An Online Literacy Tutor - David Bowen
Interdisciplinary Studies Program, Wayne State University
5/31/02

Last updated: 5/29/02
Online at www.cll.wayne.edu/web101/OnlineLiteracyTutor.htm

Background:

Literacy is a gateway competency, valuable on its own but also a prerequisite for many other important competencies. Illiteracy, and the lack of functional literacy, affect the illiterate directly and negatively, but also prevent their full participation in the economy, and indeed in society in general. We have several groups of the less-than-literate:

1. A backlog of adults
2. A stream of young people emerging from schools as illiterate or functionally illiterate
3. Immigrants, both literate and illiterate in their native languages

Many are regrettably ashamed of being less-than-literate, and reluctant therefore to seek tutoring. For those literate in other languages, remediation can be done efficiently in large classes, but in other cases it requires intensive one-on-one tutoring over an extended period. Able tutors are in short supply. There are many other problems; this list above is only a beginning.

Online literacy tutoring has several aspects that could supplement human tutoring:

• Enlarge opportunities for varied and monitored practice, with feedback
• Available anytime, anywhere
• At least in the case of these tutors, available at no cost
• May not have same "shame barrier," may even reverse this (pride in using a computer)

There are, of course, drawbacks, some of which may be reduced as technology advances:

• Computer is not as intelligent or as flexible, not as good at diagnosing and responding to learner problems (may be comparatively better in math)
• Requires some level of literacy, or at least help to get started. This can be minimized through the use of spoken directions. Generally, this is not done in the current version of this online tutor. Our target audience in the current version is people who can already read and write at perhaps the sixth-grade level. Later, we can expand up and down.

1. URL: point your web browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer) at http://www.cll.wayne.edu/LitTutor
2. Choose "go to login"
3. Choose New User Login
4. Make up a User Name and Password for yourself - these stay with you
   1. If it is rejected as a duplicate, close your web browser completely and start over
   2. No personal information is requested or collected. This may be a drawback for certain uses.
5. On next screen, repeat login information (this makes sure you didn't mistype)
6. Informed consent - University requirement for research projects. The choices are at the bottom of the web page. You must choose at least the first option in order to proceed.
7. Then you can choose one of the three types of questions

For all later logins, choose the login for returning users and use the same login information that you set up the first time. Steps 5 and 6 are omitted for all later logins.

Why is logging in necessary? Users must identify themselves in some way in order to

• Track user progress
• Be able to summarize user scores
• Avoid repeating earlier questions

There are alternate means of identifying users. The use of "cookies" does not require logins, but

• Is intrusive (saves files on user's computer)
• Cannot recognize the user if s/he uses a different computer.
• Cannot distinguish between different people using the same computer

You will see three types of questions (note that all three have problems):

1. Interpreting a sentence. (Works, but needs more examples of sentences, and more complex examples. Suggestions are welcome.)
2. Selecting a word to match a picture (Actual pictures are missing - they were lost in a computer disaster about 12 months ago and have not yet been replaced)
3. Selecting a word to match a spoken word (present audio is distinguishable if not the best, can be improved). Many examples are available.

Other possible directions for development:

1. Sounding letters, matching text choice. But - could people who can't read master this system enough to benefit from letter recognition?
2. More complex and variable sentence interpretation. How can this be done without going to full computer understanding of language, which is very difficult? But generating a sentence from an idea may be less difficult than extracting the idea from a sentence.
3. Simplifying the user interface, so that less literate people can use it. For now, it probably requires a literacy tutor to show the user how to use it. Would spoken instructions help? Would touch-screen help?

My belief is that we need to look for the direction that requires the least effort on our part that would make the present system useful for some audience. Then we can use that experience to further improve it. We also need guidance from literacy workers and the literacy community. I am not looking to solve the entire tutoring problem, but just to do what I can do. We also collect information on how people use the tutor, hope to conduct research on how people learn and understand math, literacy, etc., at the same time that we provide a service.

Other online tutors (NOTE: You probably need to close out your web browsers entirely and restart before going to each one.):

On Line Mathematics Tutor: http://www.cll.wayne.edu/olmt Online, public, several thousand users per year.

1. Practice for WSU Math Proficiency Exam
2. Practice with signed numbers, fractions, percentages. Generates problems randomly, so a virtually unlimited supply of practice problems
3. Some learning or explanatory materials
4. Working on "following the user into the problem" - going through addition of signed numbers step by step.

Online Writing and Grammar Tutor: http://www.cll.wayne.edu/olgt Online, public, but limited, also needs development. Aimed at College English.

1. Some grammar and organization practice
2. "Writer's Guide"
3. Links to other literacy and writing tutors.

Comments, questions and answers. Is there a place for the On Line Literacy Tutor? What is that place? How can it be put to use?