As the Internet became the dominant text of our generation, researchers at the University of Connecticut’s New Literacies Research Lab studied how integrating these online texts interacted with more traditional literacy practices. This work examined Online Reading Comprehension and helped identify the skills necessary as students read, write, and communicate online. Research in this nascent…
This week, Microsoft made an announcement that they’ve extended their partnership with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT and GPT-3. As I’ve indicated in a previous post, I’m less interested in ChatGPT, and more interested in the technology and advances behind these tools. As part of this third extension of the partnership with OpenAI, Microsoft is…
This week I’m presenting a workshop focused on reading and supporting students as they interact in classes. Do you ever wonder how or if students read the 200-300 pages of materials assigned a week across all their classes? Why do students have difficulty answering questions about course reading, even if they’ve read the materials? This…
In an earlier post, I discussed the concept of first principles thinking and the value of learning something new or teaching it to someone else. Traditional models of learning focus on time and linear growth over time, or a stepped process in which your thinking quickly advances when you “get it.” Threshold Concepts suggest that…
According to existing laws of war and international human rights accords, children and schools (i.e., learning environments) are supposed to be protected when in warzones. In 1949, The Geneva Convention established rules that occupying powers must “facilitate the proper working of [educational facilities]” and even provide education for children who are displaced because of war.…
When we are working in an online, hyperlinked environment, a search engine no longer determines what we read. Instead upvotes, shared links and proprietary algorithms mold our meaning making and they play an essential role in what we access across a variety of platforms. Comprehension occurs in the cloud, as we increasingly crowd-source our text…
At no point in our history has text, the basic units of literacy undergone so much transition. The fundamental elements of what constitutes “text” is modified as our world moves quickly from print to pixel. With this transition, much of the challenge exists not only with the rapidity with which this transition occurs, but with…
I’ve spent a lot of time recently writing about how I use Hypothesis in my own research and writing, and also in my classes with students. In various blog posts here on this website, and also videos on my YouTube channel, I’ve detailed how and why I use this as an assessment, and tool to…
It can sometimes be a challenge to know what information and sources you can trust as you read online…and which ones you cannot. Successful online readers need to contemporaneously evaluate truth, relevance, quality, impact, and claims made while evaluating the usefulness of the information they find. They need to quickly search and sift through multiple…
In my research, I study the literacy practices of individuals in online and hybrid spaces. What this means is that I’m interested in the ways in which you read, write, and communicate online. One of the big challenges that I’ve investigated over the years is the ability of individuals to critically evaluate online information. Students…