Measured Steps: AnExploratory Study in Multimodal Literacy and
LearningSean Cordes
Assistant ProfessorWestern Illinois University
United States
Net Gen Students-Background
Special Sheltered Confident Team-Oriented Achieving Pressured Conventional
Millennials Go To College (2003) by Neil Howe and William Strauss.
The Case Population22 Subjects18-25 Y/O11M/11F14 Disciplines64% Soft Science46% Hard Science82% cms22% Blog/Wiki9% Web Page / Video
The Project Task
Web Site
Develop a research question and develop a presentation web site of 6 task oriented pages using multiple content types and tools.
http://sites.google.com/site/lib201site/
Data Collection
Activity LogsEmailObservationInteraction
Areas of Inquiry Unit of Analysis -Negative critical
incidents that occurred in individual subject cases during project development
3 Areas of Inquiry explored with dependent variables for 13 categories• Tasks performed to develop
the project web pages (6)• Mediating areas of the activity
system as outlined in Activity Theory (3)
• Stages of Polya’s problem solving process (4)
Data Analysis260 Log Entries159 Critical IncidentsCoded using SPSS for Windows (Version 18.0)Log posting analyzed for negative critical incidentsCoded incidents as dichotomous entries according to
corresponding category of each area of inquiry
The journal article was the hardest thing that I had with my project. For instance, everything I wrote inside the boxes kept getting erased. Journal Article, Execution, Tools and Artifacts
Findings-QuantitativeTask Related Incidents
Books Images Videos Journal Articles
Bookmark Pages
Student Pages
Task Totals
Frequency 32 48 30 25 29 15 179
Percent 17.9% 26.8% 16.7% 14.0% 16.2% 8.4% 100%
Findings-QuantitativeProblem Solving Stage Incidents
Problem Solving
Understanding Planning Execution Reflection Totals
Frequency 9 52 71 47 179
Percent 5.0% 29.1% 39.7% 26.2% 100%
Findings-QuantitativeActivity System Area Incidents
Mediating Activity System Areas
Tools and Artifacts
Rules and Regulations
Division of Labor
Totals
Frequency 147 9 23 179
Percent 82.1% 5.0% 12.9% 100%
Findings-Quantitative
Problem Solving and the Activity SystemShared Incidents Tools and
ArtifactsRules and Regulations
Division of Labor
Totals
Understanding 9, 5.0% 0, 0.0% 0, 0.0% 9, 5.0%
Planning 45, 25.1% 5, 2.8% 2, 1.2% 52, 29.1%
Execution 52, 29.1% 2, 1.1% 17, 9.5% 71, 39.7%
Reflection 41, 22.9% 2, 1.1% 4, 2.2% 47, 26.2%
Frequency, Percent 147, 82.1% 9, 5.0% 23, 12.9% 179, 100%
Findings-QuantitativeGender Related Incidents-Women in the study
accounted for 112 of 179 critical incidents (62.6%).
Incidents by Gender
Male Female Total
Frequency 67 112 179
Percent 37.4% 62.6% 100%
Findings-Qualitative
Constant Comparative Method used to ….• Compare incidents• Identify concepts• Identify properties• Integrate categories
Conceptual ThemesFrom the comparison and integration of
categorical data, 5 distinct themes emerged regarding critical incidents across the information work process…• Developing Presentation Structures• Developing Information Seeking Strategies• Working Between Separate Web Sites• Social and Environmental Impositions• A Priori Skill Impact
Developing Presentation Structures
Developing Presentation StructuresFrequent problems were encountered with
process related actions for creating pages and navigation links, inserting and formatting text and images, and displaying objects.• Everything I wrote inside the boxes kept getting
erased. Then I found the save button.• I sat there for like a minute with my curser over
the menu name waiting for it to pop down... NOPE! You have to go over to the little down arrow icon.
Information Seeking Strategies
Information Seeking Strategies
Student descriptions frequently noted the need to revise strategies to accommodate the different search tools using You Tube, Library Thing, Google Image Search, and the Academic Search Premier database• All the various sites and applications want a different
phrase in the search bar, so I basically have to find out what is the best phrasing and combination of words.
• I had to revise my search a couple of times like with most other applications and search for a while to find exactly what I wanted.
• The main problems I had was the videos wasn't putting them on my page, it was being able to find them in the first place. I had to use a variety of different search terms to find what I did.
Working Between Web Sites
Working Between Web SitesMany incidents were related to the execution of
actions working between external web sites, such as …• Finding the control to upload or tag content.• Breakdowns when connecting separate websites to
the Google site to present information. • When I posted them into the bookmark on delicious,
sometimes the title would come out weird too, and I'd have to change it slightly to better reflect the site that it came from.
• I tried to insert the books but they were not showing up. I had to email the teacher about that, the reason was I did not put my user name.
Social and Environmental Impositions
Social and Environmental ImpositionsA few critical incidents occurred in the area of
rules and regulations, or the computing environment. These typically involved …• Copyright issues • Evaluating content for credibility • Inappropriate content for the classroom• Breakdowns in hardware, software, or internet
connectivity • I used the class examples again to see how to go about citing
the videos. • I had to be careful with YouTube because a lot of the videos
are just really random or have zero creditability.• With a topic like piercings and tattoos there was the
potential for images that would not be appropriate for class. • I was working on my page and all of a sudden all of the
internet pages shut down.
A Priori Skill Impact
A Priori Skill ImpactSome students noted lack of experience using
technology which created tension regarding the project work. After working through the project, some reflections displayed a sense of increased empowerment and efficacy.• I am technologically challenged. This is a great learning
experience, but I am getting so tired that I am going to call someone who knows what they are doing.
• This project was all about trial and error, and a little more error! I was really proud of myself though. When it comes to computers I see if someone can do it for me or give up.
• The Net irritates me!
SummaryUnderstanding dynamics of student technology
use key to academic successStudents have varied levels of skills and
experienceAbility to transfer skills between tools key to
execution of tasksAbility to understand dynamics of digital
interaction suspectSubjects more adept at accessing information
than developing and presenting itWide range of access modes suggests instruction
in the organization of information to facilitate effective sourcing
Measured (next) Steps
Implement Hypothesis TestingExamine the impact of ExperienceExamine the impact of search tool variation
on the information seeking processDefine and examine the role of complexity in
presenting information using online tools