1. Using Technologies and Cooperative Work To Improve Oral, Writing, and Thinking Skills: Voices from Experience.
- Author
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Freitas, Candido Varela de and Ramos, Altina
- Abstract
This study was conducted during 2 school years, involving one teacher and one classroom from each of four elementary (grades 1-2) and secondary schools. The study included writing activities on the word processor, videoconferencing, and World Wide Web use. The main data source was a series of videotapes of the above mentioned activities. Researchers interviewed students informally, and teachers participated in informal talks and submitted written commentaries. At the time of publication, data analysis was still in progress. Provisionary findings include: (1) videoconferencing promotes the connection between people at various levels and in several ways; (2) information provided on the Web, following a hypermedia structure, but with a dominant amount of text, provides opportunities for the development of written comprehension; (3) interdisciplinary writing activities are a good way to improve writing skills and provide students with an opportunity to use writing not only as an object of study, but also as a learning tool; (4) cooperative learning environments encourage students to share and discuss ideas, as well as encourage the less skilled ones to participate; and (5) there are no easy or definitive answers to integrating technology into educational learning contexts. Further data analysis will be conducted. (Contains 61 references.) (DLS)
- Published
- 1998