Lit Review Article #8

I. Title: Techtalk: Building Academic Literacy through Online Discussion Forums

II. Author: Peterson, Cynthia and Caverly, David C.

III. Author's Purpose for Writing: Discuss the necessary skills for building academic literacy through online discussion forums.
IV. What are the points made in the review of the literature? Do they support the need for the study?: The need for social presence; the need for cognitive presence; the need for a teaching presence.

V. Author's Inquiry Question/s: What are the minimum skills a student needs to be able to read an online course, course site, download material, and post assignments. How do students move through their ZPD to take better advantage of the course offerings

VI. Author's Methodology: Observation and discussion of the framework
A. Who is being studied?: online course students
B. Over what length of time?: college school term
C. What data is being collected: number of successful online course takers
D. How is it being analyzed: data analysis of social, cognitive, and teaching
VII. What the Author Discovered or Conclusions/Implications: the student of today often maintains social contacts through technology; students construct meaning through sustained communication; Student and instructor energy must be directed to conversations and learning rather than procedural confusion.