Reading Online - Articles: Using Media Flexibly

Using Media Flexibly to Compose and Communicate

Abstract
Today’s definition of literacy includes not just the ability to read and write, but also the ability to understand multimedia, including audio, video, hypermedia, and hypertext (Stinson & Clause, 2000). New information and communications technologies are continuously appearing, and new envisionments for exploiting these technologies are continuously being developed (Leu & Kinzer, 2000). The primary purpose of this article is to show how students can be encouraged to use media and new technologies flexibly to compose and communicate their ideas. A secondary purpose of this article is to describe ways in which teachers can help students enhance their classroom reports with free or inexpensive software that can be downloaded from the Internet, including the templates that support the design of subsequent pages of the article.

The article describes reports developed by three students in a hypothetical sixth-grade classroom. Both the classroom teacher, Mrs. Miller, and the students are composites of many teachers and students with whom I have worked. The reports presented and described in the article parallel the types of reports that have been developed by these teachers and their students, but they are not actual student or teacher reports. For the sake of both clarity and brevity, I decided to use a hypothetical scenario to convey the intended message.
Related Postings from the Archives

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Hypermedia Authoring as Critical Literacy by Jamie Myers and Richard Beach

Though this article may be read in any order the reader wishes, a first-time reader might want to start with Mrs. Miller’s report. It is also presented in two slightly different formats, one for readers whose browsers support Java (any version of Netscape or Internet Explorer above 4.0 should do so), and a second for those using older or “nonstandard” browsers. The versions differ only by the inclusion of a single page in the Java-supported document, and none of the actual article content will be missed if the “non-Java” version is selected.

References

Leu, D.J., & Kinzer, C.K. (2000). The convergence of literacy instruction with networked technologies for information and communication. Reading Research Quarterly, 35(1), 109-127. Available: www.catchword.com/ira/00340553/v35n1/contp1-1.htm

Stinson, B.M., & Claus, K. (2000). The effects of electronic classrooms on learning English composition: A middle ground between traditional instruction and computer based instruction. T.H.E. Journal, 27(7), 98-100, 102.

About the Author

portrait of Martha Dillner

E-mail Martha Dillner Martha Dillner is a professor of reading and instructional technology at the University of Houston-Clear Lake in Houston, Texas, USA. She has spent over 25 years teaching in both public school and university settings. In addition to coauthoring five textbooks, Martha has developed and published instructional software, including an application that uses interactive multimedia to help preservice and inservice teachers learn how to use the Language Experience Approach. She also has created a set of hypertext lessons for elementary-level reading instruction and an interactive computer kiosk that uses photographs, audio clips, and video clips to depict the history of her university. She is the author of numerous journal articles and the past editor of Reading Online. Her involvement with the International Reading Association’s Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group includes serving terms as president and editor of its electronic newsletter, MicroMissive, and, in May 2001, receipt of the group’s Computers in Reading Research Award.
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Citation: Dillner, M. (2001, July/August). Using media flexibly to compose and communicate. Reading Online, 5(1). Available: http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=/articles/dillner/index.html