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When thinking about what’s new for me about e-research, I realized that I hadn’t previously thought enough about researchers with disabilities and their limited access to the internet or other tools. I had thought about poorer students (the digital divide) but not those who may have limited access due to a lack of technological accommodations.
I feel that e-research is helpful for me in using ERIC or other sources (wikipedia) in learning about new concepts quickly, particularly from fields related to but outside my own, and being able to visit journals and researchers’ websites. Most journals and publication guidelines have information on the web whether they are mainly print or web-base journals and this is extremely helpful for newer authors. At this stage in my career, I find being connected to online discussion groups valuable as well. However exciting e-research is, I remain concerned about students and professionals knowing to being with a sold research design (Theo’s problem) before moving to online tools. I also think, as an applied linguist, that we still benefit from face-to-face interactions with participants in terms of interpreting paralinguistic features such as facial expressions. Finally, as the authors mentioned, we should remain mindful of plagiarism –whether intentional or accidental.
While reading the chapters, I kept thinking about the new form of research discussed by the authors and the need for the researchers to keep up with this change. Research in this new form will maintain most of what the traditional ways of doing research involved and entailed, but it will be more efficient for those who learn the skills and the Netiquette prescribed. I don’t mean to play down the efficiency that the newer technologies are offering and are set to offer, but most of what research was pre-Net is the same with all the affordances that the Net provides; it may however have taken on a new face while being conducted with newer skills. Put differently, doing research is getting a makeover with concomitant procedures & skills entailed in the brave new world.
I don’t think I read anything new in the chapters and wondered the audience Anderson & Kanuka were addressing. Did you also get the feeling that they were writing to undergraduates who are just taking research classes or non-traditional graduate students returning to school for various reasons, and therefore, have to do some catchingup with
what has transpired in their absence. Most of us by now are quite competent consumers of the Net when it comes to finding sources (on ERIC), using search-engines, or using endnote to streamline references that may reside on the Net.
I am more concerned about the veracity of information on the Net than adapting to the demands of this new brave world—given the amazing flexibility we have inherited through evolution. Unless stated so, most of the info on the Net lacks clear authority and any credibility.
I don’t think I read anything new in the chapters and wondered the audience Anderson & Kanuka were addressing. Did you also get the feeling that they were writing to undergraduates who are just taking research classes or non-traditional graduate students returning to school for various reasons, and therefore, have to do some catchingup with
what has transpired in their absence. Most of us by now are quite competent consumers of the Net when it comes to finding sources (on ERIC), using search-engines, or using endnote to streamline references that may reside on the Net.
I am more concerned about the veracity of information on the Net than adapting to the demands of this new brave world—given the amazing flexibility we have inherited through evolution. Unless stated so, most of the info on the Net lacks clear authority and any credibility.
My Thoughts on Reading and Newer Technologies
Since my focus and interest within Educational Psychology is reading, I found the article “Investigating how less-skilled and skilled readers use cognitive reading strategies while reading on the internet” very enlightening. Being able to read and interact with text serves as a foundation for just about everything we do in life. Regardless of what type of occupation you have or how old you may be, reading is always going to be a great influence in your life whether realized or not. It honestly did not surprise me that the more skilled readers, within the presented study had more success with reading on the internet than the less skilled readers. There are particular factors which make skilled readers skilled and less skilled readers not so skilled. For instance the ability to manipulate text, utilize comprehension strategies, read fluently, and interact cognitively with text are determinants of reading ability. Regardless of what type of text one encounters, the abilities of a reader will demonstrate how one will interact with the text.
Additionally, the fact that the article focused on reading on the Internet proved very enlightening, because many probably do not think that traditional reading strategies are used during interaction with the Internet. However, the Internet is a place where we are constantly making decisions and utilizing various strategies to accomplish our goals. In order to do all of this, we are most definitely using a myriad of strategies that we normally use, just in a different environment.