Using Technology in Pedagogically Responsive Ways to Support Literacy Learners

In this chapter the authors discuss two central themes: the changing nature of literate activity brought about by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and suggestions for how educators could respond to this guided by principles of authentic learning. The access many young people have to ICT has resulted in new forms of literacy as they manipulate technology, using this new knowledge to assist the process of meaning making. Each new technology brings with it navigational concepts, space to negotiate, new genres and a range of modalities, all of which need to be interpreted. ICTs have the potential to reshape literate practices in classrooms as students create, collect, store and use knowledge as they connect and collaborate with people and resources across the world. What is crucial though, is that the nexus between technology and literacy within classrooms is conceptualised through meaningful, relevant and authentic connections with curricula.

Self-Regulated Learning

This chapter assumes the importance of developing Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) competences in students in order to cope with the challenges of today’s and tomorrow’s society. To achieve this, it is claimed that it is crucial to train teachers who are aware of what SRL is and are able to support their students in developing these abilities. This chapter proposes examples drawn from a course in Educational Technology where SRL competence has been promoted through reflection on cognitive, meta-cognitive, emotional and motivational aspects of learning, as well as through modelling teaching practices that tend to shift the locus of control from trainers to trainees.

Automated Essay Scoring Systems

This chapter gives a relatively non-technical introduction to computer programs for marking of essays, generally known as Automated Essay Scoring (AES) systems. It identifies four stages in the process, which may be distinguished as training, summarising mechanical and structural aspects, describing content, and scoring, and describes how these are carried out in a number of commercially available programs. It considers how the validity of the process may be assessed, and reviews some of the evidence on how successful they are. It also discusses some of the ways in which they may fall down and describes some research investigating this. The chapter concludes with a discussion of possible future developments, and offers a number of searching questions for administrators considering the possibility of introducing AES in their own schools.

Internet-Based Peer Assessment in High School Settings

Many educators have suggested the usage of peer assessment for the improvement of learning outcomes. Peer assessment facilitated by Internet technology can enhance anonymity and lead to better interactions between students and peer reviewers. In addition, online peer assessment can effectively store students’ peer interactions and learning progression portfolios for further analyses or evaluations. However, most peer assessment studies have been conducted with higher education students, such as college or graduate students. This chapter reports an initial meta-analysis of a series of research utilizing online peer assessment involving Taiwanese high school students. This study also summarizes some practical principles for conducting online peer assessment in high school settings. Finally, this chapter proposes the required literacy of using Internet-based peer assessment, both for the learners and teachers.

Usage of Electronic Portfolios for Assessment

This chapter introduces the use of electronic portfolios (e-portfolios) as an assessment method in the K-12 classroom. Aligned with the constructivist approach, the term e-portfolio is considered to be an umbrella, actually comprising of various components reflecting both the teaching-learning process and the end products. Having many advantages, the use of e-portfolios is spreading all over the world. This chapter, in which issues such as conceptual underpinnings, possible advantages and challenges, implementation ideas, and content and assessment criteria for e-portfolios are also reviewed, concludes with suggestions for teachers who are interested in implementing e-portfolios into their own subject fields.

K-20 Technology Partnerships in a Rural Community

Public schools need to address issues of 21st century literacy, which go beyond reading and mathematics to include teamwork and technological proficiency. The authors have worked collaboratively to develop K-20 technology partnerships that provide 21st century learning to benefit all stakeholders. In this chapter, the authors discuss three of these partnerships and the benefits and barriers associated with them. Lessons learned included the need for: 1) immediately available technological and pedagogical support; 2) formalized roles and responsibilities between K-12 and university partners; 3) personnel who can take over a role or responsibility in emergencies; and 4) opportunities to plan ahead together. The authors hope that their lessons learned can inform other K-20 collaborations as they develop innovative 21st century partnerships through the use of technology.

Using a Technology Grant to Make Real Changes

This chapter traces one K-8 school over the course of four and a half years as it went from very limited technology through a three year period of implementing a $300,000 technology grant, through the conclusion of that grant. It details the school’s use of technology before, during, and after receiving the grant. The study supports the suggestion that merely having technology available does not insure that it will be used. It makes recommendations for school-wide technology applications and points out both those things that were done well at this school and those things that might have been done better.

Children's Text Messaging and Traditional Literacy

The authors present three investigations into pre-teen children’s text message language and measures of their standard literacy abilities. The children translated sentences, from standard English into text, and from text into standard English , and wrote text messages appropriate to a set of scenarios. They categorised text abbreviations used and calculated the proportion of abbreviations to total words. The children completed a questionnaire about their mobile phone use. Text messaging facility was positively associated with verbal reasoning, vocabulary, school achievement in English, and reading ability across the three studies. Texting provides opportunity for children to communicate in writing without the constraints of standard English, and we propose that the playful variants on words that they use in texting, and their ability to encode spoken slang graphically, show not a lack of knowledge of English, but a light hearted use of phonological and alphabetic decoding principles that also underpin standard English.

Towards Safer Internet for Students with the Aid of a Hypermedia Filtering Tool

Internet as a new medium offers unlimited opportunities to education and knowledge sharing but it can also shape specific improper attitudes and cultivate erroneous and potentially dangerous ideas. As more kids go online worldwide so do the concern increases about the safeness of the websites they visit. In this chapter a list of potential online risks is presented. Then, the safeness of the favorite Web sites of 270 Greek high school students is assessed in connection with these online risks. Inappropriate content was found in more than 30% of the evaluated Web pages, although specific security policies apply to computer labs of Greek schools. Last, a filtering tool for analyzing and restricting the access to improper Web sites is presented and evaluated.

Developing Digital Literacy Skills with WebQuests and Web Inquiry Projects

This article identifies digital literacy as an important aspect of new media literacy at the K-12 level. Digital literacy includes developing the skills of information location and application as well understanding how to use available evidence to assist in problem solving and decision making about important questions and issues that have no clear answers. Two web-based examples of instructional strategies – WebQuests and Web Inquiry Projects—are suggested as ways to develop these and other important 21st century learning skills.