News

Eight team researchers outside on the UConn campus.

In the News

2014

  • Clint Kennedy, Cheryl Maykel, and Nicole Timbrell taught an innovative online course with video and other technologies for masters students on new literacies in school classrooms, EPSY5198-001.
  • Nicole Timbrell, from Loreto Kirribilli in Sydney Australia spent a year as a member of the New Literacies Research Lab and as a graduate research assistant on the ORCA Project. Nicole is a secondary English teacher in Australia.
  • Elena Forzani presented a keynote address to the International Reading Association’s Preconvention Institute, “Increasing the Rigor and Authenticity of Reading and Writing Instruction: Research to Practice.” She spoke on “Shifting Literacy from Page to Screen: Teaching The New Literacies of Online Research and Comprehension in the K- 12 Classroom.”
  • PIRLS will be using an adaptation of the ORCA assessments, ePIRLS, developed at the New Literacies Research Lab, in their international assessment of reading among 10 year olds. They will be testing online research and comprehension skills such as locating, evaluating, synthesizing, and communicating with online information.
  • The New Literacies Research Lab organized a symposium at the American Educational Research Association in Philadelphia that featured innovative research and development taking place in the assessment of online research, problem solving, and literacy. Groups from the New Literacies Research Lab, the PIAAC international assessment of workforce preparedness funded by OECD, and the GIZA Project at Educational Testing Services, funded by IES and the RFU initiative, presented their instruments and research results.

 

2013

  • The European Reading Conference, “New Challenges – New Literacies” took place in Jönköping, Sweden. Don Leu delivered the keynote address: “The new literacies of online research and comprehension: Reading with a lens to the past and a lens to the future.”
  • Out of Print, a documentary narrated by Meryl Streep and directed by Vivienne Roumani, featured Don Leu, Jeff Bezos, Ray Bradbury, Scott Turow, Jeffrey Toobin, and others exploring the changes that are taking place to reading online. The movie premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
  • Elena Forzani and Cheryl Maykel, doctoral students at the research lab, received the Wirth-Santoro Award for Outstanding Literacy Research from the Connecticut Association for Reading Research. The award was presented for their study, “Evaluating Connecticut Students’ Ability to Critically Evaluate Online Information.”
  • Dr. Carita Kiili, formerly a doctoral student scholar at the New Literacies Research Lab, won the CICERO Learning 2012 doctoral thesis prize for her work entitled “Online reading as an individual and social practice.” The thesis, graded laudatur, was awarded by University of Jyväskylä in Finland. A video of Carita, describing her research, appears here.
  • Elena Forzani received a pre-doctoral fellowship from the Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut.
  • A research team at the University of Jyväskylä was awarded funding from the Finnish Academy of Science for their eSeek Project, a neuro psychology project to study cognitive processes associated with the new literacies of online research and comprehension. They used a Finnish version of the ORCA assessments, developed at The New Literacies Research Lab. Don Leu served as a consultant for the project.

 

2012

 

2011

  • CNN interviewed Don Leu about adolescents’ ability to think critically about information they encounter online, work conducted at the New Literacies Research Lab with Dr. David Reinking at Clemson University.
  • Don Leu presented the Green Honors Chair Lecture at Texas Christian University.
  • Don Leu received the A.B. Herr Award for distinguished service in reading by the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers. The award recognizes a professional educator who has made outstanding contributions to the field of reading.

 

2010

  • Carita Kiili, an advanced doctoral student at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland joined us as a visiting doctoral scholar and a member of The New Literacies Research Team. She worked on a study of collaborative online reading and research among secondary students and participated in work on the ORCA project and other research and professional development projects.

 

2009

  • Dr. Lisa Kervin from the University of Wollongong joined us at the New Literacies Research Lab as a Visiting Scholar, participating in work on the ORCA project and other research and professional development projects that were underway.
  • The New Literacies Research Lab was awarded a $2.8 million research grant to develop practical, reliable, and valid assessments of online research and comprehension with colleagues at the National Institute of Science, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Rhode Island.
  • The Finnish Reading Association and the University of Jyväskylä convened a fall conference on new literacies.  Don Leu presented a keynote address.

 

2008

  • The New Literacies Research Team was interviewed by the National Council of Teachers of English about their thoughts on 21st century literacies. The interview, “The C’s of Change”, is available at the NCTE website.
  • Donald Leu was interviewed about Literacy and Online Reading on the Illinois National Public Radio. A podcast of the interview is available for those who would like to listen.
  • The work of the New Literacies Research Team was featured in a front page article in the New York Times: “Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?”. The model of online reading comprehension used in our work is featured in a multimedia link.
  • Don Leu received the Friday Medal from North Carolina State University on April 17, 2008. The Friday Medal honors significant, distinguished, and enduring contributions to education through advocating innovation, advancing education and imparting inspiration. It is named after Bill Friday, the former President of North Carolina State University (1956-1986). The award is presented through the Friday Institute, a pioneering institute in educational innovation and school leadership.
  • Don Leu and Julie Coiro delivered the Robert and Augusta Finkelstein Memorial Lecture at the University of Rhode Island on April 9, 2008.

 

2007

  • The work of the New Literacies Research Team was featured in the October cover story of District Administration.
  • Donald J. Leu, the John and Maria Neag Chair in Literacy and Technology at the Neag School of Education, has been elected to the International Reading Association (IRA) Board of Directors. His three-year term began in May 2007. The IRA is the largest organization representing reading researchers and educators in the U.S. and internationally. Click here for the announcement PDF.
  • Don Leu was elected to the International Reading Association’s Reading Hall of Fame.

 

2006

  • Doug Hartman was selected as Editor of the Journal of Literacy Research, a premier journal of literacy and reading research.
  • The New Literacies Research Team was featured in the UConn ADVANCE. Available at: http://advance.uconn.edu/2006/061113/06111308.htm
  • The New Literacies Research Team was featured in the article “Fifteen Stories of Achievement” in the University of Connecticut Foundation, Inc. 2006 Annual Report. Click here for the PDF.
  • A New Literacies Institute was held on the UConn campus for invited teachers and school leaders associated with the Online Reading Comprehension Research grant (TICA). All participants received laptops to use during the day in our wireless building.
  • An article appeared in the Hartford Courant about our Online Reading Comprehension Research grant (TICA).
  • An article appeared in eschool news about our Online Reading Comprehension Research grant (TICA).
  • Athena Lentini was accepted as a summer intern for the Research and Development Division at Educational Testing Service (ETS) in Princeton, NJ with a focus in the development of reading assessments. Athena was a doctoral student in the School Psychology program and a member of the New Literacies Research Team.
  • Laurie A. Henry, doctoral candidate in Cognition & Instruction, was accepted to the Oxford Internet Institute Summer Doctoral Programme held at Oxford University in England. This research program brings together students from around the world to study with leading academics in the field of Internet Studies. It is a highly competitive program with only 25 doctoral students being admitted world-wide.
  • Jill Castek has been appointed to the editorial board for the Journal of Reading, Writing, and Literacy (UK).
  • Julie Coiro was first author on a handbook chapter entitled “Critically Evaluating Educational Technologies for Literacy Learning: Current trends and new paradigms”. Co-authors were Rachel Karchmer and Sharon Walpole. The chapter will appear in April, 2006 in The Handbook of Literacy and Technology, Second Edition, published by Erlbaum.
  • Jill Castek co-authored an article published in the April 2006 edition of the Reading Teacher, an International Reading Association publication: Castek, J. & Bevans, J. (2006). Reading adventures online: Five ways to introduce the new literacies of the Internet through children’s literature. The Reading Teacher, 59, 714-728.
  • Laurie Henry published an article in the April 2006 edition of the Reading Teacher, an International Reading Association publication: Henry, L.A. (2006). SEARCHing for an answer: The critical role of new literacies while reading on the Internet. The Reading Teacher, 59, 614-627.
  • Don Leu completed a video for WGBH and the Annenberg Foundation, “The New Literacies of the Internet.” It is a part of a PBS series on reading instruction for professional development in grades 3-5. The video appeared on PBS (WGBH) and on the Annenberg Channel. It is available online at: http://www.learner.org/channel/workshops/teachreading35/session5/index.html
  • Don Leu was appointed to the Editorial Review Board of the Australian Journal of Language and Literacy.
  • Don Leu was an author of the new reading series for grades K-6 from Pearson – Scott Foresman, Reading Street.
  • Don Leu and Julie Corio were quoted in an article on Edutopia.com: “Tech Teaches – Once thought to corrode reading skills, computers are a key tool in improving them.”

 

2000-2005

  • A two-year, $100,000 research grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York was awarded to the New Literacies Research Lab. It advanced the study of integrating new methodologies for understanding reading comprehension on the Internet into secondary teacher education courses. The study team was led by Douglas K. Hartman, Donald J. Leu, Mark Olson, and Mary P. Truxaw, leading scholars in the study of integrating new Internet technologies into teacher preparation.
  • For the first time in its history, a doctoral student rather than a professor was chosen for the International Reading Association’s Nila Banton Smith Research Dissemination Support Award. The honor went to Laurie Henry, EPSY doctoral student and New Literacies Team member.
  • A three-year, $1.8 million research grant was awarded to the New Literacies Research Lab from the U.S. Department of Education in order to advance the study of new methodologies for teaching reading comprehension on the Internet. The study team was led by Donald Leu, professor of curriculum and instruction, who is a nationally prominent specialist in reading and Internet technologies.
  • The National Science Foundation awarded Don Leu and colleagues at the University of Georgia, Columbia University, and the University of Illinois, Chicago a five year, $5.5 million research and development grant, The CTELL Project. The project developed and studied case-based online videos of effective instruction in early literacy for teacher education programs.
  • Don Leu was appointed as the John and Maria Neag Endowed Chair in Literacy and Technology at the Neag School of Education. Don came from Syracuse University where he was Professor of Education and the former Chair of the Reading and Language Arts Department. The Neag chair was made possible by the $21 million gift from UConn alumnus Ray Neag and is named in memory of his parents.