CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW (CONT.

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Related Studies
Stephanie Willett-Smith (1993) designed a study of a group of fourth graders at the
Curry School of Education where the children wrote open letters to Jefferson On-line
(letters are answered by network staff). Willett-Smith wanted to see if publishing the
students' letters would have an effect on the quality and correctness (grammar and
spelling) of the their writing. She used analyses of direct observation of behaviors,
student interviews and assessment of the letters to arrive at her conclusions. She noted
in her behavioral observations that students were very excited about having their
work put on-line for other students across the state to read (p. 19). In her interviews
with students, she quoted student comments such as, something real to write about
(p. 21), and she noted from her assessment of the letters that the students were
careful to use correct letter format, and consulted class notes and history texts to
validate any statements they made concerning Jefferson (p. 18). Willett-Smith found
that publishing student work enhances pupil motivation and interest in learning (p.
21), and that the increased collaboration and cooperation among students working on
this telecommunications [project] likewise confirms the findings of the existing
research (p.23). Through methods of observation, interviews and assessment of
student letters, Willet-Smith's nomothetic case study looked at how publishing letters
(continuing correspondence between students and staff employees posing as Thomas
Jefferson) would affect student behavior, attitude, interest, enthusiasm and motivation.
Her population was fourth grade social studies students from the Curry School of
Education in Virginia. She randomly selected four students from this group to be her
subjects--all of whom agreed to participate in the study. Willet-Smith described the
previous experience of the students as well as giving the reader an idea of the
personalities of each student. Her design sought to make general predictions and
support popular theory that publishing student work motivates students to improve
their writing skills. However, since her research was limited to the study of
elementary aged school children, she could not predict that the motivation she
observed in fourth graders might also be seen among older students (she did not
address the problems that often exist in a secondary education setting).
A study by Nancy L. Neal (1995) highlighted the use of the World Wide Web as a
research tool and a platform for student publishing. Although Neal's findings
suggested that the World Wide Web is not an efficient tool for research (in 1995,
Internet search engines were not nearly as efficient as they are today), her study
asserted--and cited corroborating literature--that publishing student work motivates
students to push themselves to do better work (p. 22). Neal studied the progress of
Dr. Prudhomme's fifth grade social studies class in Albemarl County, Virginia at the
Virginia L. Murray Elementary School as they researched topics which focused on the
formation of the United States. The students converted their reports to html
documents and published them as a collection of student works entitled Birth of the
USA. The World Wide Web was introduced to the class as a supplementary research
tool and as a medium to publish their reports when they were finished. The act of
publishing the reports was an integral part of the assignment. Neal noted the students'
progress and attitudes while she recorded her observations in a journal. She also made
video recordings of the students at work as well as audio recordings of student
interviews. One of the research questions Neal sought to answer was Do students and
teachers have a positive attitude about using the Web as a research and publication
tool? Neal concluded that students seemed especially enthusiastic, and that here
again this study lined up with previous research (p. 21). In her interviews with the
teacher, Neal stated that he (Dr. Prudhomme) noticed an obvious improvement in
students' writing (p. 21), and that students also took the initiative in helping each
other (p. 22). From her observations and student interviews, Neal affirmed that her
findings supported the hypothesis that the wide audience motivates students to push
themselves to do better work. They see more of a purpose behind their writing and are
therefore more motivated to write (p. 22). Neal's nomothetic case study was limited
to a population of elementary school children. Her subjects included 12 boys and 5
girls from a mid socioeconomic background; no mention was made of the students'
work ethic. Her approach to answering her research questions was appropriate
because she sought to document the students' attitude in their natural setting--the
classroom. Again, her research was limited to the study of elementary aged school
children. Valid methodology was used in that along with her journal entries, she could
review the video tape and recorded interviews for the purpose of triangulation.
In a project called a Community of Learners, Gerald H. Maring, Ph.D., Kurt S. Myers
and Beau J. Wiseman (1996) contended that the challenge of putting writing projects
up on the World Wide Web helps individual students in a course become bonded into
an enthusiastic learning community (p. 4). The project involved the publication of
education students' (preservice teachers of literacy) writings on the World Wide Web
so that they could explain to an audience of other teachers, parents and students the
benefits, in terms of literacy theories, of publishing student writings, to describe the
efforts of the project itself and to give advice so that other teachers could help their
own students publish work on the World Wide Web (p. 2). In a college situation,
Maring, Myers and Wiseman noted that one student in particular became extremely
enthusiastic and quoted her saying, this is the greatest thing to do (p. 6). The
population for Maring, Myers and Wiseman's ideiographic case study was literacy
education students at Washington State University College of Education, and their
subjects were limited to one section (class) of Survey of Elementary Language Arts
and Reading and two sections of Content Literacy in Middle and Secondary
Schools. Participant-observations were made in order to properly advise other
teachers on how to incorporate the use of the World Wide Web in their own
classrooms. The design of the research was appropriate because the technology was so
new and the preservice teachers had little experience. Within the classes, three
students emerged and identified themselves as having considerable background and
interest in computer technology (pp. 5-6). The background of the other students was
summarized as being pretty much computer illiterate (p. 6). Surveys and interviews
of the students before and after the project would have yielded a clearer picture of the
success of the program.
Scott Dixon and Libby Black (1996) discussed the Vocal Point project which was
devoted to publishing a student run newspaper on the World Wide Web. They stated
that perhaps the most powerful attribute of this educational project is that the
participating students have been empowered and motivated to be learners, teachers
and leaders (pp. 149-150). Student accounts claimed that the experience made the
goals of the class much more real, exciting and satisfying (p. 153). Dixon and Black
observed that the students were more motivated to produce quality work because their
work could be viewed by their peers on the World Wide Web and because they
received feedback from members of the community via the students' email accounts.
Dixon and Black claimed that the motivational effect was so powerful that students--
on their own--chose to work over their summer vacation on the project. This study
serves as a model to other students and educators but lacks empirical data to
substantiate the motivational claims.
In an article that was written to inspire teachers to have a presence on the World Wide
Web, Barbara Spitz (1996) described her efforts to publish her sixth graders' reports in
the spring of 1995 at a Madison Metropolitan School District middle school in
Madison, Wisconsin. She claimed that the students felt that their work was
particularly useful when they started to receive feedback from professionals stating
that they thought their work was extraordinary--one doctor went so far as to create a
link from his Web site to one student's report on acupuncture. Spitz reported that this
recognition reinforced the students' self esteem and that when students feel that
their work is valued, meaningful, and useful to others, they will be motivated to
become participating and contributing citizens in their community (p. 190). Spitz
made no analysis to confirm her assertions.
The significance of publishing research on the Internet was discussed in the March,
1997 issue of The Science Teacher, a journal of the National Science Teachers
Association. In the article "Online Assignments," Louis Nadelson (1997) asserted that
publishing students' science projects on the World Wide Web enables their work to be
updated thus allowing students to view their work as ongoing. He also noted that
published work can serve as a resource for other students as well as a way for students
to receive feedback from a wide audience of other students regarding their research
via email. Nadelson's idiographic case study in which he was a participant-observer in
the role of facilitator, seeks to describe the benefits of publishing students' scientific
research papers, the logistics of implementing Web laboratory reports and assessment
strategies for evaluating student work. Unfortunately, his study only reported the
process of the project and neglected to substantiate his claims with empirical research
and data. He began his article with the observation that most science teachers I have
worked with view the Internet as a vast database or library from which students garner
information (p. 23). He omitted the fact that there is popular theory which would
support his claims. Furthermore, he did not describe the students involved in the
project nor did he describe the methodology (if there was any) from which he based
his claims.
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