NCSeT is currently supporting seven research teams across the country as they conduct a strand of research on “supported etext”. Each team is focused on one or more specific etext support and is working with one or more specific student population. NCSeT has made a three year commitment to each research team, designed to support a strand of research that goes through three phases.
NCSeT is currently supporting seven research teams across the country as they conduct a strand of research on “supported etext”. Each team is focused on one or more specific etext support and is working with one or more specific student population. NCSeT has made a three year commitment to each research team, designed to support a strand of research that goes through the following three phases:
Phase 1: Component Analysis. The purpose of this phase is to identify a specific etext support and gather data to determine its possible efficacy for improving students’ reading comprehension. During this phase research teams use various exploratory research designs to isolate and investigate one or more specific etext support within a specific electronic reading/learning environment for a specific population of students. The goal is to determine whether the identified etext support has a positive effect on reading comprehension and if so, how best to provide that etext support to students to maximize that effect.
Phase 2: Pilot Study. The purpose of this phase is to conduct a pilot study investigating the learning impact of the identified etext support. During the pilot study it is expected that research teams will be able to (1) develop and refine the intervention to be used in an upcoming experiment, (2) develop and refine instruments and data collection procedures, and (3) identify and address various implementation issues associated with a technology-based interventions.
Phase 3: Experimental Study. The purpose of this phase is to answer questions concerning the effectiveness of one or more e-text support to produce meaningful improvements in the reading comprehension and learning of academic content for a specific population of disabled students at a specific grade level targeted on specific learning outcomes. Randomized assignment to treatment and control or comparison groups is used to determine whether the etext intervention has a positive impact on students’ reading comprehension and learning of academic content.
The following is a list of the four research sites supported by NCSeT as they conduct a strand of research on supported etext. More details on this research are available at the NCSeT Web site by selecting the appropriate entry from the menu provided under “Research Sites”.
Educational Development Center (EDC), Newton, MA
Research Team: Judy Zorfass, Cathy Morroco and Karen Clay
Investigating the use of Visual Thesaurus to improve word knowledge and reading comprehension of social studies texts by middle school students with learning disabilities.
University of Oregon, Center for Electronic Studying (CES), Eugene, OR
Research Team: Lynne Anderson-Inman, Jonathon Richter, Ulad Slabin, Kim Ketterer
Investigating the use of static versus dynamic graphics to improve reading comprehension and conceptual understanding of high school biology texts by students with learning disabilities.
University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Research Team: John Langone, Kevin Ayres, Pat Janes, Jenny Cook and Molly McCarty
Investigating the use of digitized speech (“audio text”), glossary definitions, and illustrative videos to improve word knowledge and auditory comprehension of life skills and leisure reading materials by secondary students with moderate to severe cognitive disabilities.
Michigan State University, Lansing, MI
Research Team: Cynthia Okolo, Jing Hong Tian, and Summer Ferreri
Investigating the differential effects of text-to-speech, with and without highlighting, on reading comprehension, engagement, and achievement of middle school students in social studies and language arts.