Newer Literacies and Technologies

Online Reading Literacies

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1. on January 30, 2007 at 5:24 pm Lindsay Said:
   

   I’m an e-researcher

   I am an e-researcher? I AM an e-researcher; but where do I begin? During our inaugural class discussion, my mind was swarming with ideas for e-research. Should I focus on children, young children, their navigation through blogs, their ease with which they choose interactive websites,…the list goes on and on. Then I read Anderson and Kanuka’s (2003), e-Research, and my interests started to shift.
   Clearly, Anderson and Kanuka saw a need to help graduate students (perhaps even students in higher education) become quality e-researchers. Their highlighted problem: we do not know how to conduct quality research. Thus, my interests began to focus on graduate student support, specifically situated in media. I would love to know, as a doctoral student myself, what on-line resources are there to support PhD students through their academic journey? Are their blogs, chat rooms, and list serves which highlight support for doctoral students? If so, how many students use these resources and how can these resources be “advertised” for more students to gain support?
   Though unrelated to the above, another research interest I am currently pursuing for a pilot study to my dissertation is the impact of preservice teachers’ self-reflections and the role they play in developing the identity of a teacher. I believe it would be interesting to research the on-line opportunities preservice teachers have to reflect on their teaching and share collaboratively with others. Wallis (2006), in her article The Multitasking Generation, writes about the influence “digital juggling” is having on our youth. Everyday these youth are becoming our preservice teachers, and we, as researchers and teacher developers, must support and nurture their “tech-savvy” ways.

2. on January 30, 2007 at 5:26 pm RCC Said:
   

   The first three chapters of Anderson’s and Kanuka’s (2003) e-Research present information that is very familiar to me. They define quality research as being “focused on solutions to an important problem” (p. 3), systematic, and transparent. This seems like common sense to me. Two interesting topics that are raised involve the necessary skills for e-research, and the ethical, moral, and legal checks that are critical when doing e-research. Research is research, but one must learn certain skills when searching the Net. Without these skills, such as knowing Boolean logic, it is easy to waste time looking for information. I have taken many staff development classes in technology, but none of them taught search skills. I have picked those up on my own. Educators should know these skills and should teach them to their students. The issue of ethics is also important for e-research. With increased access to the Net, students have found it easy to plagiarize and cheat. Many schools are trying to find ways to prevent unethical, immoral, and illegal activities on the Net. Some have even suggested censorship or limiting access. I don’t think that this is the answer. It is difficult to force someone to be ethical or moral. Parents and teachers need to teach young people to have the values that promote these attributes. Anderson and Kanuka state, “…it is up to us, as competent e-researchers and principled human beings, to define and practice ethical behavior…personal integrity…self-regulation…openness…honesty…” (p. 56).

3. on January 30, 2007 at 5:38 pm Eaoul Said:
   

   What does it mean to be a critical internet reader?

   According to me, the main points that emerged from our discussion are:
   1- The importance of being skilled readers in internet literacy
   2- The importance of knowing the search engines in order to perform better in internet literacy
   3- The importance of critical thinking while reading on the internet
   4- Knowing how to surf on the net doesn’t necessary mean being a good technological literate

   Our discussion tackled one of the major claims of the article, that is, learners who are skilled readers perform well when engaged with internet literacy. In other words, the less skilled readers have difficulty to perform well while engaged with internet or technological literacy. But one classmate raised the concern that this claim might not be valid. According to him, there are some less skilled readers who are able to use the net efficiently and effectively. At this point, a clarification became necessary. The point here was that knowing how to surf efficiently on the net is not synonymous of being a good technological literate. This brought about the issue of critical thinking. In fact, from our discussion, it became obvious that on the net, there are large amounts of materials. The good internet literate is the one who applied critical thinking while searching for information. The good internet reader is able to make the right choice in order to get the right information while using the net. This is what we need to teach our students. Be critical thinkers so as to select the right materials while reading on the net. This point overlapped with issue of search engines on the net. The good internet reader knows the right search internets and links to get to the right information, which is not the case of the less skilled readers.So the bottom line is that to be a good internet literate,a learner must be able to use her/his critical tinking skills in order to select the appropriate materials for her/his learning purposes.

4. on February 7, 2007 at 12:39 am readingonline Said:
   

   Is literacy the key to more efficient reading online? I am still grappling with this question since I read Coiro and Dobbler’s NRC presentation. I know that literacy is not a prerequisite to the development of efficient cognitive skills from research, but Coiro and Dobbler’s discussion leaves the reader with that impression, as it did with me. So, I took the initiative and asked the first author about this question. Below her reply:

   I wrote:

   Hello Julie,
   I came away from [your NRC presentation] with a feeling that if
   less-skilled readers are trained to perform better
   (i.e., to read as well as skilled readers) they will
   more likely than not display the efficiency that
   skilled readers display while reading on the
   internet. I don’t know if that would be an accurate
   inference…Thanks for your time and clarification.

   ********************************************************

   HI Omer,
   Thanks for your question and your interest about our
   NRC presentation. It’s an interesting question…

   Yes, I suppose you are right in thinking that “if
   less-skilled readers are trained to perform better”
   (i.e., to read as well as skilled readers) they will
   more likely than not display the efficiency that
   skilled readers display while reading on the internet.

   The tricky part is that we are still learning what it
   is that matters most in terms of what we should be
   teaching less skilled readers (or any reader for that
   matter) as they read on the Internet. I work as part
   of the New LIteracies Research Team at the University
   of Connecticut and we are spending lots of time in
   classrooms now (on several federal research grants)
   trying to get a better handle on just that. My study
   with Beth was an initial attempt to characterize what
   “skilled readers” do when they read online, and then
   in a later study, to see if those skills actually
   differentiated skilled readers from less skilled
   readers. Once we realized we were beginning to
   understand what “reading online” really involves, then
   we decided to move into trying to turn those “skills
   and strategies” into instructional strategy lessons
   and try them out in real classrooms.

   I have also just about completed my dissertation which
   is a beginning attempt to quantitatively measure
   online reading comprehension and examine the variables
   that predict performance over and above standardized
   test scores and prior knowledge (with factor analysis
   and regression analysis).

   We are realizing that there are MANY variables
   involved and that as the Internet keeps changing, it’s
   difficult to keep up. Also, my study with Beth was
   limited to relatively simple search and locate tasks,
   whereas we have now learned quite a bit about the
   critical evaluation strategies required to evaluate
   relevancy, reliability, accuracy, and bias of
   information online. There are also issues related to
   the ability to synthesize information and use a range
   of communication tools to share that information with
   someone else. So…it’s not quite as easy as just
   “training students to do as well as skilled readers”.
   (I wish it were!)

   Anyway, I hope I have answered your question. If you’d
   like more information about some of our recent work,
   you may be interested in exploring our website at
   http://www.newliteracies.uconn.edu

   Sincerely,
   Julie

   http://www.newliteracies.uconn.edu
   http://www.education.uconn.edu/directory/details.cfm?id=289