Katie Davis

Supporting active learning and example based instruction with classroom technology

This paper describes an application of classroom technology in support of teaching through the use of examples and active learning techniques. Here we report on using Classroom Presenter, a Tablet PC based classroom interaction syst, in a senior level course in Algorithms -- a domain for which the instructor believes working on sample probls is critical to student learning in the classroom. The role of the technology was to integrate activities into the lecture so that students have the opportunity to work with concrete examples in class, while the instructor can collect and review student work in real time, incorporating selected student answers into the discussion. In this paper, we describe the pedagogical goals of the instructor, the types of activities used to achieve those goals, and the role that technology played in supporting those goals and activities. The contributions of the paper are in showing how classroom technology can be used to support pedagogical choices, as well as in phasizing the value of having clear pedagogical goals when incorporating a new technology in the classroom. We believe the application of technology as illustrated in this work could bring similar benefits to the instruction in other disciplines.

Coming of Age Online: The Developmental Underpinnings of Girls’ Blogs

Adolescent girls have emerged as the largest demographic of bloggers in the United States. In this study, the author interviewed 20 girls, aged 17 to 21, who had been blogging for 3 or more years. Consistent with previous studies involving youths’ online activities, the girls discussed their use of blogging for self-expression and peer interaction. They also observed that the content and style of their blog writing has changed considerably over the years. Their observations reflect key changes in self-development and peer relationships that typically occur during the transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Drawing on these findings, the author presents a conceptual framework that illustrates how developmental theory can illuminate our understanding of adolescents’ and emerging adults’ online behaviors.

Tensions of identity in a networked era: Young people’s perspectives on the risks and rewards of online self-expression

This article explores how young people – for whom issues of identity are particularly salient – conceive of the new opportunities for self-expression provided by digital media technologies. In-depth interviews were conducted with 24 ‘digital youth,’ ages 15–25, who were highly engaged in at least one form of digital media activity at the time of their interview. Participants were presented with a hypothetical scenario designed to probe their conceptions of identity, both online and offline. The themes identified in the interviews are organized into a conceptual framework that summarizes the strategies young people use to reconcile the tension between multiplicity and consistency in a networked era. The framework comprises four ‘spheres of obligation’ – to self, interpersonal relationships, online social norms, and broad community-level values – that function as implicit limits on self-multiplicity. Participants varied in the weight they gave to each sphere when deciding how to express themselves in this networked era.

Modeling Collaboration Patterns on an Interactive Tabletop in a Classroom Setting

Interaction logs generated by educational software can provide valuable insights into the collaborative learning process and identify opportunities for technology to provide adaptive assistance. Modeling collaborative learning processes at tabletop computers is challenging, as the computer is only able to log a portion of the collaboration, namely the touch events on the table. Our previous lab study with adults showed that patterns in a groups touch interactions with a tabletop computer can reveal the quality of aspects of their collaborative process. We extend this understanding of the relationship between touch interactions and the collaborative process to adolescent learners in a field setting and demonstrate that the touch patterns reflect the quality of collaboration more broadly than previously thought, with accuracies up to 84.2%. We also present an approach to using the touch patterns to model the quality of collaboration in real-time.

A Decline in Creativity? It Depends on the Domain

Earlier studies using psychometric tests have documented declines in creativity over the past several decades. Our study investigated whether and how this apparent trend would replicate through a qualitative investigation using an authentic nontest measure of creativity. Three-hundred and fifty-four visual artworks and 50 creative writing works produced by adolescents between 1990–1995 and 2006–2011 were assessed. Products were analyzed using a structured assessment method based on technical criteria and content elements. Criteria included in the current investigation (e.g., genre, medium, stylistic approach) are relevant both to the specific media domains and to previously established dimensions of creativity, such as originality and complexity. Results showed strong domain differences: performance in visual arts increased on a variety of indices of complexity and technical proficiency, and performance in writing decreased on indices related to originality and technical proficiency. Findings highlight the value of analysing creativity across domains. The importance of considering cultural and technological changes in characterizing and understanding apparent trends in amount and types of creativity is discussed.

Thousands of Positive Reviews: Distributed Mentoring in Online Fan Communities

Young people worldwide are participating in ever-increasing numbers in online fan communities. Far from mere shallow repositories of pop culture, these sites are accumulating significant evidence that sophisticated informal learning is taking place online in novel and unexpected ways. In order to understand and analyze in more detail how learning might be occurring, we conducted an in-depth nine-month ethnographic investigation of online fanfiction communities, including participant observation and fanfiction author interviews. Our observations led to the development of a theory we term distributed mentoring, which we present in detail in this paper. Distributed mentoring exemplifies one instance of how networked technology affords new extensions of behaviors that were previously bounded by time and space. Distributed mentoring holds potential for application beyond the spontaneous mentoring observed in this investigation and may help students receive diverse, thoughtful feedback in formal learning environments as well.

Connected learning in and after school: Exploring technology's role in the learning experiences of diverse high school students

ABSTRACT This article explores the efforts of one network of afterschool programs to leverage new media technologies to promote out-of-school learning among high school students from nondominant backgrounds and connect this learning to their school contexts. The study entailed in-depth interviews and focus groups with 40 youth and adults involved in the afterschool programming, as well as 12 observations of afterschool sessions and school-based classes. A thematic analysis of the transcripts and field notes revealed a notable discrepancy in youths learning experiences in school and afterschool settings. Out-of-school learning experiences were more likely to be peer supported, interest powered, and production centered. They were also more likely to engage youth and adults around a shared purpose and to take advantage of openly networked infrastructures. Two theoretical frameworks from the field of information behavior are used to explore the distinct successes and challenges associated with promoting rich learning experiences in each setting.

Youth Identities in a Digital Age: The Anchoring Role of Friends in Young People’s Approaches to Online Identity Expression

Adolescence has long been viewed in Western cultures as a period of individual self-searching. Newly aware of a world beyond their immediate sphere of experience, youth begin to contemplate what role (or roles) they will assume, how they will be recognised by others, and what contributions they will make to society. In our rapidly changing, interconnected, and technological world, the number of roles open to today’s generation of youth has never been greater. Digital media technologies, in particular, have expanded adolescents’ range of self-expression, as well as the potential audiences for those expressions.

More Than Peer Production: Fanfiction Communities as Sites of Distributed Mentoring

From Harry Potter to American Horror Story, fanfiction is extremely popular among young people. Sites such as Fanfiction.net host millions of stories, with thousands more posted each day. Enthusiasts are sharing their writing and reading stories written by others. Exactly how does a generation known more for videogame expertise than long-form writing become so engaged in reading and writing in these communities? Via a nine-month ethnographic investigation of fanfiction communities that included participant observation, interviews, a thematic analysis of 4,500 reader reviews and an in-depth case study of a discussion group, we found that members of fanfiction communities spontaneously mentor each other in open forums, and that this mentoring builds upon previous interactions in a way that is distinct from traditional forms of mentoring and made possible by the affordances of networked publics. This work extends and develops the theory of distributed mentoring. Our findings illustrate how distributed mentoring supports fanfiction authors as they work to develop their writing skills. We believe distributed mentoring holds potential for supporting learning in a variety of formal and informal learning environments.

Risk and Protective Factors Associated with Cyberbullying: Are Relationships or Rules More Protective?.

The aim of this paper is to investigate which adolescents are most and least at risk of experiencing online victimization. The results of logistic regression analyses using data on 2079 adolescents attending secondary school in Bermuda indicate that not all forms of media use place adolescents at risk of experiencing cyberbullying. Adolescents who spent more time using their cell phone were more likely to report having received an aggressive or threatening electronic communication and having had someone say nasty things about them online. There was no such relationship between time on the internet and either form of online victimization. The findings also suggest that strong parent relationships and positive experiences at school are generally more protective against cyberbullying than adults’ restrictions on adolescents’ media use. These findings contribute important insight into strategies that hold promise for decreasing cyberbullying among adolescents.