Benefits of Personal Digital Inquiry, Web, and Digital Literacies

 

    New literacies have become a necessary part of our literacy curriculum in order to prepare our students for our evolving world. Beyond developing these skills, engaging with digital tools and web inquiry can actually provide support in strengthening foundational reading skills as well as social development.

Digital Texts and Multimodal Literacies

The affordances of digital tools provide opportunities to support complex reading skills. Read-aloud capabilities of e-books and digital texts can be extremely helpful for students who struggle with attention or fluency. Digital text has also shown to be more engaging for struggling readers than traditional text (Biancarosa & Griffiths, 2012). Furthermore, the wide selection and flexibility provides a more personalized reading experience. With the support of digital tools, students are able to interact with a wider variety of texts. This introduces students to new ideas, concepts, and domains of knowledge; which in turn contributes to a broader vocabulary and knowledge base (Hutchinson & Beschorner, 2012). Many digital texts also include easily accessible visual glossaries to support vocabulary learning. Thse affordances can serve to bridge the gap of disadvantaged students who lack the prior knowledge and experience of others (Biancarosa & Griffiths, 2012 ).

Excerpt from digital e-book, illustrating the read-aloud tool and linked vocabulary

The use of graphic organizers is a commonly used practice in developing reading comprehension skills. Digital programs and apps allow students to take graphic organizers a step further. Students are able to manipulate the structure, appearance, and content of the organizer which lends itself to deeper understanding (Hutchinson & Beschorner, 2012). 

The idea of semiotics explains that we learn and construct meaning through signs and symbols (Dobler & Eagleton, 2015 ). This idea is supported through the use of multimodal literacies which incorporates many types of signs and symbols. The variety in multimodal aspects of digital tools provides students with multiple modes for constructing meaning (Johnson, 2014). Images and videos can provide a reader with alternative representations of information to support their understanding. They help readers by bringing their visualizations of understanding to life (Hutchinson & Beschorner, 2012). This flexibility allows for differentiation in instruction and practice to support all learners (Biancarosa & Griffiths, 2012).

Digital Inquiry

Digital inquiry is not only necessary in developing new literacy skills, but it is also beneficial in strengthening social and foundational skills. To begin with, inquiry supports the theory of constructivism; we learn by doing (Dobler & Eagleton, 2015). In true inquiry, students are the driving force behind their learning. They decide what they want know and how they want to learn it (with guidance of course). It is important to keep in mind that digital inquiry is not a single task or assignment; rather it is an ongoing process and way of learning (Dober & Eagleton, 2015). The whole concept of digital inquiry is centered on engaging students in meaningful learning. Providing them the opportunity to utilize available resources to explore their personal wonderings creates learning that is authentic and relevant (Johnson, 2014). This takes students past engagement and into empowerment.

Through the process of inquiry, students must learn and utilize many critical thinking skills. First of all, the process of searching and finding relevant information requires many higher-order skills (dober & Eagleton, 2015). In order to build understanding from what they find, students must synthesize information in an intelligible way. Utilizing these skills in a real-world context provides for much deeper personal understanding of their necessity (Atkinson & Swaggerty, 2011). Having students create an end product to share their understanding can further emphasize the importance of synthesis. They learn the significance in producing an accurate and understandable representation of information. Furthermore, students are able to recognize the transferability of these skills outside of the task and classroom (Atkinson & Swaggerty, 2011).  

Making inquiry a platform for collaboration can be incredibly beneficial in strengthening classroom community also (Atkinson & Swaggerty, 2011). Students learning to work together to accomplish a common goal is an important, lifelong skill. They learn the importance of accepting and respecting other’s ideas and perspectives. As students provide guidance and feedback on each other’s work, they become partners in learning. They begin to consult one another as expert colleagues instead of merely peers (Atkinson & Swaggerty, 2011). The classroom becomes a place where students are not only the driving force of their own learning, but a crucial component in their classmates’ learning as well. 

References

Atkinson, T. S., & Swaggerty, E. A. (2011). Empowering fourth-grade researchers: reaping the rewards of web 2.0 student-centered learning. Language Arts, 89(2), 99–112.

Biancarosa, G., & Griffiths, G. G. (2012). Technology tools to support reading in the digital age. Future of Children, 22(2), 139–160.

Dobler, E. & Eagleton, M.B. (2015). Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet Inquiry, Second Edition (ch.2). Guilford Press.

Hutchinson, A., Beschorner, B., & Crawford, D.S. (2012). Exploring the use of the iPad for literacy learning. The Reading Teacher, 66(1), pp. 15-23.

Johnson, D. (2014).Reading, writing, and literacy 2.0: Teaching with online texts, tools, and resources, K-8, (Ch 2-3). Teachers College Press.