Exploring Patterns in Student Dialogue While Using a Digital Platform Designed to Support Online Inquiry

Online inquiry, or using the Internet to generate questions and then search for, analyse, and synthesise information about these questions, is an essential part of digital literacy. However, processes involved in online inquiry are substantially complex. Prior research suggests that digital platforms can scaffold online inquiry processes. Moreover, the value of scaffolding dialogue in collaborative activities has been shown to enhance critical thinking, an important part of online inquiry. This study investigates whether the use of digital platforms designed to scaffold online inquiry can support productive dialogue when used collaboratively. Data from four pairs of high school students was collected as they worked together using both the digital platform and multiple online sources outside the platform to complete an online inquiry task. Each pair’s interactions were analysed to investigate whether features of the digital platform prompted productive dialogue. In line with research suggesting the use of academic language influences content understanding, each pair’s use of certain academic terms related to the task and digital platform’s interface were also statistically examined. Results suggested that most productive dialogue occurred when using the digital platform. Additionally, two of the four academic terms investigated occurred more often in talk while interacting with the digital platform, compared to talk when on another website. A comparison of timelines associated with these terms offered examples of how initially they were said exclusively while on the tool, and then progressed towards independent use

Digitaaliset tekstitaidot ovat lasten perusoikeus

Digitaalisilla tekstitaidoilla (digital literacies) viitataan monipuolisiin luku-, kirjoitus- ja viestintä- taitoihin ja -käytänteisiin, joita tarvitaan digitaalisissa ympäristöissä toimimiseen ja aktiiviseen osallisuuteen lähiyhteisöissä ja yhteiskunnassa. Digitaalisille ympäristöille on ominaista monime- diaisuus, monimodaalisuus, monikielisyys, globaalisuus, vuorovaikutteisuus ja kriittisyyden vaade. Lisäksi digitaalisuus läpäisee eri elämänpiirit: kasvatuksen, koulutuksen, työelämän ja vapaa-ajan. Kaikille kansalaisille onkin taattava yhdenvertaiset mahdollisuudet digitaalisten tekstitaitojen ke- hittämiseen. Erityistä huolta tulee pitää haavoittuvassa asemassa olevien kansalaisten, kuten las- ten, digitaalisten tekstitaitojen tukemisesta. Näistä lähtökohdista syntyi ELINET-verkoston kannan- otto ”Digitaaliset tekstitaidot ovat lasten perusoikeus”, jonka sisällön esittelemme seuraavaksi

Adult readers evaluating the credibility of social media posts: Prior belief consistency and source's expertise matter most

The present study investigates the role of source characteristics, the quality of evidence, and prior beliefs of the topic in adult readers' credibility evaluations of short health-related social media posts. The researchers designed content for the posts concerning five health topics by manipulating the source characteristics (source's expertise, gender, and ethnicity), the accuracy of the claims, and the quality of evidence (research evidence, testimony, consensus, and personal experience) of the posts. After this, accurate and inaccurate social media posts varying in the other manipulated aspects were programmatically generated. The crowdworkers (N = 844) recruited from two platforms were asked to evaluate the credibility of up to ten social media posts, resulting in 8380 evaluations. Before credibility evaluation, participants' prior beliefs on the topics of the posts were assessed. The results showed that prior belief consistency and the source's expertise affected the perceived credibility of the accurate and inaccurate social media posts the most after controlling for the topic of the post and the crowdworking platform. In contrast, the quality of evidence supporting the health claim mattered relatively little. The source's gender and ethnicity did not have any effect. The results are discussed in terms of first- and second-hand evaluation strategies.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures including the appendix. Submitted to a journal for peer revie

Hyvinvointi-, hius- ja kauneusalan ammatteihin opiskelevat kriittisinä nettilukijoina

Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin ammatillisen koulutuksen opiskelijoiden (hyvinvointi-, hius- ja kauneusala) kriittistä nettilukutaitoa. Lisäksi tarkasteltiin aikaisemman tiedon, tekstien lukemisjärjestyksen ja perus- telutaitojen yhteyttä siihen, kuinka hyvin opiskelijat osasivat arvioida luotettavia (varmentaminen) ja epäluotettavia (kyseenalaistaminen) nettitekstejä sekä erottaa luotettavat tekstit epäluotettavista. Tutki- mukseen osallistui 82 opiskelijaa, joista valtaosa oli 15–18-vuotiaita. Opiskelijat lukivat ja arvioivat kaksi luotettavaa ja kaksi epäluotettavaa tekstiä sokerin vaikutuksista. Opiskelijat arvioivat kirjoittajan asiantuntijuutta, tarkoitusperiä, julkaisupaikkaa ja evidenssin laatua ja perustelivat kutakin arviotaan valitsemalla yhden neljästä annetusta vaihtoehdosta. Tehtävän lopussa opiskelijoita pyydettiin asetta- maan tekstit järjestykseen niiden luotettavuuden perusteella. Opiskelijoiden aikaisempaa tietoa sokerista arvioitiin oikein-väärin-väittämillä. Tulokset osoittivat, että opiskelijoiden kriittisessä nettilukutaidossa oli huomattavia eroja. Vajaa viidesosa opiskelijoista ei osannut varmentaa tai kyseenalaistaa tekstien luotettavuutta. Lähes puolet opiskelijoista valitsivat epäluotettavan tekstin kahden luotettavimman jouk- koon. Mitä paremmin opiskelijat osasivat perustella luotettavuutta, sitä paremmin he osasivat varmen- taa ja kyseenalaistaa luotettavuutta sekä erottaa luotettavat tekstit epäluotettavista.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Kriittinen nettilukutaito on moniulotteista

acceptedVersio

Designing Classroom Practices for Teaching Online Inquiry: Experiences from the Field

Students face several challenges when asked to locate relevant and credible information from the internet. This article introduces three principles for designing online inquiry lessons and documents what we learned from five language arts teachers from Finland who implemented and provided feedback on a learning unit framed in those design principles. Teachers implemented a researcher-designed online inquiry unit in nine upper secondary school classrooms. The unit included four 75-minute lessons sequenced to support the location, evaluation, and synthesis of information students encountered in an online inquiry task. Teachers’ diaries revealed their impressions of the unit, problems encountered, and exceptions made to the designed plan. Follow-up interviews revealed additional insights about appropriate time allocation, clear instruction, and areas where students benefit from explicit guidance in strategy use. Findings suggest a researcher-teacher collaboration can be a fruitful endeavor to assist in advancing the design of productive online inquiry activities. Increasingly, students turn to the internet to seek information to address a problem or complete a learning task. These forms of online inquiry require students to locate relevant and credible information from multiple online resources and build a coherent representation of the explored issue (Leu et al., 2019). Although online inquiry is a common practice, students’ competencies are often under-developed (Brand-Gruwel & van Strien, 2018), resulting in uncritical engagement with online information. Furthermore, many teachers find it challenging to embed instruction of these competencies into their curriculum (Derakhshan & Singh, 2011). To address these issues, we developed a learning unit designed to intentionally translate relevant theories and design principles into effective classroom practices for teaching online inquiry. Five language arts teachers from Finland collaborated with us to provide initial feedback on the unit; after revisions, they agreed to implement the lessons in nine upper secondary classrooms and reflect on their teaching experiences. In this paper, we describe the theoretical and pedagogical underpinnings of our unit’s design and how it was implemented in classrooms. Then, we share teachers’ reflections about the unit, including ideas for improvements