited throughout the body paragraphs that support the arguments in the paper
- an effective conclusion
- A “references” page that lists the sources cited. The references should be listed in APA format.
The sources and citation format for this essay:
You are required to use at least six sources for this essay.
At least four sources must be acquired through the databases subscribed to by UMUC’s Information and Library Services. In addition, at least three sources are to come from scholarly journals.
Keep in mind that if the sources are scholarly, the argument you make in the paper will be more persuasive. For this reason, feel free to use all scholarly sources if you can.
In addition, please feel free to cite more than six sources. You may find that seven or eight sources (or more) are necessary to establish your argument and defend your thesis. Please do not feel limited to using only six sources. Use more if you would like to or need to.
Please cite your sources and list them at the end of your paper using APA format.
Length: 1300-1500 words
The strategy for this essay:
This essay can be a persuasive essay, in which you try to persuade the reader of a particular position. Or it can be an expository essay that synthesizes material, an essay in which you give information to the reader and synthesize the different viewpoints on an issue. The following examples help illustrate these two approaches.
For a persuasive essay, you could take the position that video games should be integrated into school science curricula to teach middle school students. You would cite articles that demonstrate research studies and other pieces of evidence to support the claim that video games can enhance instruction in science classes and will help middle school students learn science more effectively.
If you write a persuasive essay, please follow one of the following three options for organization:
- Classical (deductive) approach
- Inductive approach
- Refutation approach
Technology and Education
Technology and Education
The rate at which technology is growing is so high that even almost all disciplines are finding it necessary to embrace it. In this respect, the educational field is not left out. The use of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is trending new in the education sector in almost every corner of the world with the United States taking the lead. A MOOC is a virtual mode of study offered through the use of Internet to a large number of students in different places or locations. The use of MOOC in education has elicited a lot of reactions from various people, but the fact still remains that its use has a great potential impact on higher education. It should be noted that such impacts are both positive and negative. For instance, the fact that a large number of students can be taught by this method is a positive impact, there is no face to face interaction between the students and their instructors, which is a negative impact (Bady, 2013, para. 1).
MOOC can be used to enroll students up to ten of thousands of students within a single course. This is cutting cost on the part of the universities in terms of payment of lecturers and saving on the space. According to Baddy (2013), “the large number of students that can be reached by this model is evident that the program is positively impacting higher education (para. 2)." The new transformation by the MOOC is enabling many students to access university education. As the number of students that access higher education is increasing, the universities are increasing their profits that they can plough back into other activities (Bragg, 2014, para. 1).
Most of the online courses charge students money before allowing students to study. However, MOOC even though charge fees for students, are manageable as opposed to other online courses. MOOC also have got a large capacity for students unlike many online courses that offer limited chance for students to study (Bragg, 2014, para. 2). In the end, MOOCs are providing easy access to higher education to many students at affordable cost and, therefore, many students can access education and in this case higher education. This is a great positive impact on the part of MOOCs towards higher education. In his article, “From MOOCs to SPOCs,” Armando (2013, par.6) asserts that, even though the cost of accessing computer and Internet is posing a challenge, still MOOC remains affordable especially when the facilities are available.
MOOCs have also resulted in the realization of a large amount of revenue across the world especially in the regions where the practice is done. These large amounts of revenues have created large market shares (Carruth & Carruth, 2013, para. 1). For instance, the world’s commercial market for provision and production of MOOCs materials and contents is estimated at more than $53 billion every year. The largest market continuous to be dominated by the United States of America however, there are other growing markets in Asia with the expenditures differing from every country. This is a positive impact of the MOOCs since it is providing business and revenue for various countries or states practicing it (Carruth &Carruth, 2013, para. 2).
Although MOOCs are not much similar to online course, they are still making higher education flexible to many students. Many students especially those that are in employment can access higher education even with their tight and busy schedules through this model same as open online courses (Vardi, 2012, para. 1). The flexibility also, in a way, serves as an accelerator to many students using MOOCs they can register many units, ending up finishing school earlier than the expected period. The majority of students taking MOOCs are often adults. Therefore, the model is convenient as the adults that would have otherwise been left out are getting higher education through massive open online courses (Vardi, 2012, para. 2).
Even though MOOC are gaining popularity and increasing accessibility to higher education, there are other issues that are associated with it. For instance, it denies the students a chance for face to face interaction. The students do not have physical access to one another and also they lack access to a teacher or the instructor as the lessons and learning take place on the Internet. In this case, a negative impact of MOOC sets in since face to face interaction is important for active learning (Hodges, 2013, para. 1). Many students especially those that require special attention from the instructor need to be always in constant contact with the teacher or the instructor. These students also require a close interaction with their colleagues as this improves peer learning. Students that are also doing practical su...