Year: 1999
Type: article
Abstract: Electronic communication networks are in wide use for college-level language and writing instruction and are being adopted for use in elementary and secondary school classes. Teachers use network-based approaches to literacy instruction to support authentic reading and writing, collaboration, student-centered learning, writing across the curriculum, and the creation of classroom writing communities. A case study of network-based college classrooms identified great diversity in the ways these goals were realized. Nevertheless, common factors shaped all of the implementations: institutional goals, practices, and gateposts; theories, personalities, and established practices of teachers; student characteristics and expectations; features of the technology; and available resources. These factors suggest that like any innovation, the introduction of computer technology to promote interaction and learning in educational settings is a complex process that cannot be divorced from the users or the setting. This complexity needs to be understood so that perceptions of and expectations regarding the value of the innovation are neither idealized nor superficial. New approaches to fostering literacy development appear regularly in classrooms. These innovations- -ideas, teaching strategies, methods, materials, assessment procedures, software--are reported at conferences and in journals, often being hailed as the better way to address some long-standing challenge in literacy education. Many of these innovations do represent valuable contributions to educational theory and practice. Others appear to be new packages for old ideas. Some seem to have little evidence to support their use. Regardless of the worth of any particular innovation, one thing that seems clear is that much of our en...
Authors: Chip Bruce, Joy Kreeft Peyton
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1598465365