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Technology integration in K-12 classrooms is usually teacher-centered and has insufficient impact on students' learning. The purpose of this project is to facilitate science teachers' use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as cognitive tools to shift their practices from teacher-centered methods to constructivist, student-centered ones. This paper describes the outcomes and lessons learned from an application of design-based research (DBR) in the implementation and refinement of a teacher professional development (PD) program that is a key component of the project. The results revealed teachers' positive changes in their classroom practices and positive impact on students' ICT skills and science learning. Design principles for future professional development programs aimed at preparing teachers to adopt a cognitive tools approach are described.

With advancing technology, "literacy" evolves to include new forms of literacy made possible by digital technologies. "New literacy" refers to using technology to research, locate, evaluate, synthesize and communication information. The purpose of the study is to develop a framework to guide science teachers' new literacy practices, and examine the impact of new literacy approach on students' science learning and new literacy skills. The authors worked with 25 middle school science teachers through a two-year professional development (PD), and followed their implementation to investigate the PD impact on their classroom practices and students' learning outcomes. The authors adopted mixed-methods to examine change in teachers' new literacy practices, students' science learning outcomes, and students' confidence in new literacy skills. The study results showed increases in teachers' frequency and types of new literacy practices, positive impact on students' science learning and confidence in new literacy skills. Factors affecting teachers' new literacy practice are also reported.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the popular assumption that the "digital natives" generation surpasses the previous "digital immigrants" generation in terms of their technology experiences, because they grow up with information and communication technology. The assumption presumes that teachers, the digital immigrants, are less technology savvy than the digital natives, resulting in a disconnect between students' technology experiences inside and outside of the formal school setting. To examine the intersection of these generations and their technology experiences, this study used a mixed-methods approach to survey and compare middle school science teachers' (n = 24) and their students' (n = 1,060) inside-outside school technology experiences, and conducted focus group interviews to investigate any barriers that prevented them from using technology in school. The findings imply that the concept of digital natives may be misleading and that the disconnect between students' inside-outside school technology experiences may be the result of the lack of sufficient teacher training concerning technology integration strategies.

Due to the rapid advancements of information and communication technologies (ICTs), educational researchers argue that multimodal and new literacies should become common practices in schools. As new ICTs emerge and evolve, students need the new literacies skills and practices to successfully participate fully in the civic life of a global community. Are teachers prepared to integrate ICTs in the classroom to develop students' new literacies skills? The purpose of this study is to suggest a new literacies framework that guides ICTs integration and supports scientific inquiry, as well as investigate middle school teachers' confidence to practice new literacies in science classrooms. The study adopted mixed-methodology design, surveyed 32 middle school science teachers' ICTs and new literacies skills, and randomly observed 15 teachers' new literacies practices in the classrooms. The results revealed that even though teachers have high confidence in using ICTs, the meaningful technology integration and new literacies practices were scarcely observed in their classroom practices.

Research studies on college reading have been emphasizing the effectiveness of instruction and the correlation of reading performance to college success. Little research has been conducted regarding college developmental readers' preferences for using digital texts to communicate. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether students' reading level will improve if the students have the opportunity to use digital texts with a blogging tool. The researchers worked with 149 college students and 2 instructors to integrate blogs into developmental reading courses. The researchers collected and analyzed both quantitative data and qualitative data. The results indicate that using blogs correlated positively with higher retention rate. The article also describes challenges encountered in this project, and suggests integration strategies for college reading instruction. (Contains 8 tables and 1 footnote.)

This position paper proposes the enhancement of teacher and student learning in science classrooms by tapping the enormous potential of information communication and technologies (ICTs) as cognitive tools for engaging students in scientific inquiry. This paper serves to challenge teacher-held assumptions about students learning science "from technology" with a framework and examples of students learning science "with technology". Whereas a high percentage of students are finding their way in using ICTs outside of school, for the most part they currently are not doing so inside of school in ways that they find meaningful and relevant to their lives. Instead, the pedagogical approaches that are most often experienced are out-of-step with how students use ICTs outside of schools and are not supportive of learning framed by constructivism. Here we describe a theoretical and pedagogical foundation for better connecting the two worlds of students' lives: life in school and life outside of school. This position paper is in response to the changing landscape of students' lives. The position is transformative in nature because it proposes the use of cyber-enabled resources for cultivating and leveraging students new literacy skills by learning "with technology" to enhance science learning.

The use of games in educational contexts has recently received growing attention; however, many teachers struggle with finding a right context to adopt games in the classroom. To strengthen teachers' beliefs about the educational value of games, this article explains the similarities and differences between new literacies and gaming literacy and defines gaming literacy from the "play" and "design" perspectives. This article presents examples of game use that will help teachers cultivate learners' new literacies through gaming, understand how the game debriefing process can help scaffold students' learning, and identify factors affecting the adoption of games in educational contexts. The audience for this article includes teachers and teacher educators who would like greater clarification regarding gaming literacy and its positive effects on the learning and development of new literacies. (Contains 5 figures.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to compare high school students' global literacy level in metropolitan areas of China and the USA. Design/methodology/approach: The authors adopted a global literacy instrument to surveyed 2,157 New York City (NYC) high school students and 2,220 Chinese high school students. This paper adopted an independent sample t-test and an ANOVA to identify significant differences regarding demographic features on the Likert-scale items, and used the Pearson correlation coefficient to explore the degree of association between factors. Findings: From this global literacy scale, compared with NYC high school students, Chinese students have greater awareness of comprehending and appreciating cross-cultural perspectives, becoming global citizens, and exhibited greater approval of the performance of their own country's interconnectedness and interdependence with other countries. Students in the two countries exhibited similar confidence in using new literacies. Practical implications: Students would pay close attention to global issues if they were aware of how these issues affect their daily life and future. With critical-thinking abilities, students would be in a better position to make decisions that contribute to the common good. With awareness of diverse cultures, students could learn the values, strengths, and weaknesses of people. With fluency in new literacies, students could research and analyze information from multiple resources, and collaborate with others through the use of technology. Originality/value: This paper profiles the global literacy of US and Chinese high school students, describes factors correlated with both US and Chinese students' global literacy, and suggests students' preferences regarding "global education"-related activities. (Contains 15 tables.)

Purpose: When facing greater demands in the international job market and the innovative development and use of technologies, the youth needs a new set of skills and attitudes to succeed in an increasing well-educated global workforce. It is essential that educators prepare high school students' global literacy. In this paper, the authors survey high school students in New York City (NYC) to learn about their global literacy levels and to summarize results and interpret implications for educators. Design/methodology/approach: The authors adopted a global literacy instrument to survey 2,157 high school students. They adopted an independent sample t-test and an ANOVA to identify significant differences regarding demographic features on the Likert-scale items, used cross-tab analysis to present the profile of participants, and used the Pearson correlation coefficient to explore the degree of association between factors. Findings: From this global literacy scale, NYC high school students have relatively strong awareness of the importance of comprehending and appreciating cross-culture perspectives, have strong confidence in using new literacies to resolve problems, but have relatively low willingness to become a global citizen. Practical implications: The findings of the study support the need to improve education quality, to strengthen world languages programs, and to advocate "new literacies" practices in classrooms. Originality/value: The paper surveys high school students to learn about their global literacy levels, and to investigate factors associated with the formation of their global literacy. Most importantly, the paper adds the concept new literacies into the component of the global literacy definition to reflect the influence of technology on the high school students' global awareness. (Contains 2 figures and 5 tables.)

Second Life (SL) (http://www.secondlife.com), a 3D multi-user virtual environment (MUVE), is developed and maintained by its users. Over six million users from over 100 countries have become residents in SL. Non-profit and profit organizations and academic institutions have built islands, established a presence there, and explored the related benefits to their target users. Educators and students who are not familiar with the virtual learning environment should have an opportunity to learn about the rationale of using SL in teaching and learning. This paper summarizes the merits of adopting SL in teaching and learning, issues of SL use, and the use of the instructional-design principle relative to the design of SL learning activities. The authors discuss the process of applying ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation), a generic and simplified instructional systems design model, to the creation of SL learning activities for online learners, and how these activities reflect the SL capabilities. (Contains 1 figure.)

Purpose: Although teacher educators have worked on improving pre-service teachers' diversity awareness, researchers still face the challenge of pursuing a better approach to achieve the goal. In an era when educators are calling for evidence-based practice, the purpose of this paper is to explore various ways in which both teacher-education programs and general schools can integrate diversity issues into literacy teaching and learning. The paper undertakes this exploration on the basis of Gollnick and Chinn's cultural-identity model and of weblog-technology use. Design/methodology/approach: The participants of this paper are 27 pre-service teachers. The researchers set up a private group blog and invited all participants to be blog authors. The blog enabled the instructor to archive and categorize all posts and to continue to invite cohorts of pre-service teachers to join the blog. Pre-service teachers are placed in culturally and linguistically diverse classroom settings and are required to post their weekly reflections on the weblog. The researchers adopted mixed methodology to collect both qualitative data field observation reports, discussion content on the blog, case studies, and focus groups and quantitative data pre-post surveys. Findings: The pre-service teachers in this paper possessed positive and open-minded attitudes toward English language learners. According to the pre- and post-survey, pre-service teachers are confident that they could resolve issues related to diversity in the classroom after participating in the paper. According to the results of the case-scenario analysis, the instructor should use reading contexts to address diversity issues, especially those pertaining to exceptionality, geography, class, and gender. The pre-service teachers' discussions and interactions on the blog were rich. Pre-service teachers felt motivation to expand their diversity-themed discussions from the classroom to the blog. Originality/value: With the assistance of weblogs, the instructor can extend the in-class discussion. In the paper, group blogs became a tool that helped the instructor and the pre-service teachers not only link the in-class discussion to their field observations but also share personal experiences and resources. For introverted pre-service teachers, a group blog can serve as a channel through which the pre-service teachers can comfortably express carefully organized opinions. In general, the commenting feature of the blog enriches interaction among pre-service teachers and widens their discussion in a way in which limited class time cannot. (Contains 3 tables.)

This pilot study investigates how the use of audioblogs can help to meet an instructor's need to improve instruction in English as a second language (ESL). In this study, the instructor uses audioblogs to manage oral assignments, to interact with learners, and to evaluate performance outcomes. Learners record oral assignments through cellular phones, and maintain an individual audioblog in which they submit and archive the oral assignments. The instructor interacts with each learner through the individual audioblog to enhance his or her learning according to individual needs. Using mixed methodology (survey, open-ended questions, interview, and analysis of blogs), this study explores how the instructor's interaction with learners through audioblogs improves learners' oral English performance. The results indicate that the use of audioblogs meets the instructor's instructional needs, providing an efficient and effective way to evaluate students' oral performance and permitting individualized oral feedback. In addition, learners enjoy the ease of using audioblogs and believe that audioblogs assist their language-learning experience. This study also discusses the challenges that users of audioblogs face in the process of English-language instruction, and the implications of audioblog in language learning. (Contains 2 figures and 3 tables.)

Recently, webinar (web seminar) tools (e.g., Elluminate, Adobe Acrobat Connect, Live Meeting) have been attracting more and more attention with the advancement of online learning technologies because webinar tools facilitate real-time communication and enrich the interactivity in an online learning environment. Corporations have long adopted webinar tools for real-time meetings; however, we need research-based data to understand how webinar tools can be successfully integrated into an online learning environment. To strengthen our understanding of appropriate webinar training and teaching strategies, this qualitative study investigates the perceptions of student-trainers who use webinar tools. The results show that student-trainers are satisfied with their webinar-facilitated delivery of conceptual knowledge. Webinar provides a nearly face-to-face environment that increases participants' social presence and facilitates multi-level interaction. This paper presents suggestions regarding webinar-session implementation strategies.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are transforming the priorities of the International Reading Association (IRA) and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) to focus on preparing for the "new literacies." According to the Partnership of 21st Century Skills, "new literacy" is the ability to use ICTs to develop 21st century content knowledge and skills critical for success in the workplace and in life. The "new literacy" is an additional set of basic skills essential for surviving in a digital networked environment. The Internet and ICTs are changing today's definition of literacy. To become fully literate in today's world, students must become proficient in the new literacies of ICTs. This article provides a brief overview of several types of instruction that support development of ICT skills. The strategies skills and technology are also summarized in this article. (Contains 1 table and 5 figures.)