EDU 5188: Integration of Technology in Education

Assignment #2: Research Article Critique

Professor: D. Archibald
Student: Daryn Caruso

Article Information
Author: Baker, Elizabeth A.
Title: Elementary Classroom Web Sites: Support for Literacy Within and Beyond the
Classroom
Journal Name: Journal of Literacy Research, 39(1), 1-36
Statement of Issue:
The Internet has been used in education since its inception and teachers are still
attempting to find effective ways to implement it in their classes to benefit students. The
issues addressed in the article include the concept of new literacy, how a website creates
an invisible classroom, and the criteria for an effective classroom website.
Authors Purpose:
The author desires to provide the reader with information as to how to how and why they
should administer a classroom website.
Conclusions:
The article concludes that classroom websites can be an effective tool used by teachers to
improve the literacy of elementary students. The issue that must be addressed is many
teachers do not utilize websites effectively. The author notes that many classroom sites
researched were not updated regularly (with some seemingly having been created as part
of a training seminar and never used again), did not provide much useful content, were
not used for communication with parents, and did not create a sense of peer culture. It is
suggested that teachers use the four listed criteria: support instruction approaches,
incorporate parent involvement, foster student peer culture, and establish an invisible
classroom to measure the quality of their classroom website.
Critique of Reading:
The title is appropriate as the purpose of the reading is an examination of
classroom websites to understand what they provide, in regards to instructional support,
parental involvement, and creation an invisible classroom that extends beyond the school.
Anyone looking for information or advice on classroom websites would easily know the
ideas being presented based on the title.
For the reader, there were two topics discussed by Baker that were the most

relevant: New Literacy and the Invisible Classroom.

The article does a sufficient job of establishing these key terms for the reader.
According to Baker, in previous generations one was considered literate if they could
read religious text, in the nineteenth century one was literate if they could read a
newspaper, and currently there has been a merging between literacy and technology (Email, Facebook, Twitter, texting, etc.) which is referred to as New Literacy. Baker
effectively establishes what the concept new literacy is and places an emphasis on it as a
goal for modern literacy teaching. This concept is established early and the rest of the
issues discussed can be placed within the context of the new literacy framework making
most of the article focused.
Technology gives students access to their classroom content twenty-four hours a
day, which Baker describes as the invisible classroom. The invisible classroom is
emphasized as a useful tool that can expand student access to their classroom content in
and out of the classroom. Examples of how a website can be used to develop literacy are
numerous and well described. However, there is a substantial focus in this section on
parental access to the classroom website that the reader believes Baker spent too much
attention on rather than focusing on student literacy progression through a class website.
The reader had an issue with this section, as there was not a strong link proven between
parent communication and student literacy. Baker addressed the idea that communication
with parents can be motivating for students who come to the realization that their parents
are aware of what assignments students are completing in class. This, however, did not fit
with the rest of the reading as the focus for student literacy was taken off of the student as
the parent, and their access to the website, became more of the focus. This section could
have been removed and the article would have remained strong.
Baker is aware of the articles limitations due to the sheer scope of the Internet.
The article claims to have viewed one elementary classroom website per search page
listed on Google, an exact number was not identified. The article also states that it only
evaluates what it sees available on the websites themselves and not what is being done in
the classroom, as there is no way of knowing how often the website is actually being used
by the teacher or students in or out of the classroom. Baker focuses on what can be
accomplished with a classroom website and what is visible on the websites viewed for the

study. Since the administration schedule of some of the websites is questionable this
allows room for error in the interpretations of the websites.
Baker included in her article a variety of links to useful websites that can improve
students in new literacy, and which can be utilized for a teachers own site. The list is
comprehensive and states intentions for use of the websites. This allows the reader to use
this article as a resource to find appropriate website content for their classes. This section
is quite useful to teachers who want to make their own website.
The reader suggests that Baker include examples of classroom websites that meet
and do not meet the criteria outlined, as there are no specific classroom websites cited.
There are links to websites teachers can use for their own page (Edmodo, Blackboard,
etc.) but not to examples of these websites being utilized by other teachers. One can write
about what to include and not include on a classroom website, however with the article
focusing on the use of technology, it could have been beneficial if Baker had provided
some links to examples. These could have been websites that Baker could have created as
examples of what was written about. This would have been especially beneficial to those
readers who are not quite comfortable using a classroom website. Of course the readers
can perform a search themselves nevertheless having clear examples provided would
have been more effective.
Another issue the reader has is with the length of the article. At 36 pages, the
article could use further editing (such as the section on parental involvement) and
reduced by a few pages. Ideas brought up in some sections seem to repeat and become
slightly redundant.
Baker raises some unanswered questions at the conclusion of the reading, which
were not previously addressed but did occur to the reader. In regards to the websites
created by teachers, how many of them were created due to in-service training and are
now not being administered? How many teachers are self-taught versus how many have
received training to create their website? Are teachers aware of how websites can be used
to develop literacy? These questions would be better suited for another research study
and were, necessarily, omitted. The fact that they were raised shows that Baker
understands the limitations of the study and leaves the opportunity for further research.

The content discussed in the reading are still relevant in 2016. Baker stated that
she desired to return to this study in several years to see which websites are being used
and what new resources will be available. Reading Elementary Classroom Web Sites:
Support for Literacy Within and Beyond the Classroom in 2016, the reader was able to
have an enhanced idea of the concepts Baker discussed, as technology is more prevalent
today than it would have been in 2007, when smartphones were still in their early models.
Social media has also become more integrated into society and the classroom since the
article was published. In this regard, the article is may be easier for a reader to digest in
2016 than it may have been in 2007.
Overall, Bakers reading was encouraging for teachers who want to utilize a
website and shows that elementary classroom websites provide instructional support and
expand new literacy for students with the creation of an invisible classroom. Although the
article is almost ten years old, the reader would recommend it for teachers looking to
learn how to effectively administer an elementary classroom website. The reader would
be interested for Baker to revisit the issue of classroom websites supporting student
literacy in 2016, to see what previously posed questions could be answered and what
current questions could be discussed.