Julie Coiro, Ph.D. University of Rhode Island Creating Performance-Based Measures of Online Research and Reading Comprehension In Elementary and Middle School

What attempts have you made to measure your students’ online inquiry skills or online reading skills? How do you define these things? What successes have you had? What challenges have you encountered?

Areas of Work That Inform Our Assessments 1)Theories of online reading comprehension 2)Observing online reading processes 3)Instructional Supports: Think-Aloud Models and Thinking Prompts 4)Collaborative Reading Grades 3-7

ORCA Project Goals 1)Develop assessments of online research and reading comprehension in three different formats (ORCA – Open, ORCA-Closed, ORCA-MC). 2)Evaluate each instrument's internal assessment characteristics. 3)Evaluate the extent to which performance on each format is associated with various student variables. 4)Evaluate the practicality of each assessment format in the eyes of key education decision makers.

A New Literacies Perspective of Online Reading Comprehension 1.Students require additional, new skills to read and effectively comprehend information online. 2.Students are sometimes more literate than their teachers with certain aspects of using the Internet. 3. The Internet is a READING and WRITING issue (not a technology issue) for every content-area classroom teacher, reading educator, and library media specialist.

How does reading and learning on the Internet change? You begin by identifying an important question New ways of locating information New reasons for critically evaluating the information New contexts for synthesizing information to answer your questions New ways of communicating the answers to others Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, and Cammack (2004)

An Important Challenge: How Do We Assess Online Research and Comprehension?

8 AUTHENTIC TASKS & CONTEXTS

AUTHENTIC ONLINE SPACES Searching… Reading and Navigating Websites… Integrating with notepads… Communicating with & wikis… All within a Facebook-like social networking space… Chat features…

SCORE POINT SYSTEM

11 SCORE POINT SYSTEM

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Reading to Synthesize Information Online 17

Reading to Evaluate Information Online 18

Reading and Writing to Communicate Information Online 19

20 Corresponding Multiple Choice Version

21 Corresponding Open Internet Version

Assessing Prior Knowledge (open response and multiple choice quizzes)

Reliability (Internal Consistency) – From Pilot Year

Challenge: Rapidly Changing Assessment Contexts ?

Captures Process and Product in Real-Time

Scoring System

Asking Questions What would I like to know more about? Locating Where do I read first? Evaluating Which link is most useful? How do I know it’s true? What is the author’s purpose? Synthesizing and Communicating How do I come up with an original idea? How do I share it with others? Exploring the power of the Internet and inquiry (scaffold, inspire, link, and expand) Previewing websites Evaluating search results Evaluating validity of information Evaluating perspective/stance Sorting, organizing, and synthesizing Publishing with a range of tools and for a range of audiences What are the challenges… What can I teach… (and then measure) Preparing Students to Read on the Internet

Designing Online Inquiry Tasks What curricular topics lend themselves to a mini-inquiry project with your students in Grades 3-8? (or a group exploration in K-3?) How might you frame your “information problem”, the sequence of research steps, and the final product task? What content might an overview page contain? What links might you embed? What digital affordances might you make use of (or not) in this project?

Locating: Reading Search Engine Results

Locating: Previewing a Website for relevant information

Evaluating Accuracy: Reading to Verify or Refute Claims

A Higher Level Information Challenge: Critical Evaluation, Synthesis, Multiple Answers, and Student Opinions How do different authors portray the Japanese Internment Camp Experience to readers?

An Information Challenge For You: How do different authors portray the Japanese Internment Camp Experience to readers?

How do different authors portray the Japanese Internment Camp Experience to readers?

How do different authors portray the Japanese Internment Camp Experience?