Luce-Kapler.+Radical+Change+and+Wikis

=Luce-Kapler, Rebecca. "Radical Change and Wikis: Teaching New Literacies."= //Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy// 51.3 (2007): 214-223. 23 March 2011. 

=Abstract= No abstract

=Argument= Rebecca Luce-Kapler writes of a study done with a class of sixth graders who were introduced to wikis. Luce-Kapler notes how young adult literature reflects “radical change,” which the author defines as having three characteristics: 1.) shows changing forms and formats, such as graphics and text and pictures,) 2.) contains changing perspectives, and 3.) contains previously “forbidden” topics and contains unresolved endings. Luce-Kapler and her graduate students worked with the sixth graders by first introducing them to four books that reflected this “radical change” in young adult literature.

After reading the first two books, students then created responses to the works in the form of wikis, while also creating their own stories. After reading the last two books, the students were introduced to more complicated aspects of the wiki, such as adding hyperlinks and adding links to other students’ wikis where they saw connections. The study showed that the students learned better by using the wiki, which helped them make connections. It also reflected a growing tolerance for uncertainty in grade school children, which is reflected in new, open-ended television shows and video games.

=Key Passages= "Wikis helped learning...by encouraging connectivity, intertextuality, and group skills necessary to understand and work within a network of learning" (220).

=Selected Works Cited= Davis, B. //Inventions of Teaching: A Geneology//. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2004.