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Computers Can Boost Literacy

Date:
June 19, 2009
Source:
University of California - Davis
Summary:
Computers do not spell the demise of literacy -- in fact, they may help to create one of the most literate and engaged generations the world has seen.
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Computers do not spell the demise of literacy -- in fact, they may help to create one of the most literate and engaged generations the world has seen.

Carl Whithaus, associate professor of writing at UC Davis, will make that argument during a session on June 20, at UC Davis, part of a four-day Computers & Writing 2009 conference sponsored by the University Writing Program at UC Davis.

Whithaus will report preliminary results from a California Department of Education-funded project under way in fourth-grade classrooms at elementary schools in the Elk Grove School District in Elk Grove, Calif. The project uses technology to increase academic achievement.

During the first year of the two-year study, student achievement increased 27.5 percent, according to Whithaus, who is principal investigator of a study to evaluate the project's effectiveness.

"We're finding that traditional print-based literacy is important. At the same time, we're seeing that the new technologies are not just eye candy," says Carl Whithaus, an associate professor of writing at UC Davis and principal investigator of the evaluation arm of the study.

"Traditional print-based reading and writing is only part of a much larger set of skills that students need in the 21st century."

Whithaus is also the organizer of Computers & Writing 2009. The conference is the culmination of a yearlong series of conferences hosted by the University of California on technology and writing.


Story Source:

Materials provided by University of California - Davis. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

University of California - Davis. "Computers Can Boost Literacy." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 June 2009. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090618093248.htm>.
University of California - Davis. (2009, June 19). Computers Can Boost Literacy. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090618093248.htm
University of California - Davis. "Computers Can Boost Literacy." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090618093248.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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