Digital Smarts - The Existence of the Online Literacy Gap

Being able to text, tweet, post and even take video are digital literacy skills most kids have these days, but there is one skill that seems to be lacking.  According to a new study conducted by UConn researchers, analyzing and interpreting information found on the Internet is a skill that is deficient in many students. The study, entitled “The New Literacies of Online Research and Comprehension: Rethinking the Reading Achievement Gap,” was published in January’s Reading Research Quarterly, a publication of the University of Connecticut (UConn), and examined seventh graders in two Connecticut districts. Students completed online reading tasks in science and wrote short reports of their findings in an email message and on a classroom wiki. After analyzing these reports, researchers concluded students need more help in analyzing search engine results and using the information they find to draw conclusions and point out evidence to support their answers.