This article assumes that literacy practices are social practices. Based on the New Literacy Studies (Street, 2005) this view of literacy provides an understanding that the ways a person reads and writes change, depending on that person's identity, the type of texts that are involved and the context in which those texts and identities are located.…

The author argues that to examine the relationship between technology use and student outcomes, the quality of technology use--how, and what, technology is used--is a more significant factor than the quantity of technology use--how much technology is used. This argument was exemplified by an empirical study that used both angles to examine the…

This study examined the assistive technology needs of university students with disabilities and the availability of these technologies. It also explored the attitudes of the students with disabilities toward computers and the extent to which these are used by students with disabilities. Data was collected through a questionnaire, from 22…

Research suggests students' use of information and communication technology (ICT) may be more a matter of digital literacy and access rather than a generational trait. We sought to identify ICT preferences of post-secondary students (N = 580) through a Digital Propensity Index (DPI), investigating communication methods, Internet practices and the…

This study investigated the use of scaffolds in problem-based hypermedia. Three hundred and twelve undergraduate students enrolled in a computer literacy course worked in project teams to use a hypermedia PBL program focused on designing a personal computer. The PBL program included content scaffolds, metacognitive scaffolds, or no scaffolds.…

This study investigated the effects of collaboration mode and group composition during a computer-mediated collaborative (CMC) program. Six intact sections of a computer literacy course were assigned to either a face-to-face or a virtual, online collaboration treatment condition. Groups consisted of homogeneous lower-ability, homogeneous…

Governments and other stakeholders are increasingly interested in assessing the skills of their adult populations in order to monitor how well prepared they are for the challenges of the modern knowledge-based society. The current paper provides an overview of the conceptual framework guiding the development of the assessment of literacy in the…

Broadband touches nearly every aspect of the U.S. economy, providing Americans with unprecedented opportunities in employment, education, health care, entrepreneurship, and civic participation. For millions of Americans without adequate access to broadband, however, the possibility of falling behind in the knowledge-based economy is real.…

In this paper I identify some current elaborations on the theme of participation and digital literacy in order to open further debate on the relationship between interaction, collaboration and learning in online environments. Motivated by an interest in using new technologies in the context of formal learning (Merchant, 2009), I draw on in-school…

Teachers often miss opportunities to use their classroom computers as teaching partners because of a lack of knowledge or confidence about how the computers can support learning. Internet-connected computers can enable teachers to access well-designed websites that support literacy instruction and involve students in interactive responses to…

It has been reported that as many as fifty percent of adults, including first-year University students, have some sort of computer-related phobia. This report demonstrates that the use of computers still has some unpleasant side effects despite the Internet boom in the past decade. Past research shows that computer anxiety influences how users…

This paper meshes Carr's research on media literacy with Porfilio's research on computer literacy, with both of these areas being focused on the central notion of social justice within a multicultural society. Both researchers teach pre-service teachers, and have an interest in extending multicultural education, which often equates, overlaps with,…

In this study, an interpretive qualitative approach was employed to explore how pre-K children interact with educational software programs. This study addressed four aspects of children's computer use: mouse manipulation, interface interpretation, level of enthusiasm or disengagement, and human interaction between peers and between a child and…

This 21st Century Skills Map is the result of hundreds of hours of research, development and feedback from educators and business leaders across the nation. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has issued this map for the core subject of World Languages. [Funding for this paper was provided by EF Education.]

Today, many students not only access the Internet through desktop and laptop computers at home or at school but also have copious amounts of information at their fingertips via portable devices (e.g., iPods, iPads, netbooks, smartphones). While some teachers welcome the proliferation of portable technologies and easy wireless Internet access, and…