The foundation for relationships. It takes years to build, seconds to destroy. Throughout life, a person gives ones trust to the people she cares about. Betrayal. An act of disloyalty. In an instant, everything that was built on that mutual trust can be broken.
It will all come crumbling down with one mistake. One act of betrayal. A best friend is the person you rely on the most. She’s someone you would trust with your life, your secrets, and your emotions. You slowly let her into your heart and the trust accumulates over time.A bond is formed over those secrets, a friendship that will sat. No longer is anything off limits, and if that person ever needs to talk, someone will be there.
One moment can change it all. The person you thought was your confidant turns out to be a backstabber. All of the secrets and shared emotions are turned around and used against you. Your weaknesses are played until you break down and are slowly torn to pieces. Finally, the person is seen for who she truly is. All of the rumors and the so-called lies are true. You, being the better person, tried to look pass them, give your friend the benefit of the doubt.
But when the truth comes UT and the lies being to unravel, what do you have left? When do you know to let a friendship go and when to hold on? From that point on, all the trust you once had for your friend is gone and it can never be rebuilt. When you entrust someone with your secrets, you are relying on her to honor them. Your feelings should be brought into account in decision-making. But when you are forgotten about, betrayed, there Is no going back. The person you though she was Is gone. All that’s left are feelings of hurt, questioning where you went wrong and how too more forward. Suddenly, a friendship Is over.
SPEECH-ONLINE LEARNING 4 Running Head: SPEECH-ONLINE LEARNING 1 Speech-Online Learning Name Institutional
SPEECH-ONLINE LEARNING 4
Running Head: SPEECH-ONLINE LEARNING 1
Speech-Online Learning
Name
Institutional Affiliation
SPEECH-Online Learning
Did you know that online learning in the US alone generates about $72.9 billion in annual revenue? According to infographics, online learning is a lucrative business. In the recent past, online learning seemed a futuristic prospect and most people thought it was going to be the next big thing. I personally thought it will phase out the current system of face to face class interaction. However, this is a misplaced notion and I believe that students need to be aware of the implications before choosing to enroll in an online learning platform. Based on personal experience and to some extent, the existing literature review on the subject, I was totally mistaken. My speech aims to debunk the myth that online learning offers the ultimate learning experience to the students because an objective evaluation indicates that it doesn’t. My experience shows that aside from the acclaimed flexibility and convenience, anyone who undertakes online learning is bound to experience technical difficulties, lack of a sense of community, delayed communication and questionable credibility of the obtained qualifications.
It is an established truth that online learning is undoubtedly the ultimate choice for most students who wish to pursue minor courses such as computer networking, Certified Public Accountancy or even mainstream courses such as MBAs and the like. Most of those who opt for this option have a general belief that it will give them the freedom to engage in other tasks as well as undertake to learn at specific times of the day or selected days of the week. These undertaking calls for a great sense of discipline and self-directed learning skills as Dr. Liyan Song (Song, et al., 2004) from the University of Georgia advice in their research paper titled A Conceptual Model for Understanding Self-Directed Learning in Online Environments. Furthermore, even the Students who had taken at least one online course still admit that they need someone whocan verbally remind them when things are due (Tichavsky, et al., 2015, p.4)
I believe most students would like to enjoy the freedom that comes with minimal supervision, especially in their academic pursuits. The online learning platform offers this in plenty. However, the veracity and viability of online learning, especially from a learner’s perspective, is also put into question when it comes to the aspect of credibility of the grades obtained during the course. Online learning limits the level of supervision by the course instructors and this can allow all kinds of academic malpractices such as even hiring an expert to do an examination. The student ends up with exemplary grades but in practice, the student is academically unfit and even the purported skills they possess in academics are not real. This prompts to pose a question, would you like to be that student who the employer sees your papers with question marks written all over his face or the one that once the employer sees the documents he/she beams up and offers a nod of approval?
The classroom experience also offers a sense of community and cooperation among students. Through interaction, a student is able to grow his/her social skills and become a wholesome individual. In total contrast, the online platform promotes isolation tendencies and lack of social connectivity. In most cases, the student will have to seek a serene environment with no human activities so as to engage in a classroom session. This aspect negates the sense of community and interaction which is an essential part of any human being.
Online learning is also bound to have technical difficulties because it is necessitated by electronic devices which are not fail-proof. As a student, you will get the fascination of having to do away with paperwork or any form of written assignments but trust me that is not susceptible to technical difficulties. It is possible for learning to go on in a physical classroom with or without electronic devices because you can have a notepad to jot down your notes and the course instructor can teach you without necessarily having a laptop or a tablet. Furthermore, electronic communication is a centerpiece of online learning and the entire process is crippled if the communication channel experiences failure at any point. This will cause the paralysis of learning and waste the student’s time because the time wasted seldom recovered. You may have to take longer to earn that certification or degree that you had hoped to acquire within a specified time frame.
In conclusion, I would like to state that while you could argue that online learning offers flexibility and convenience, technical difficulties, lack of a sense of community and questionable credibility of your qualifications that face this mode of learning can make you want to reconsider your position. Online learning presents more challenges than opportunities. Do not be on the wrong side of history when you find yourself in a position to say I wish I knew. Make the right choice!
Reference
Song, L., Singleton, E. S., Hill, J. R., & Koh, M. H. (2004). Improving online learning: Student perceptions of useful and challenging characteristics. The internet and higher education, 7(1), 59-70.
Garrison, D. R., & Cleveland-Innes, M. (2005). Facilitating cognitive presence in online learning: Interaction is not enough. The American journal of distance education, 19(3), 133-148.
Tichavsky, L. P., Hunt, A. N., Driscoll, A., &Jicha, K. (2015). “It’s Just Nice Having a Real Teacher”: Student Perceptions of Online versus Face-to-Face Instruction. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 9(2), 2.
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