Dustin Anderson: Digital Literacy Summary and Response

I agree with Dustin Anderson's second thought that “Online blogs directed at peers exhibit fewer typographical and factual errors, less plagiarism, and generally better, more elegant and persuasive prose than classroom assignments by the same writers.”  Students are better at writing things that are within their comfort zone and in which they are able to apply themselves truthfully, and with emotion. When writing a general essay or research paper, certain structure and guidelines come along with it which many students, like myself, dread. If an English class was set up in a way that students didn’t have set rules and instructions for how they should write and what they should write about, many students wouldn’t dread writing so much. Since we live in a world where technology keeps advancing, students feel more comfortable in an environment in which they are able to talk among their peers through text message, e-mail, or social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. By taking advantage of these new tools, there is more room for freedom of expression and being able to write what you want, when you want, and have the ability to respond or receive feedback on it. Since there are no set rules or guidelines in which you have to follow, you are able to freely express any opinion you may have on something without the worry of being graded on it. When students are not under the pressure of being graded and making sure that what they have written is ‘perfect’, there is less room for error. Since the opinions/facts are coming straight from the student, there is less plagiarism because if it’s something the student is actually knowledgeable about and/or has a very strong opinion on it, there would be no need to plagiarize. They are able to persuade their readers in a different tone with the freedom they would not get if it was based on a set of guidelines that they had to follow.