TechQuest: Problem of Practice

Technology can make it easier for teachers to give students feedback about their thinking and for students to revise their work (Bransford, 204).

Technology:

Because I would like students to be able to think about their own reading process and skills and be able to go at their own pace for that self-reflection I would like to investigate computer-assisted instruction (CAI). With CAI students can go at their own pace and not move ahead until they mastered the skill (s), get immediate feedback, be interactive and competitive with themselves to increase their scores, and be at their own level of reading ability. If students got a chance to be more interactive with the text and go at their own pace, I think they will be able to reflect better on their own reading skills. This is especially true for my struggling readers.

I would also like to investigate ways/sites to increase explicit vocabulary instruction and provide direct and explicit comprehension strategy instruction. In 2008 research, Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) found these two factors to be particularly strong when helping adolescent readers perform better (http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practiceguides/adlit_pg_082608.pdf). I would to investigate these reading factors too because the CAI programs maybe very costly and not be able to be implemented into my classroom or our middle school immediately.

Research:

In research by Kyaw Soe, Ph.D, Stan Koki, and Juvenna M. Chang, Ed.D they reviewed 17 research studies based on students K-12 and their research showed that CAI does have a positive effect on reading achievement. The researchers go on to say:

Computer applications to teach reading hold great promise as instructional tools to increase students’ engagement in reading, promote reading comprehension, and improve reading skills. CAI can assist teachers in developing a more individualized approach to reading instruction to meet the diverse range of students’ needs in classrooms. Teachers can be empowered to vary the pace of instruction, review student learning, teach and reinforce specific skills and strategies, improve motivation, and provide students with relevant and timely feedback.

Reading instruction aligned with computer-assisted instruction can serve as a powerful teaching tool to assist teachers in helping students reach their potential in reading.

Also in The International Society for Technology in Eucation's policy brief it found that:

Programs and applications must provide individualized feedback to students and teachers and must have the ability to tailor lessons to individual student needs. One major benefit of incorporating technology into instruction is to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach to learning. Instead, technology applications can be tailored to meet individual student needs, provide feedback on student progress, and assist them to reflect on their work. Teachers can use data-driven decision making tools to adapt instruction to students’ specific needs. (See, e.g., Kulik2003, White and Frederiksen 1998). Moreover, educational technology provides multiple avenues for assessing student learning and allowing students to communicate what they have learned to their teachers and parents.

The above paragraph is what I am hoping the CAI will help to achieve in reading with my students in the classroom.

My Plan:

The Access Center funded by the US Department of Education gives me a good place to start since the site explains what CAI is, how it can be implemented, and additional references and resources (http://www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/computeraided_reading.asp). I have also started investigating other reading factors like vocabulary and comprehension sites that were suggested from the feedback that I received after posting my initial blog.

I plan on furthering by investigation by researching programs and websites that offer reading components that give my students feedback on their reading skills and resources to help enhance reading instruction. I will use a couple previous students (students who now that babysit my girls) to get their thoughts about the sites/programs and if the sites/programs help them better understand their own reading skills. I may have wait for full implementation of CAI because of financial reasons, but the information/sites/strategies for vocabulary and comprehension can be implemented into my classroom in September.

Four Common Places of Teaching:

The Teacher-learn websites/programs and figure out how they will work in the students' reading instruction/reflection, and how and when will the sites/programs be used

The Learner- sites/programs need to be engaging and help students reflect on their reading skills

The Subject Matter -reading instruction/ self-reflection of reading skills

The Setting - our classroom /computer lab