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Educators

Using New Media

by Clara Chung-wai Shih and David E. Weekly
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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction (Home)
Preface
1) Distribute print media electronically
2) Use CD/DVD
3) Use Internet media
4) Encourage reading on computer monitors
5) Select appropriate materials using proven methods
6) If possible, teach computer use
7) The trend is in technology's favor
8) Conclusions
Glossary
References
About the International Academy of Education

Select Appropriate Materials Using Proven Methods

Recipients of content can use simple, easy-to-calculate formulas such as Dale-Chall and Flesch-Kincaid to select the best portfolio of materials for their students.

Research findings
Textbooks and instructional materials may have a great an effect on children's learning. Fortunately, a number of accepted guidelines for selecting appropriate materials exist to aid parents, tutors and educators in selecting appropriate materials for students once the content has been made available on CD or the Internet. The basis for most formulas is that shorter, more common words and shorter sentences are easier for younger students to read.

By having a computer automatically evaluate the reading difficulty of pieces of text and suggest reading material for a class or even an individual pupil, pupils may be provided with material that is best suited to their current skills and is most likely to advance their understanding.

Practical applications
There are several methods that a computer can use to judge the readability of pieces of text. Most of these, like Dale-Chall and Flesch-Kincaid, examine basic statistics about the document, such as the average word length, average sentence length, and average paragraph length. These can be found on the Internet for calculating the appropriateness of content for students of various ages and abilities.

Once a computer can roughly assess how difficult a piece of material is, a teacher or school administrator can declare a certain range of difficulty appropriate for a given grade level or classroom. Educators, tutors, and children themselves can provide insight about text difficulty and match content to educational purposes and students' interests.

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