‘B Seeing U’ in unfamiliar places: ESL writers, email epistolaries, and critical computer literacy

This article poses a rich, to date unexplored, resource for facilitating students’ development of critical technological literacy: the email epistolary novel. With reference to a developmental writing class populated primarily by international English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students, the article describes how the study of an email epistolary helped students to examine technology critically and made students’ technological literacies a course emphasis. This approach to writing pedagogy, the article argues, illustrates how ESL students negotiate their technological literacies in the context of their assimilation into American undergraduate communities. The article concludes by suggesting that email epistolaries can guide students at all levels toward more nuanced understandings of how technological literacy emerges in dialogue with other literacy practices.     

Teacher knowledge for using technology to foster early literacy: A literature review

A literature review was conducted to describe the knowledge and skills teachers need for using technology to foster early literacy development in kindergarten classrooms. The study was guided by three research questions, concerning 1) effects of specific technologies, 2) effective design characteristics and 3) effective use of such applications. The sample consisted of 46 articles that reported on the affordances of technology in relation to kindergartners' early literacy development. The review included studies on electronic books, computer-based training programs, technology-rich literacy curricula, assistive technology, and other educational media and sources for technology-rich literacy education. The following software applications were found effective in fostering kindergartners' early literacy development: Electronic storybooks, computer-based phonics and vocabulary training programs, software applications that enable children to ‘read and write’, software applications that are designed for tutorial activities, and educational television programs with a narrative format. Few of the studies reviewed provided specific information about effective design characteristics of such applications or concrete guidelines for using technology in developmentally appropriate fashion in kindergarten. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

ESL students’ experiences of online peer feedback

With the popularity of computer technology, online peer feedback has become common in university writing classes. This paper reports an exploratory study of 22 English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ experiences of online peer feedback in a sheltered credit course at a western-Canadian university. Based on analyses of the electronic feedback (e-feedback) participants received, comparisons of their initial and revised drafts, and follow-up interviews, the study shows that e-feedback, while eliminating the logistical problems of carrying papers around, retains some of the best features of traditional written feedback, including a text-only environment that pushes students to write balanced comments with an awareness of the audience's needs and with an anonymity that allows peers to make critical comments on each others’ writings. However, the participating ESL students expressed little confidence in peer commenting in general. Some shied away from the demand to express and clarify meaning, which turned online peer feedback into a one-way communication process, leaving a high percentage of peer comments not addressed. An intervention of face-to-face class discussion with teacher's guidance to clarify comments in question is suggested to maximize the effect of online peer feedback.     

An analysis of variables affecting the ICT literacy level of Korean elementary school students

With the study aim of examining individual- and school-level variables affecting the ICT literacy level of Korean elementary school students, a stratified sample of 11,767 students in 173 schools was analyzed using a two-level hierarchical linear model (HLM) and a two-level hierarchical generalized linear model (HGLM). Students' ICT literacy level was classified into four levels: below basic, basic, average, and excellent. First, HLM analysis results revealed that male student, completion of computer courses, log usage time for purposes other than study and satisfaction level of students in classes using ICT have positive effects on ICT literacy score, but that log usage time for study has a negative effect at the individual level. In addition, major city, achievement level and number of PCs per student have a positive influence at the school level. At the individual level, the results from HGLM analysis showed that the ICT level of female students was higher than that of male students in average or lower levels. The completion status of computer courses had a significant effect on the probability of attaining a basic or average level. The satisfaction level of students in classes using ICT had a positive influence on attaining a higher level of ICT literacy. At the school level, the number of PCs per student had a significant effect on the probability of attaining an average level. The ICT literacy of schools located in major cities was higher than that in rural area in average level.     

A Collaborative Vision: Partnering with STEM Faculty to Teach Visual Literacy Through Multimedia Research Presentations

This article discusses visual literacy, its connection to information literacy, and its significance to scientific disciplines. It includes a case study from Washington and Lee (W&L) University that showcases how libraries can integrate visual literacy instruction into STEM courses. In the study, two W&L Library staff members partnered with one W&L visiting assistant professor of physics to transform a common assignment, the academic poster, into a digital form of visual communication. This shift resulted in a revised evaluative rubric and led to enhanced library led instruction focusing on information literacy, visual literacy, and digital literacy skills.     

Improving literacy skills through learning reading by writing: The iWTR method presented and tested

Learning to read and write is a basic skill that unfortunately not everybody acquires sufficiently. Lack of teachers and time in school are some of the reasons, but in addition the enormous rise in informational activities due to the Internet and other information technology-enabled opportunities has made literacy skills increasingly important to ever more people. This means literacy education must be improved so more children in the world get better chances. In order to contribute to developing better methods for learning to read and write in early years this study tests a new method developed to improve reading and writing learning in early ages. The ICT (Information and communication technologies) supported “Integrated Write to Learn” (iWTR) method lets children in 1st grade use computers and other ICT tools to write texts and subsequently discuss and refine them together with class mates and teachers. Handwriting is postponed to 2nd grade. While the traditional method requires students to go through two development processes in parallel, a cognitive (learning to read and) a motor (learning to write with a pencil), iWTR works with one process at a time, first cognitive development, then (from grade 2) motor skills training. iWTR extends previous WTR methods by more social work methods using a web site and peer comment for providing social meaning and feedback.The method was tested using two test groups and two control groups (total n = 87) by systematically measuring performance in reading and writing using standard tests in combination with observations and student evaluation to assess social and individual effects of work methods.The results show that while reading skills were improved considerably the biggest improvement concerned writing skills. Students in the test group wrote longer texts with better structure, clearer content, and a more elaborate language.     

大学计算机基础课程多层次评价模式研究

信息技术素养已成为培养人才的一个目标,计算机基础教学在培养学生信息技术素养方面比其他课程更为直接。而课程评价模式是检验课程目标实现程度及运用知识的重要手段,在传统的评价模式基础上提出了一个多层次评价模型,即自主评价＋实验作品＋考试,每个层次都贯穿于教学环节中,对学生的独立思考和实践能力、解决实际问题、锻炼团队合作精神,提高学生综合素质都有重要的作用。     

Literacy Sponsorship of the “My Online Friends” Discussion Board: Competing and Complementary Relationships

This article argues that we need to consider the complementary and competing relationships among the multiple types of sponsors of digital literacies. As we explore not just what people are reading and writing online, but also what sponsors fuel their motivations for doing so, we will have a better understanding of the constraints that accompany specific digital literacy opportunities, as well as what motivates individuals or groups to change their online reading and writing given these constraints.In this article, I discuss the relationships among the three commercial sponsors and one religious sponsor of the “My Online Friends” (MOF) discussion board, a group composed of approximately 120 women who are all members of the LDS, or Mormon, church. On the MOF discussion board, intersections among sponsors affect the women's establishment of group and individual identities and their use of relational literacy. In response to commercial sponsors’ coding and rules of use, which constrained the MOF women's religious and individual identity construction, the MOF women acted to change the commercial sponsorship of their spaces, yet they also adopted subject positions initially provided by commercial sponsors.     

Rendering technology visible: The technological literacy narrative

This article describes the process of inviting students into discussions of new literacies and writing and technology through technological literacy narratives. The narratives offer benefits for students, classrooms, scholars, and teachers. The narratives encourage students to explore the often unexamined technologies that influence their writing processes, rendering technology visible in students’ life stories. Furthermore, the narratives initiate dialogue about contexts of literacy within the classroom, invite discourse between teachers and students, provide useful data for researchers in the field, and offer important information for teachers of writing, rendering an additional perspective on our students’ writing practices with new technologies in and beyond classroom walls.     

A Proof Environment for Teaching Mathematics

The EPGY Theorem Proving Environment is a computer program used by students to write mathematical proofs in a selection of computer-based, proof-intensive mathematics courses at the high-school and university level. The system allows easy input of mathematical expressions, application of standard proof strategies and logical inference rules, application of mathematical rules, and verification of logical inference. Each course has its own language, database of theorems, and mathematical rules. The system uses a combination of automated reasoning and symbolic computation to verify individual proof steps. The proof environment has been used by over 170 students who have taken the EPGY high-school geometry course. In addition to providing a general overview of the system, we describe what we have learned from student use of the Theorem Proving Environment in the EPGY geometry course.     

Attention paid to feedback provided by a computer-based assessment for learning on information literacy

Three studies are presented on attention paid to feedback provided by a computer-based assessment for learning on information literacy. Results show that the attention paid to feedback varies greatly. In general the attention focuses on feedback of incorrectly answered questions. In each study approximately fifty percent of the respondents paid attention to feedback of incorrect answers only. Approximately another twenty-five percent did not pay attention to feedback at all. Results suggest that differences in attention paid to feedback are influenced by task difficulty and test length. Supervision, however, does not seem to influence the average attention paid to feedback. On the other hand, results show that indirect and direct supervision lead to a greater impact of feedback provided by a computer-based assessment for learning as the number increases of students taking the test and, as a consequence, paying attention to feedback.     

Helping students help themselves: Generative learning strategies improve middle school students' self-regulation in a cognitive tutor

The current study investigated whether prompting students to engage in generative learning strategies improves students' subsequent judgments of learning and self-regulation. Seventy-eight middle school students in a pre-algebra class completed worksheets in between problem-solving sessions in a computer-based cognitive tutor. Some students were prompted to engage in a generative learning strategy (i.e., writing a summary or writing an explanation for a peer) followed by a judgment of learning (generative group), whereas other students were only asked to make a judgment of learning (control group). Results indicated non-significant levels of judgment accuracy in both groups; however, students in the generative group showed better-calibrated help-seeking behaviors when solving subsequent problems in the tutor. These results suggest that self-regulation can improve in the absence of accurate learning judgments, and that generative learning strategies can facilitate such an improvement. This may be especially true for younger students, who generally demonstrate lower metacognitive awareness.     

Confidence and competition online: ESL student perspectives on web-based discussions in the classroom

English as a Second Language (ESL) students bring a diverse array of perspectives on language learning that inform how they negotiate different kinds of spaces in the university writing classroom. This study addresses the variance in how three different ESL students participated in web-based discussion boards and chat rooms in their first-year university writing course. Documenting students’ perceptions of technology provided pedagogical insight into how students took up or dismissed particular kinds of web-based writing. This study found that individual students made choices in their web-based writing in ways that reflected their previous experiences with technology and writing, their views of themselves as students and writers, and their relative comfort level with their peers in the classroom. However, their choices were also constrained by the pedagogical structure of the course, including the centrality of the instructor and the institutional directive for individualized assessment.     

Comparing grades in online and face-to-face writing courses: Interpersonal accountability and institutional commitment

In spite of benefits surrounding distance education programs, many online writing courses suffer from low student completion rates. Student retention has been identified as a concern in a number of studies of online education. We extend this discussion by examining the relationship of assessment of student work to retention, and comparing the grades students receive in online and face-to-face undergraduate writing courses. Our data point to what we call the “thrive or dive” phenomenon for student performance in online writing courses, which describes the disproportionately high percentage of students who fail or do not complete online courses compared to conventional, face-to-face courses. We extend this discussion on challenges related to student retention and propose instructional approaches for online learning that include the interpersonal accountability between teachers and students, as well as the institutional commitment necessary to ensure that students can succeed in online writing courses and programs.     

Using conferencing to support a culture of collaborative study

Five short undergraduate courses were run, four using a computer-based conferencing system and one paper-based to support collaborative study practices. The seriousness of the emphasis on collaborative study was communicated to the students not only through the use of conferences, but also of students' own writing as set reading material, and of material from the conference as the basis for the final examination. Students responded best when the tutor participated in conferences in a similar style to themselves. Even when some computer-based features were lost, as in the course which used a paper file for public writing, students made significant use of this forum. However factors outside the design of the system for supporting collaboration seemed to play the strongest part in determining the value students found in using the it. These included the physical conditions, initial induction process, tutor's participation style, and assessment practices.     

浅析如何避免信息技术课中的授课弊端

现在我们大多数信息技术课堂上老师都是采用布置操作任务,讲解操作要领及注意事项的方法给学生上信息技术课,这样做偏离了信息技术课的教学目标即＂培养学生良好的信息技术素养＂。怎样让我们的信息技术课成为学生培养信息素养的课堂,改变纯技术化授课模式就需要我们的老师从教学设计、教学过程、教学内容、教学评价等多方面进行分析和改进,并针对学生的个体差异进行区别教学。     

人工智能教育对于培养中学生信息素养的作用

信息素养是信息时代国民应具备的基本素养,人工智能代表着信息技术的前沿。该文在分析信息素养定义及内涵的基础上,探讨了人工智能的研究领域以及在教育中的应用情况,提出了人工智能的理论和技术课程应该在中学的教育中作较为系统的介绍,以全面提高学生的信息素养。     

以信息素养为目标的计算机基础课程教学体系研究与探索

高校计算机基础教育已从原来的计算机扫盲阶段发展到培养学生信息处理能力和意识阶段。本文通过对计算机基础课程教学体系的探索,分析了新形势下大学生的计算机知识结构和应用计算机的能力要求,通过改革现有高校计算机基础教育的教学目标、教学方法和手段,提出计算机基础课程的教学重点应由操作技能转向提升学生信息素养上来,培养学生的信息素养和应用创新能力。     

Patent Claims Revisited: Examiners and Trolls

In this column, the author revisits the writing of claims, and demonstrate two other styles of writing them. In one style, he shows how to write a more narrow and focused claim. In the other style, he shows how to write claims that are beyond broad--claims that can be written prior to actually inventing anything.     

Electronic literacy, critical pedagogy, and collaboration: A case for cyborg writing

This study concerns the convergence of electronic literacy, collaboration, and critical pedagogy in the classroom. I argue that teachers in the humanities must relinquish the vestiges of non-electronic criteria in their assessments of electronic literacy. Instead, the interplay of human and technological factors in the classroom leads to a reaffirmation of literacy as a social process. The radical democratization and multivocality of the corporate or collaboratively-written text demands a critical problematizing of our roles and actions as teacher-readers. The viability of static criteria for good literacy practices vanishes with electronic literacy. Feminist cyborg theory offers a useful paradigm for understanding the corporate text by bridging theories of electronic literacy and theories of collaborative learning. The cyborg is a dynamic techno-fusion of difference and contradiction: much like the corporate text. A cyborgian perspective reaffirms the polyvocalic, instable nature of postmodern literacy and calls for contextual writing criteria.Carol L. Winkelmann, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. She teaches electronic literacy, linguistics, and seventeenth-century women's literacy. Winkelmann has written forLinguistics and Education, The Oxford Companion to the English Language, andThe Sixteenth Century Journal. Currently, she is writing about women's political language, violence, and social change education.