New Literacies, Learning & Assessment
How have notions of learning—and learners—changed in the 21st century? How then, must we also shift the ways in which we conceptualize assessment? These questions are central to ongoing research that explores how understanding learning in a participatory culture also calls for new ways of understanding and designing for assessment. Through the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Initiative and a collaborative partnership with Project New Media Literacies, my work involved developing an assessment framework for Reading in a Participatory Culture, a curriculum designed to engage students in reading classic literature through new media literacies. The project led to a local initiative, funded through a federal grant, to develop a collaborative professional development network with English Language Arts teachers in four area high schools to develop activities through digital and social media that engaged their students in interacting with texts and each other in more meaningful ways and to design reflective assessments around them. Together, we worked towards identifying more effective practices for teaching English Language Arts, scaffolding student learning, providing feedback, negotiating norms for using social media and technology in the classroom, and developing more authentic and effective assessment practices. Ongoing research in this area involves understanding the social and participatory literacy practices students engage in through digital and informal learning spaces and then in designing more inclusive, innovative, and participatory approaches to teaching literacy and language through them.
Graduate Research Assistant, Indiana University
The Monroe-Eastern Greene Participatory Activities Network. Helped develop and explore the impact of an online network for high school English Language Arts teachers to design new media literacies and assessment activities and engage in practitioner research.
New Media Literacies and Participatory Assessment: Reading in a Participatory Culture. Examined situated and sociocultural approaches to assessing learning in a year-long research-based design study of an alternative high school English classroom implementing a new media literacies curriculum on reading in a participatory culture.
Critical Web Reader. Conducted a case study of how high school students analyze, interpret, and evaluate information on Holocaust web sites using the Critical Web Reader in a Holocaust Literature course.
Research Associate, Rockman Et Al
Designed and conducted multi-year, local, state, and national research and evaluation studies to examine the impact of school reform, technology, professional development, and literacy initiatives in formal and informal learning environments. Selected projects:
Big Read. National Endowment for the Arts, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Arts Midwest. Designed and conducted a mixed-methods study (e.g., survey, interview, focus group, & participation attendance data) of the impact of community Big Read programs across the nation, including a case study of youths’ in- and out-of-school, on- and off-line reading practices.
Poetry Out Loud. The National Poetry Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts. Designed and implemented a national, multi-level study of the teaching of poetry in high school and the participation of state arts agencies, schools, teachers, and students in a national poetry recitation contest.
Star Schools. U.S. Department of Education: Office of Innovation and Improvement. Designed and implemented a case study of teacher-student interactions in a hybrid online supplemental education service in reading for 6th-8th grade English Language Learners in three states.
Tandem Certification of Indiana Teachers/Interdisciplinary Collaborative Program. U.S. Department of Education: Office of English Language
Acquisition National Professional Development Program. Conducted evaluations of two innovative statewide professional development programs for Indiana K-12 teachers teaching English Language Learners.
Acquisition National Professional Development Program. Conducted evaluations of two innovative statewide professional development programs for Indiana K-12 teachers teaching English Language Learners.
CILC Vistas. Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration. Managed the evaluations of several school-community partnerships connecting students and community partners through problem-based learning and the integration of interactive videoconferencing and other technologies.
Tech-Know-Build. U.S. Department of Education: Technology Innovation Challenge Grant. Conducted case studies in middle and high school classrooms and assessments of students’ writing and information literacy skills in a five-year, federally-funded study of the impact of one-to-one computing and problem-based learning.
Buddy2: STAR Writers and STAR Universal Writers. Corporation for Educational Technology. Conducted a three-year study of the impact of using technology in the classroom and at home to improve writing instruction, increase time for writing, and raise students’ writing achievement scores in 3rd-8th grades.
