Context Cues in Early Reading

An investigation was carried out to examine any significant differences in the use of four types of context cues by good and poor readers in the early stages of their reading development. Sentences incorporating proactive and retroactive syntactic, and proactive and retroactive semantic cues were presented in the form of deletions at three levels of difficulty. Sixty-four subjects, 32 of each sex, were drawn equally from the six to seven and seven to eight year age levels and subdivided into groups of good and poor readers. Results indicated that all groups other than the youngest poor readers found the proactive semantic cues the most useful and made miscues displaying semantic associations across cue types. Implications for an understanding of strategies employed in early reading and approaches for instruction are discussed.     

Film Biography

Charles Beardsley HOLLYWOOD'S MASTER SHOWMAN: THE LEGENDARY SID GRAUMAN (New York: Cornwall Books, 1983- $25.00).

David Robinson CHAPLIN: A MIRROR OF OPINION (Bloomington, Indiana: University Press, 1984—$19.50/$9.50).     

Ethics in educational technology research: Informing participants on data sharing risks

Participants in educational technology research regularly share personal data which carries with it risks. Informing participants of these data sharing risks is often only done so through text contained within a consent form. However, conceptualizations of data sharing risks and knowledge of responsible data management practices among teachers and learners may be impoverished—limiting the effectiveness of a consent form in communicating such risks in a manner that adequately supports participants in making informed decisions about sharing their data. At two high schools participating in an educational research project involving the use of technology in the classroom, we investigate teacher and student conceptions of data sharing risks and knowledge of responsible data management practices; and introduce a communication approach that attempts to better inform educational technology research participants of such risks. Results of this study suggest that most teachers have not received formal training related to responsibly managing data; and both teachers and students see the need for such training as they come to realize that their understanding of responsible data management is underdeveloped. Thus, efforts beyond solely explaining data sharing risks in an informed consent form may be needed in educational technology research to facilitate ethical self-determination.     

Enhancing consent forms to support participant decision making in multimodal learning data research

Advances in the field of multimodal learning analytics (MMLA) research is often accomplished by actively exploring new technologies and techniques related to the collection and analysis of data. Exploration of ethical principles and procedures for governing the use of new technologies and techniques, however, is not as readily pursued. As collected data grow in complexity and invasiveness, potentially, a growing need is arising to scrutinize ethical aspects of MMLA research. In our study, we introduce an informed consent comprehension test for educational technology research and assess the effects of enhancing MMLA consent forms on comprehension of informed consent and on rates of enrollment in a MMLA study. One form is written from a researcher perspective and the other from a participant perspective. Results of the study involving first-year undergraduate students suggest that the overall level of comprehension did not differ between conditions. Yet, the participant-oriented consent form resulted in significantly lower rates of enrollment. Implications for MMLA researchers are discussed.