In the online classroom, we are all writers

What it Means to be a Writer in Relation to the Differences Between a Traditional Classroom and an Online Classroom:

Whether we are speaking, writing, conversing, or gesturing, we are communicating. More to the point, we write and speak with the purpose of communicating. Whenever we speak, we may be called “orators” due to definition; by the same token, we may be called “authors” or “writers” whenever we write. But, these labels (orator and writer) are ambiguous with several meanings which range from “one who speaks/writes” to “a professional and exceptional executioner of speaking/writing.” In a traditional classroom, a student is often required to act as both an author (through writing papers) and an orator (by speaking in class and sharing an opinion, presentation, question, or relating experience). The student is an orator only by the first definition mentioned above – s/he is not professional or exceptionally eloquent, but is required to speak to the classroom in an understandable manner. Similarly, when the student writes, s/he writes in accordance to certain standards but does not write in a professional setting, nor does s/he usually publish his/her work. But in an online-classroom, the (traditional) rules are altered and everything is accomplished through writing. In place of verbal discussions are written discussion threads, and (at least in this class) more substantial writings – sometimes better described as opinion-paragraphs or small papers – are published on the internet. Therefore, the online class forces the students to concentrate more than usual on their writing skills, and requires them to be writers as both “a person that writes” and “a writer that publishes his/her work.”