This presentation was given during a conference for Brazilian educators and students, sponsored by XI Encontro Virtual de Documentação em Software Livre (EVIDOSOL) e VIII Congresso Internacional de Linguagem e Tecnologia online (CILTEC-online). A companion website with links to resources included in this presentation is available at http://coiroevidosol.wikispaces.com/home

1. Online Reading Comprehension:
Challenges and Opportunities
Julie Coiro, Associate Professor, School of Education
University of Rhode Island
jcoiro@mail.uri.edu
Academic Papers: http://uri.academia.edu/JulieCoiro/Papers

2. What is online reading comprehension (from a new
literacies perspective)?
Where are we headed?
What questions are worth exploring next?

3. 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.

4. 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)
Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, Castek, & Henry (2013)

5. What challenges do learners encounter
when they interact with people and
information online?

6. Challenge #1: New literacies for online
research and comprehension
(r=0.19, n = 89, N.S.)
Leu, D. Castek, J., Hartman, D., Coiro, J.,
Henry, L., Kulikowich, J., Lyver, S. (2005).
Offline Reading =
CT State
Reading Test
Online Reading
Comprehension=
ORCA Blog

7. Predicting Online Reading Comprehension
R2
Offline Reading
Comprehension
Additional R2
Prior Knowledge
Additional R2
Online Reading
Comprehension
Total R2
.351*
35%
.074
7.4%
.154*
15.4%
.579*
57.9%
Coiro, 2011
n=120
Offline Reading Comp.= CT State Reading Test
Online Reading Comprehension = ORCA Quia
Qualitative evidence: (Coiro & Dobler, 2007; Afflerbach & Cho, 2009)
Quantitative evidence: (Kingsley, 2010; Coiro, 2011)
Theoretical examples: (Hartman, Morsink, & Zheng, 2009)

8. TextsTexts
AuthorsAuthors
ReadersReaders
ContextsContexts
TasksTasks
Technologie
s
Technologie
s
TextsTexts
AuthorsAuthors
ReadersReaders
ContextsContexts
TasksTasks
Technologie
s
Technologie
s
Other studies of online reading
Major shift in our conception of reading comprehension
in terms of complexity and multiplicity
RAND Model (2002):
Tetradic conception of
four interacting elements
Hartman, Morsink, & Zheng (2010):
Hexadic conception of six interacting
elements (each is multiple as well)
TextsTexts
AuthorsAuthors
ReadersReaders
ContextsContexts
TasksTasks
Technologie
s
Technologie
s

9. So what skills are important to have
for reading on the Internet? (Coiro, 2007)
Well, I’d say - concentration…immunity to the
rest of the sites once you click on one. And being a
good internet searcher - meaning when you know
exactly what to click on without having to think
twice about it, and when you click on it, it’s
reliable….I’d say it’s about 25% luck, 74% skill,
and 1% wit - I really can’t understand it all
myself but …they mold right into a perfect circle
and it works correctly!
Evaluate relevancy Evaluate reliabilityLocating &
Evaluating
Speed matters! A new kind of fluency!

10. Many students struggle with
inquiry and online research…
Generating important questions to solve a problem
(McKenzie, 2005; Rothstein & Santana, 2011)
Locating relevant information (Henry, 2006; Leu et al, 2005)
Critically evaluating information (especially
conflicting claims) (Metzger & Flanigan, 2008; Coiro & Coscarelli, 2013)
Synthesizing information from multiple sources and
modes/formats (Killi, 2012; Rouet, 20006)
Communicating their findings/solutions clearly in
writing (e.g., argumentation) and with new technologies
(e.g., email, blogs, wikis)
How Do Teens Do Research in a Digital World? (Pew Internet Study, 2012)
Digital Fluency in the UK (Miller & Bartlett, 2012)

11. Challenges of Reading on the Internet
Asking Questions:
- What would I like to know
more about?
- Which search words do
I use?
Asking Questions:
- What would I like to know
more about?
- Which search words do
I use?
Locating:
- Which search tools
should I use?
- Where do I read first?
Locating:
- Which search tools
should I use?
- Where do I read first?
Evaluating:
- Which link is most useful?
- How do I know it’s true?
- What is the author’s purpose?
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?
Synthesizing and
Communicating
- How do I come up with an
original idea?
- How do I share it with
others?

12. Elementary and middle students have few strategies for
critically judging the quality of information on the
Internet – They struggle with…
Determining the author and/or sponsor of a website
Evaluating an author’s level of expertise
Identifying the author’s point of view and one piece
of evidence that illustrates that point of view
Determining the overall reliability of a website with
reasoned evidence to support their decision
(e.g., Barzalai & Zohar, 2012; Coiro & Coscarelli, 2013; Fabos, 2008; Forzani
& Burlingame, 2012; Flanigan & Metzger, 2008; Miller & Bartlett, 2012;
Walraven et al, 2009)
Challenges of Evaluating Sources

13. Challenges of Evaluating Sources
80-88% of our large Grade 7 sample struggled
with all three of these evaluation skills!
Almost 20%!
Coiro, Coscarelli, Leu, Kulikowich, & Sedransk (2013)

14. Challenge #2:
Developing Digital Wisdom
Are they really Digital Natives (Prensky, 2001)?
The Digital Natives Debate (Bennett, Maton, & Kervin,
2008)
From Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom (Prensky,
2012a; 2012b)
“The human mind is extended, enhanced, amplified
and liberated by technology”
Find the best combination of mind and technology
Move beyond purely social uses of digital media
Focus on learning how to learn

15. Challenge #3: Meeting Demands of A
Digital Participatory Culture (Jenkins, 2010)
New skills for:
Play/problem-solving and simulation
Collective intelligence
Working across multiple modalities and negotiating
across multiple (conflicting) perspectives
Ethical use and responsibilities
Social skills for increasingly public roles as media
makers and community participants
Critical need for policy and pedagogical interventions

16. Challenge #4: Adjusting to new
teaching roles (Coiro, 2009)
Understand and make explicit the relationship
between offline and online literacies
Honor the literacies students bring to school from
their daily lives
Clarify & navigate new peer-peer and teacher-
student collaborative relationships
Weave in ways of fostering positive dispositions
(attitudes and beliefs) toward learning &
communicating with internet technologies
Coiro, J. (2009). Promising practices for supporting adolescents’ online literacy
development. In K.D. Wood and W.E. Blanton (Eds.). Literacy instruction for
adolescents: Research-based practice (pp. 442-471). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

17. Measuring Attitudes Toward Reading
on the Internet
Open-ended questions:
(a) How approach; (b) How respond; (c): Self-efficacy
• What is easiest for you about using the Internet for research?
• What is hardest for you about using the Internet for research?
• Can you think of a time when you had trouble finding something using the Internet? How do you
feel when this happens? How long do you keep trying before you give up?
• What do you know about using the Internet effectively that some kids your age might not know?

18. Coiro, J. (2012, April). Digital Literacies: Understanding dispositions toward reading
on the Internet. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 55(7), 645-648.
Impact of
Attitudes
Toward
Reading
on the
Internet

19. What opportunities do “digitally
literate” learners encounter when they
interact with people and information
online?
• Thinking deeply
• Developing voice
• Working collaboratively
• Making a difference

20. Thinking Deeply to Foster Inquiry

21. Solve the Puzzle – Watch A Video –
Have the text read aloud

22. Asking questions during and after reading that prompt new
discoveries with technology
PLANNING:
• Collect questions and strategically pick one
• Over the weekend.. do a search, highlight 2-3 websites, and be
prepared to model and discuss:
• Keywords used
• Search engines used
• Your searching/locating process
• Website title and website address (URL)
Internet Inquiry Baskets
I wonder…

23. Internet Inquiry Baskets (Part 1)
MODELED READING AND GROUP DISCUSSION:
• Think-aloud while locating, skimming, reading
• Summarizing 1– The key idea is…
• Summarizing 2 – Across these sites,
we found that…
• Evaluating: The Internet helped
us to learn…
• Communicating: Compiling into
a classroom book (and share with the
community/library, etc.)

24. • A parent volunteer or teacher’s
aide works with the children
who asked the question…
• Reflect on what they learned
• Type their answers
• Add their photo
• Publish their page
• Share with the class
Internet Inquiry Baskets (Part 2)

25. Young Learners Wondering and
Thinking Deeply

26. Older Learners Thinking Deeply
To Help Others

27. Authentic Inquiry & Deeper Thinking
Larissa Pahomov: Science Leadership Academy, Philadelphia, PA

28. Developing Voice: Tips for
Commenting on Blogs

29. Developing Voice: Tips for
Commenting on Blogs

30. Reader’s Theatre to Build
Decoding and Fluency
Podcasting to Practice
Comprehension, Collaboration &
and Oral Presentation Skills
Developing/Sharing Personal Voice

31. Over 460 entries by
Grade 3 & 4 students!
Generating Online Texts
Developing/Sharing Personal Voice

32. Developing/Sharing Personal Voice
Student Book Clubs
and Online Writing
Forums

33. Social Practices: Request & give information; jointly
acknowledge, evaluate, & build on partner’s contributions
Collaboratively Building Meaning
(Coiro, Castek, Sekeres, & Guzniczak, 2013; 2014)
Cognitive Strategies: Read, question, monitor, repair, infer,
connect, clarify, and interpret

34. Grade 4: Cross-Country
Collaboration with Animal Specialists
Three stages
1. Local Expert Inspires
Inquiry Circles
2. Students identify
specific animals to study
3. Animal specialists
support student discovery
using Voicethread
Opportunities for Extended Online
Collaboration and Communication

35. Grade 4: Ask-An-Expert with VoiceThread
Building Productive Skills in
Collaboration and Communication

36. Working Collaboratively To
Build Community Knowledge
Sugata Mitra’s Hole in the Wall Project - India

37. The Life Of A
Homeless Person
(after a photo walk
discovery)
Discussion…Research….
Composition…Revision…
10 page
Comic book
Renee Hobbs (2013)
Mattering: Younger Learners
Collaborating To Make A Difference

38. Mattering: Older Learners
Collaborating To Make A Difference

39. Mattering: Taking Action with
Public Service Announcements
http://studentpsa.com/psa/

40. Mattering: Changing the World

41. Opportunities…
Challenges...
Next Steps for Understanding
Online Research and Comprehension

42. Next steps…
Reading online to locate information
Continually re-examine our thinking about which locating
skills are most important (rapidly emerging new tools, features,
and affordances/constraints)
Reading online to critically evaluate information:
Deepen our understanding of cognitive abilities and limitations
(Eastin, 2008): At what age can we expect learners to be able
to make credibility judgments (e.g., identify author motives
and perspectives; counterbalance information with multiple and
conflicting sources)?
Role of students’ personal epistemologies (ways of thinking
about the nature of knowledge and knowing) and its impact on
student competence in website evaluation (Barzalai & Zohar,
2012)

43. Next steps…
Reading online to synthesize information
What are the underlying processes involved in how learners
deconstruct, analyze, consolidate, organize, and integrate
information from disparate sources (Schira-Hagerman, in process;
DeSchryver, 2012)?
How can collaborative partnerships and digital support tools (Coiro
et al, 2012; 2013; Kiili et al. 2012, Kiili & Coiro, 2013) scaffold
complex online reading processes?
Reading online to communicate information
Turn attention toward readers and writers as media makers and
socially active citizens (Hobbs, 2010; 2011; Hobbs & Moore, 2013)
– How do we document students’ ability to collaboratively collect,
share, generate, and creatively produce in ways that meet social
demands of a participatory culture (e.g., Jenkins, 2006)?

44. Reading and Learning on the Internet presents
both challenges and opportunities
In summary
Your Comments? Questions? Concerns?

45. References
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