A8.3: Response to Eshet-Alkali & Amichai-Hamburger

Ashley Pence

October 10, 2007

Eshet-Alkai, Y., & Amichai-Hamburger, Y. (2004, August).  Experiments in digital literacy. Cyberpsychology and Behavior, 7(4), 421-429.

When taking a second look at this article I found myself with a better understanding of the exact study that had taken place.  That just goes to show you it always makes more sense the second time around.  I credit my understanding to more experience in digital literacy as well.  When I read this article the first time I had not been exposed to all the types of digital literacy.  Now that I have had 8 weeks of class based on it, I can now understand what the article is talking about.

To quote the article, “digital literacy is envolves situtations that deal with the utilization of an ever-growing assortment of technical, cognitive, and sociological skills that are necessary in order to perform and solve problems in digital environments.” (2004)  The major digital skills include photo visual skills, reporduction skills, branching skills, information skills and socio-emotional skills.  This study clearly proves that in this digital literacy age the younger of those tested performed much better then the older ones with photo-visual and branching literacy skills.  In response to that the older ones performed better in the reproduction and information literacy skills.  Based on that information we can suspect that the reasoning behind those results are evident.  In today’s society we are filled with a storm of graphics in computer based games as well as symbols and icons that the younger one’s in the study have grown up around.  The younger group is also bombarded with multi-tasking which shows why they would be more effiecient with branching skills.  Branching skills require us to have good spatial skills, that help us avoid getting lost in the digital world while jumping from site to site at the same time.  Based on the results of the older group in the study we can see that information literacy skills fall in line with what that generation is accustomed to.  This population has grown up in an information age where everything came from figuring it out on your own and without the help of any thing other than the information given.  The same goes for reproduction literacy skills and why the older group performed better on this task.  This is the type of media that they are used to.

A8.4: Reflection on Discussion of 10/8/07

Ashley Pence

October 9, 2007

I would first like to say that I had a great time in my discussion group again!  Online classes have really opened my eyes to how informative they can be as well as useful later on by obtaining the transcript from that session.  (Once you decifer the informative from the fun)  However, without the fun it might not be as…for lack of a better word, fun!

The primary contribution that I made to this weeks discussion was to be the group leader.  I was responsible for conveying the group, ensuring that everyone was doing the correct role and posting the discussion questions within my office.  This job was not too stressful, but did make me feel important and allowed me to set the example for my other group members who will be taking a turn at being a group leader themselves.  We all contributed as a whole and were very successful at each of our jobs.

The questions that emerged from our group discussion dealt a lot with when, where and how to ask permission from the owner of information found on a particular website.  The question was answered by Mrs. McComas letting us know that many sites, graphics in particular, will let you know if it is all rights reserved or creative commons.  All rights reserved = big no, no.  You have to ask permission from the owner before you can use the graphic, otherwise you can get in big trouble with lawsuits.  She also informed us that the owner most likely will warn you to remove their material from whatever you have used it on before they take action.  The creative commons idea is that other’s can use your work under certain circumstances.  Creative commons allows the owner to set limits on their work and give specific instructions on how you can use their work, such as citing the owner and site that you obtained it from.

The things that I have learned through this discussion are that copyright laws are very intimidating and confusing.  It is imperative to double check your work and be 100% sure that you are not using someone else’s work without proper permission. 

A8.2: Project Prospectus

Ashley Pence

October 9, 2007

1.  Research Question/Foundation Questions: 

Question:  What factors are essential in the development of adult literacy?

Foundation Questions: 

1.  Does higher education (high school graduate, college graduate, masters degree) lead to adult literacy?

2.  Do things such as socioeconomic status, gender and other environmental factors play a role in adult literacy?

3.  Does the time in which the adult grew up in play a role in their literacy?

2.  Tentative Point:  What point do you plan to make (recognizing that as you complete your research this may change significantly)?

The point that I intend to get across with my project is that adult literacy is completely dependent on other factors.  There are essential steps from childhood and up that help shape the person’s literacy skills.  These include anything from SES, educational background, vocational background, gender and any other environmental factors.  I am most interested in focusing on the affect that poverty and living in an appalachian area has on a person and their literacy.

3.  Discussion:

When coming up with the questions that I did I thought about ways in which to “answer” my research question by looking at other questions to help build from.  The first question that I asked was about higher education leading to adult literacy.  I obviously knew the answer to this one.  This question will be more of a basis in which to explain the importance of higher education rather than answering it.  It’s easy to see that someone with a master’s degree when compared to someone who didn’t go past 5th grade would be different.  This however leads back to the argument of what you think literacy envelops.  If you consider intelligence as a descriptor of literacy you may get into some arguements.  Intelligence can be described as being intelligent in any area, not just book smarts. 

My second question involves the role of SES, gender and other envioronmental factors and how they affect adult literacy.  These can actually all be broken down.  The role that SES plays is major in my opinion.  From personal experience in my own high school I noticed several differences between the SES groups.  It was always typical for the higher SES to have good grades, good behavior and be involved in extracurricular activities.  This is a stereotype in some cases, but in my past experiences this has been true in nearly every case.  I feel as if i’m being judgmental, but it’s hard not to be when considering the facts.  This factor of a lower SES contributing to the things listed above appears to be a never ending cycle.  It is not the persons fault, but it is a hard cycle to get out of.  When you do live in an impoverished area, your schools will most likely not be the greatest either, which leads to poorer resources in which to educate.  Since the student does come from a background of poverty, their main goal is to get out of school and get a job to support their family.  Every bit of income is crucial and a higher education costs money and time that you could be contributing elsewhere.  

My third question deals with the time in which the person grew up in an the affect that it has on that persons literacy.  I came up with this question by thinking about my grandparents and other people in their generation.  I did a little interview tonight while thinking about this question.  I called my granny and papaw who are 73 and 77.  I asked them when they quit school, why and what they did after they quit.  It all seemed logical, they quit in 9th and 10th grade, to work and that is what they did until they retired.  They are both very happy people and always have been.  They worked hard and were very intelligent in their profession.  My granny started as a seamstress and worked her way to a supervisor before she retired.  My papaw was a highly respected sewing machine mechanic.  That was good enough for them in the time in which they grew up in.  The same goes for all other people that grew up in that time.  It wasn’t relevant to go to school and if you lived in an appalachian area like my grandparents did, there were no jobs that necessarily required a high school degree let alone a college degree.  As I was talking to my granny she made the comment, “I got by and was happy with the education I got, but I wouldn’t know how to even turn on a computer.”  This just shows the difference in the times we grow up in.  Computers were not even invented when she was in school.  Now they are almost the sole source of communication.  Another bit of information that I would like to add is about what I have witnessed at my previous job.  I worked at an Electric Co-Op and took peoples payments for their electric bills.  It seems as if every person over the age of 80 had me write out their checks for them and they would sign them either with a scribble or an X.  To end this section I would like to add a comment that my papaw said when I asked him why he quit school in the 10th grade, “I guess I thought I knew everything.”  If only he had known what was to come 50 years later.

4.  Resources:

Commons, M. L., Galaz-Fontes, J. F., & Morse, S. J. (2006). Leadership, cross-cultural contact, socio-economic status and formal operational reasoning about moral dilemmas among Mexican non-literate adults and high school students. Journal of Moral Education, 35(2), 247-267. Retrieved October 6, 2007, from the ERIC database.

Kazemek, F. E. (2004). Living a literate life. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 47(6), 448-452. Retrieved October 6, 2007, from the Academic Search Premier database.

 

Cooter, K. S. (2006). When mama can’t read: Counteracting intergenerational literacy. Reading Teacher, 59(7), 698-702. Retrieved September 20, 2007, from the Academic Search Premier database.

Wood, R. L. (1993). Our golden road to illiteracy. National Review, 45(20), 54-58. Retrieved September 20, 2007, from the Academic Search Premier database.

Puckett, A. (1992). Let the girls do the spelling and Dan will do the shooting; Literacy, the division of labor and identity in a rural appalachian community. Anthropological Quarterly, 65(3). Retrieved September 20, 2007, from the Academic Search Premier database.

Fratt, L. (2003). Early literacy intervention. District Administration, 39(7), 16-17. Retrieved September 20, 2007, from the Academic Search Premier database.

A8.1: APA Review

Ashley Pence

October 9, 2007

When I reviewed my Library Searches I and II I caught a few errors that did not comply with correct APA formatting.  I first looked over my references and then thumbed through my APA handbook in order to double check what I had done so far.  I noticed my first mistake was with capitalization.  This was noted on page 226 in section 4.10 Title of Article or Chapter.  I knew that only the first word of the title  and any proper nouns were to be capitalized, but my mistake was in the subtitle.  I had not capitalized the first word after the colon.  I only had a few that had subtitles so this was easy to fix.

The second thing I noticed was a mistake I made on everyone of my citations.  This consisted of using “the” when giving my retrieval information.  On page 231, section 4.15, Retrieval Information: Electronic Sources instructed me that when listing the database in which you received your journal from you must put “the” before the database.  It should look like this: from the ERIC database.

By reviewing these citation errors I realized that I should not be so quick to assume that I cited my information correctly.  It is always good to double check your work especially when using APA formatting.