September 2004 — Features
Print this article | Email this articleClick here to receive your FREE subscription to T.H.E. Journal
Cybermentoring: An Online Literacy Project in Teacher Education
Benefits and Barriers
The whole project was quite a success. The students seemed to be excited and motivated about their stories. When students would resubmit their stories after reading their responses, there was almost always a noticeable improvement. Most important, this activity integrated language arts with technology.
The average score for the elementary students, based on the holistic rubric, was 3.8 out of 4, or 95%. This meant that they did well meeting the criteria based on the holistic rubric. In the holistic scoring guide, adapted to the state standards for writing, a single score represented the entire performance task (Stiggins 1997). The students were assigned a score ranging from 1 (far below standards) to 4 (above standards) on their final piece.
The effects and benefits were far-reaching because the students not only improved their reading skills, but also enhanced the intrinsic motivation to read and write. The students chose a topic, were coached through the writing process and received positive feedback from their cybermentor. Despite their remote location, the cybermentors provided the scaffolding students needed to promote meaningful learning.
Barriers that the cybermentors encountered were a lack of classroom computers and individual help for each student in the classroom. Even though the students were working diligently on their stories, sometimes the cybermentors had to wait at the university to receive new stories from the students. Therefore, it is highly recommended that more help in the classroom be provided to keep the project going.
