Improving Academic Argumentation through Online Training

Abstract

The task of writing a convincing argument based on a number of conflicting sources is challenging. As a means of supporting a formal viewpoint, it is important to grasp and organise arguments and counterarguments from a wide range of sources. Even though it's a difficult ability to learn, argumentative writing isn't widely taught at Spain's colleges and universities. Furthermore, there are just a few web resources for this sort of project. For this reason, we created and assessed a virtual training programme for distance learning university students to help them build cohesive and well-structured arguments. This pre-post research, which used a control group design, had 68 students. Through video lectures and practise activities with immediate feedback, the course provided comprehensive teaching in a cost-free and open-source manner (e.g., Moodle). Study participants' written outputs increased in structure, counter-arguments and integration into a single piece of writing after getting instruction.. Medium or maximum integration items, on the other hand, were still restricted in scope. As they show, online argumentative writing teaching may be employed in higher education with positive results for all participants. For their part, students still need help honing their skills in the area of integrative synthesis. These observations have led us to recommend additional changes to the training curriculum.