The Skills Of Document Use

The Skills of Document Use: From Text Comprehension to Web-Based Learning examines functional literacy from a psychological standpoint. It offers a comprehensive discussion of the cognitive skills involved in reading, comprehending, and making use of complex documents. Understanding such skills is important at times when printed and online information systems are being used more and more extensively for work, education, and personal development. It is also very important to understand how the Internet transforms the way we search, read, and comprehend documents. The core purpose of the book is to inform research scientists, students, and instructional designers about recent advances in the psychology of document comprehension. Whereas reading research has mostly focused on basic cognitive processes involved in simple comprehension tasks, this book extends the psychology of reading to more complex, real-life comprehension activities. The book draws a link between research areas usually separated: language psychology, on the one hand, and Web design, on the other hand. The work also attempts to bridge a gap between research in cognitive psychology and practical issues in the design and use of information systems. It invites the reader to a guided journey from theoretical models of text comprehension to concrete issues in the design and use of instructional technology. The book will be of interest to students specializing in psychology, language, communication, and publishing. It will also be useful to all those who are involved in the training of literacy skills, or in the design of information systems accessible to a wide audience.

Publisher Description

"This will be of interest to students specializing in psychology, language, communication, and publishing. It will also be useful to all those who are involved in the training of literacy skills, or in the design of information systems accessible to a wide audience."--Jacket.

Professionals who use multimedia documents as a tool to communicate concepts will find this a hugely illuminating text. It provides a comprehensive and up to date account of relevant research issues, methodologies and results in the area of multimedia comprehension. More specifically, the book draws connections between cognitive research, instructional strategies and design methodologies. It includes theoretical reviews, discussions of research techniques, ad original experimental contributions. The book highlights essential aspects of current theories, and trends for future research on the use of multimedia documents.

Education in today's technologically advanced environments makes complex cognitive demands on students pre-learning, during, and post-learning. Not surprisingly, these analytical learning processes--metacognitive processes--have become an important focus of study as new learning technologies are assessed for effectiveness in this area.Rich in theoretical models and empirical data, the International Handbook of Metacognition and Learning Technologies synthesizes current research on this critical topic. This interdisciplinary reference delves deeply into component processes of self-regulated learning (SRL), examining theories and models of metacognition, empirical issues in the study of SRL, and the expanding role of educational technologies in helping students learn. Innovations in multimedia, hypermedia, microworlds, and other platforms are detailed across the domains, so that readers in diverse fields can evaluate the theories, data collection methods, and conclusions. And for the frontline instructor, contributors offer proven strategies for using technologies to benefit students at all levels. For each technology covered, the Handbook: Explains how the technology fosters students' metacognitive or self-regulated learning.Identifies features designed to study or support metacognitve/SRL behaviors.Reviews how its specific theory or model addresses learners' metacognitive/SRL processes.Provides detailed findings on its effectiveness toward learning.Discusses its implications for the design of metacognitive tools.Examines any theoretical, instructional, or other challenges.These leading-edge perspectives make the International Handbook of Metacognition and Learning Technologies a resource of great interest to professionals and researchers in science and math education, classroom teachers, human resource researchers, and industrial and other instructors.

The Handbook of Epistemic Cognition brings together leading work from across disciplines, to provide a comprehensive overview of an increasingly important topic: how people acquire, understand, justify, change, and use knowledge in formal and informal contexts. Research into inquiry, understanding, and discovery within academic disciplines has progressed from general models of conceptual change to a focus upon the learning trajectories that lead to expert-like conceptualizations, skills, and performance. Outside of academic domains, issues of who and what to believe, and how to integrate multiple sources of information into coherent and useful knowledge, have arisen as primary challenges of the 21st century. In six sections, scholars write within and across fields to focus and advance the role of epistemic cognition in education. With special attention to how researchers across disciplines can communicate and collaborate more effectively, this book will be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the future of knowledge and knowing. Dr. Jeffrey A. Greene is an associate professor of Learning Sciences and Psychological Studies in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. William A. Sandoval is a professor in the division of Urban Schooling at the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. Dr. Ivar Bråten is a professor of Educational Psychology at the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Oslo, Norway.