Critical Literacy in School-College Collaboration through Computer Networking: A Feminist Research Project

Abstract

This project investigated the practice of critical literacy through asynchronous computer networking as students in a school-college collaboration examined assumptions relating to gender issues. The study aimed to understand how a discussion of gender issues through computer networking might affect the development of voice in the 6 college women who organized and participated in the discussion with students from an urban and a suburban high school. A secondary purpose was to understand the features of computer networking that facilitated the practice of critical literacy. The research methodology followed the paradigm of ethnography modified by the goals of feminist research. Findings revealed that the medium proved to be an apt environment for the practice of critical literacy as students named experiences relating to gender issues that touched their lives. Data also suggested that the medium served as an effective environment for the development of voice in the presence of conflict. Students felt free to share ideas and disclose experiences that might have gone unheard in the classroom. Students also benefited from the computer's ability to extend classroom borders. As a result, students were moved to think more deeply as they engaged in critical inquiry with diverse students.

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