1. A Preliminary Analysis of How
Multimodal Content-Area Websites Align
with
Emerging Theories of New Literacies and
Technology Use in School Classrooms
Julie Coiro and Jay Fogleman
University of Rhode Island
Symposium, AERAApril 2009, San Diego

2. Introduction and Rationale
New information technologies are rapidly changing
the nature of literacy and learning (e.g., Coiro, Knobel,
Lankshear & Leu, 2008)
Teachers must be prepared to guide and support
students in learning about and with appropriate
new technologies (Niess, 2008; Partnership for 21st Century
Skills, 2008)
Despite many efforts, teachers lack the skills and
knowledge to teach with technology successfully or
model how to learn with new technologies
effectively (e.g., Koehler, Mishra, & Yahya, 2007).

3. Theoretical frameworks**
Pedagogical reasoning (Niess, 2008) informed by a dynamic
knowledge of Technology, Pedagogy, and Content (TPCK)
(Koehler & Mishra, 2008)
Multimodal perspectives of text that attend to the role of
images, movement, sound, and layout (Kress & van Leeuwin, 1996;
Lemke, 2002; Unsworth, 2008)
Multiliteracies perspective that seeks to prepare learners as
both consumers and designers of information (Cope & Kalantzis,
2000)
New literacies perspective of online reading comprehension
(Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, & Cammack, 2004) to frame the ways students
actively participate in online inquiry-based informational
reading and learning
** In the spirit of new literacies research (Coiro, Knobel, Lankshear &
Leu, 2008), we make public our plea for patience as we begin to explore
literacy across multiple theories and lines of research

4. Relevant work in this area
Graduate students: TPCK involves developing a deep
understanding of the complex relationships between
content, pedagogy, technology, and the learning contexts
in which they function (Koehler, Mishra, & Yahya,
2007).
Pre-service teachers can also be taught how to: (1)
recognize the affordances and constraints of particular
ICTs in particular disciplines and (2) employ TPCK to
transform difficult topics/concepts with technology in
ways that augment conceptual understanding (Angeli &
Valanides, 2009) using Technology Mapping.

5. Relevant work in this area
Technology mapping (Putnam & Borko, 1997; 2000) involves
establishing connections among the affordances of a tool,
content, and pedagogy - but also linked to who will be using
it (teacher and/or student) and for what purpose
Affordances = actual and perceived properties that indicate
latent action possibilities (Gibson, 1977; Norman, 1990)
The outcome… Teachers gradually become more experienced in
assessing the added value of computers in teaching and learning

6. Relevant work in this area
Two additional ideas
Interactive multimodal learning environments are
rapidly emerging alongside static printed text
environments (Moreno & Mayer, 2007; Unsworth, 2008)
The nature of inquiry and expression is quite different
in different disciplines (Polman, 1998) - implications for
learners as consumers and designers
New teachers can learn to recognize the types of multimodal
interactivity that foster knowledge construction rather than
only information acquisition (Moreno & Mayer, 2007)
New teachers can learn how to map affordances and
constraints of different technologies for specific pedagogical
challenges faced by content area instructors (Bull, Bull, &
Hammand, 2008)

7. The TPCK framework
(Koehler & Mishra, 2008)

8. TPK
TCK
Knowledge of how to
plan lessons and design
effective learning
materials that
incorporate a range of
technologies
Knowledge of the
affordances &
constraints of each
technology type relative
to a content-area lesson
Our focus…
TPCK
Which theories should
help guide our
pedagogical reasoning for
using new technologies for
teaching & learning?

9. Our research questions
(First steps in exploring the territory)
1. How might we begin to characterize the range of
multiple sign systems and pedagogies used to
represent and teach conceptual information on existing
websites within and across the disciplines?
2. How might emerging perspectives of new literacies,
multiliteracies, and TPCK be useful for helping
teachers: (a) assess the utility of interactive
multimodal websites in their curriculum and (b)
effectively capitalize on these digital resources for
teaching and learning?

10. Methodology
Reviewed a set of content-specific interactive
informational websites to get a sense of how key
concepts are represented in multiple modes and with
varying levels of pedagogical support -
http://www.lite.iwarp.com/CoiroIRA2008.html
Developed a preliminary framework for assessing
informational websites (as aspects of TCK and TPK) - In
this time of rapid change, can our research methods also
become a practical tool for teachers??
Used the framework to identify the presence or absence
of features on four multimodal informational websites
(two in science and two in language arts)
Reflected on the utility of such a framework for
developing teachers’TCK and TPK

11. Framing questions for analysis
What kinds of content-specific representations or
phenomena does the website provide? Try to
characterize in a useful way for teachers
What on the website engages learners with the content
and how does it engage learners?
What do I have to know and do as a teacher (TPCK)
to make these existing websites (no matter what type and
level of support) useful in my curriculum?
How might we facilitate this type of knowledge
among our pre-service teachers?

12. Findings
RQ1: How might we begin to characterize the range of
multiple sign systems and pedagogies used to
represent and teach conceptual information on
selected websites within and across the disciplines?
Phase 1: We encountered four levels of websites
Browser-Centered
Content-Specific Informational websites (CSI)
CSI with Multimodal/Interactive Features (CSI-MIF)
Learner-Centered
CSI-MIF with Pedagogical Features (CSI-MIF/PF)
CSI-MIF with Pedagogical Interface (CSI-MIF/PI)

13. Level 1:
Content-Specific Informational Websites (CSI)

14. Level 2: CSI with Multimodal/Interactive
Features (CSI-MIF)

15. Level 3: CSI-MIF with Pedagogical Features
(CSI-MIF/PF)

16. Level 4: CSI-MIF with Pedagogical Interface
(CSI-MIF/PI)

17. How do these findings help us support
teachers in assessing the utility of
informational websites?
Is one level “better” than another? Not really, but..
Each provides different affordances and constraints for
representing/manipulating subject-specific concepts
(TCK)
Each will require teachers to provide/design different
types and levels of pedagogical support (TPK)
So, how might we begin to foster awareness and a
language for dialogue around these elements in our pre-
service methods courses?

18. Phase 2: Characterizing the range of sign systems and
pedagogies used to represent & teach concepts
Coding system for researchers and educators
Homepage summary and 2-3 subsections of the website
Informed by Lemke (2002) and Angeli & Valanides (2009)

19. Level 1: Browser Centered
Content-Specific Informational Websites

20. Level 4: Learner-Centered
CSI-MIF with Pedagogical Interface

21. Poe: The Person…

22. Poe: The Writer…

23. Summary of Findings Across Four Websites

24. Discussion
Several important issues for further investigation:
All 4 types of websites have educational value, but
they raise the bar in terms of what counts as
teacher knowledge and expertise. New media =
new dimensions of pedagogical design
Existing informational websites not always aimed at
learners; teachers may need to mediate students’
experiences more aggressively
• Negotiate content in multiple modalities (TCK)
• Recognize levels of pedagogical support or develop their
own (TPK)
• Look beyond dynamic glitz to consider how website
affordances enrich or complicate standards-based content
area instruction (TPCK)

25. Implications and Next Steps
What should a new teacher be able to know and do
with these different types of online resources?
What’s realistic and is it developmental?
How should new teachers effectively balance online
resource choices to address their content-area learning
purposes?
static text; multimodal representations; online inquiry
opportunities
How do we help new teachers integrate online
resources into their teaching as part of our more
traditional literacy and content-area methods courses?
How to appreciate value of multimodal representations?
When introduce pedagogical design capacity?

26. Next Steps
RQ2: How might emerging perspectives of new
literacies, multiliteracies, and TPCK be useful for
helping teachers:
(a) assess the utility of multimodal websites in their
curriculum
(b) effectively capitalize on these digital resources for
teaching and learning?
We are exploring a practical and useful framework for helping
new teachers identify the key understandings that warrant a
visit to a particular multimodal interactive website.
- Multimodal representations of content (TCK)
- Pedagogical knowledge (TPK)
- Content knowledge of topic, comprehension strategies,
and online inquiry (TPK and TCK)

27. Thank you
Julie Coiro and Jay Fogleman
University of Rhode Island
Symposium, AERAApril 2009, San Diego