Writing a Literature Review

Literature reviews should comprise the following elements:

• An overview of the subject, issue or theory under consideration, along with the objectives of the literature review
• Division of works under review into categories (e.g. those in support of a particular position, those against, and those offering alternative theses entirely)
• Explanation of how each work is similar to and how it varies from the others
• Conclusions as to which pieces are best considered in their argument, are most convincing of their opinions, and make the greatest contribution to the understanding and development of their area of research

Source: http://guides.library.ucsc.edu/write-a-literature-review

Points to be considered while evaluating pieces of literature review:

• Appropriate framing
• Logical structure
• Clear understanding of the literature
• Flow of argument
• Useful empirical literature be included
• Analysis and presentation of literature from a critical perspective

Appropriate framing

What areas or aspects to be covered in the literature review and how the discussion has related to the research topic

Logical structure

How different concepts were arranged in order to form the structure of the review

Clear understanding of the literature

The writer should demonstrate accurate understanding of the literature

Flow of argument

A good flow of argument in the literature review enhances the comprehensiveness of the chapter. It could also convince readers why this research is a meaningful one.

Including useful empirical literature

Having referred to previous empirical studies could further confirm the purpose and hypothesis of this particular research.

Analysis and presentation of literature from a critical perspective

One of the writer's job is to reveal the connection among all findings or claims of other researchers. These findings or claims may agree with, partly agree with, or contradict with one another.

Outline of Literature Review

Title: Parental involvement in Pre-primary School Governance: A Study of Parents’ Experience and Expectations in Hong Kong Abstract           While the Hong Kong government has started to take a more active position in promoting home-school cooperation in schools across different levels by various means, such as the establishment of the Committee on Home-School Co-operation, promotion of the set-up of Parent-Teacher association (PTA), publishing educational materials to practitioners and parents etc., the results from studies on parental involvement in pre-primary school governance in Hong Kong remained confusing. Some analysts found parents to be actively involved in kindergarten management and administration, while others reported that parents appeared reluctant in involving in governance at this level. Studies on parental involvement in the administrative frameworks of pre-primary education are still limited and the effectiveness of governmental efforts in promoting home-school cooperation has been questionable. The Committee on Home-School Cooperation (2003) reported a low percentage (25%) of Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) in Hong Kong’s kindergartens. With PTAs regarded generally as an important channel through which parents can participate in school management and administration, the low percentage of PTAs in Hong Kong’s kindergartens is puzzling.           The investigator adopts an interpretivist approach to explore parents’ current experiences and expectations of involvement in the management and administration of pre-primary educational institutions in Hong Kong. The study intends to enrich the analytical and policy development frameworks in this area of educational governance, and to provide suggestions for parents, teachers, administrators and policy makers to re-conceptualize parental involvement in pre-primary education governance. The study engages data collected through document analysis and interviews with key stakeholders in this area. The pilot study involving data provided by nine parents who have their children enrolled in different forms of pre-primary institutions suggests that most of the parents had extremely limited knowledge and opportunities of taking part in school governance. Seven out of the nine respondents agreed that they held passive role in various aspects of school governance. These findings are however preliminary and require a more intense engagement of a wider range of stakeholders in Hong Kong.  This confirmation session examines the theoretical, analytical and methodological frames for the subsequent research. Chapter Two: Literature Review

2.1 Parental involvement in Hong Kong

2.2 The concept of school management and other terms

2.2.1 “Management” and “decision-making” in education

2.2.2 Parental involvement in school-based management

2.2.3 School-based management in Hong Kong

2.3 School administration and management in the existing models of parental involvement

2.3.1 Epstein’s six types of involvement framework

2.3.2 The path to the family orientation

2.3.3 Cheung’s four-leveled model on parents’ participation in school activities

2.4 Parents’ perspectives on parental involvement

Beyond the Hardware

This is a good analogy:

A caterpillar with wings attached does not make it a butterfly.

The use of technology devices in the classroom does not necessarily lead to educational advancement. Apart from the technological dimension, the social dimension is equally important. By the term "social dimension", it refers to the learning attitude, learning atmosphere among students and teachers, collaboration among students and teachers, support from parents and the community etc. 

A Very Inspiring Video on Learning and the Use of Technology

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQcwRGTW5mw


Points to highlight:

The use of technology in education changes the life skills one must acquire in order to learn and tackle life challenges.

Three skills students must learn for preparing them for the future challenges:
1. Literacy skills
2. Skills of information searching and retrieval
3. How to believe

How well does Gagne’s Nine Events of Learning fit in e-learning?

How well does Gagne’s Nine Events of Learning fit in e-learning?
http://elearningcyclops.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/using-gagnes-9-events-of-learning-in-e-learning/

Gagne’s Nine Events of Learning
1. Gain attention
2. Inform learners of objectives
3. Stimulate recall of prior learning
4. Present the content
5. Provide "learning guidance"
6. Elicit performance (practice)
7. Provide feedback
8. Assess performance
9. Enhance retention and transfer to the job

Source: http://citt.ufl.edu/tools/gagnes-9-events-of-instruction/

The Technical and Social Dimensions of Knowledge Management

"Emphasis on technology alone will achieve little progress toward knowledge management, but even the strongest commitment to knowledge management that is not supported by robust technology will not succeed." (Serban and Luan, 2002, p.2)

"KM Systems are a blend of both technical and social mechanisms that enable the effective creation and transmission of knowledge assests to take place. (Bain and Swan, 2011, p.683)

The technical dimension aims at "capturing, packaging, and distributing tangible, documented products" (p.26), and the social dimension aims at "enabling collaboration, connection, and reflection among system users" (p.26). (Marshall and Rossett, 2000)

In order to enhance the capacity of knowledge management in the process of learning, one should consider both the technical and social dimensions. Learning through the use of technology could not be the most effective if there is a lack of human participation and interaction. Therefore, educators should focus on both the quality of the technological support and the learning support from teachers and peers. In the traditional way of learning, learning support from teachers was often associated with direct instructions, face-to-face consultation or lectures, and teacher as a source of learning materials. With the fast emergence of the use of technology in learning and the new concept of knowledge management, there seems to be some changes to our understanding and the actual practice of supporting learning, instead of direct instructions, teachers might find building a supportive learning atmosphere, understanding and responding to learners' interest and needs, encouraging interaction among learners more applicable nowadays.

Reference:
Bain, A., and Swan, G. (2011). Technology enhanced feedback tools as a knowledge management mechanism for supporting professional growth and school reform. Education Tech Research Dev, 59, p.673-685.

Marshall, J., & Rossett, A. (2000). In J.M. Spector & T.M. Anderson (Eds.), Knowledge management for school-based educators. Integrated and holistic perspectives on learning, instruction and technology: Understanding complexity. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Serban, A.M., & Luan, J. (2002). Overview of knowledge management. New Directions for Institutional Research, 113, p.5-16.

A Knowledge Management System for School Reform and Improvement

According to Bain and Swan (2011), Knowledge Management (KM) "can be viewed as a mechanism to support Organizational Learning (OL)" (p.675). In Bain and Swan's discussion, they placed their focus on how knowledge management could lead to school improvement through the professional development of teachers. Apart from KM, Organizational Learning (OL) and feedback were two core concepts throughout their discussion on the role of knowledge management in school improvement.

Reference:
Bain, A., and Swan, G. (2011). Technology enhanced feedback tools as a knowledge management mechanism for supporting professional growth and school reform. Education Tech Research Dev, 59, p.673-685.

Relevant Literature on the Use of Technology in Parent Education or Parental Involvement (Preparing for Assignment 2)

DeGennaro, D. (2010). Opening digital doors: A middle school addresses the digital divide by providing families with low-cost laptops - and training that connects technology to community needs. Educational Leadership, November, p.73-76.

Ramirez, F. (2001). Technology and parental involvement. The Clearing House, 75(1), p.30-31.

Selwyn, N., Banajit, S., Hadjithoma-Garstka, C., and Clark, W. (2011). Providing a platform for parents? Exploring the nature of parental engagement with school learning platforms. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 27, 314-323.

Thompson, J.R., Meadan, H., Fansler, K.W., Alber, S. B., and Balogh, P.A. (2007). Family assessment portfolios: A bew way  to jumpstart family / school collaboration. Teaching Exceptional Children, July/Augusr, p.19-25.

Review of "Digital readers: The next chapter in e-book reading and response"

"Findings suggested that using digital reading devices with second-grade students promotes new literacies practices and extends connections between readers and text as engagement with and manipulation of text is made possible through electronic tools and features. The Kindle tools invited Amy and Winnie to engage with the text and put the reader in greater control than when reading printed text." (p.17)

The use of digital reading devices has enhanced the interaction between readers and the reading materials. There were a number of functions to support the process of reading and understanding with the use of digital devices, including (i) adjusting the font size, (ii) assessing the built-in dictionary, and (iii) using the text-to-speech feature, which could not be offered with traditional printed reading.

Readers could also insert and edit notes while they were reading with the digital reading devices. The study tried to categorize the types of notes the two readers created while reading.

The 5 types of response notes

1. Understanding of story

2. Personal meaning making

3. Questioning

4. Answering

5. Text features / literary evaluation

Both concerned students spent a considerable amount of notes regarding their understanding of the story, while the amount on answering (i.e. responding to questions in the text) was limited. However, due to the small sample size of the study, a proper trend could not be concluded regarding the responding style of the readers. Nevertheless, with the use of digital reading devices, it was certain that readers were given opportunities in developing thinking on top of the information-receiving level.

Different types of digital readers for reference (p.15)

Larson, L.C. (2010). Digital readers: The next chapter in e-book reading and response. The Reading Teacher, 64(1), p.15-22.

Relevant Literature on Digital Reading

Boone, R., and Higgins, K. (2003). Reading, writing and publishing digital text. Remedial and Special Education, 24(3), p.132-140.

Fink, J.L.W. (2012). Summer reading goes high tech. Scholastic Instructor, Summer, p.33-37.

Guernsey, L. (2011). Are ebooks any good? School Library Journal, June, p.28-32.

Larson, L.C. (2010). Digital readers: The next chapter in e-book reading and response. The Reading Teacher, 64(1), p.15-22.

McNabb, M.L. (2005). Raising the bar on technology research in English language arts. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 38(1), p.113-119.

Rance-Roney, J. (2010). Jump-starting language and schema for English-language leaners: Teacher-composed digital jumpstarts for academic reading. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(5), p.386-395.

Roswell, J., and Burke, A. (2009). Reading by design: Two case studies of digital reading practice. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(2), p.106-118.

Taylor, M.F. (2012). Digital reading: A look at a second grade class. School Library Monthly, 29(2), p.11-14.

Thoermer, A. and Williams, L. (2012). Texts to promote fluent reading. The Reading Teacher, 65(7), p.441-445.

Walsh, M. (2008). Worlds have collided and modes have merged: Classroom evidence of changed literacy practices. Literacy, 42(2), p.101-118.

Reading Literacy and Digital Reading in HK

With the global trend and the government's effort of promoting the use of technology in education, students nowadays learn differently in different areas. Students require new skills to tackle the new challenges in their learning.

The traditional reading skills, such as skimming, scanning, intensive and extensive reading, seem to be insufficient in the fast-changing learning environment. Apart from print reading, students are often engaged in digital reading nowadays. Skills supporting students' digital reading become increasly important. Efficient nevigation enables students to look for meaningful information from texts. With the popularity of computer usage among Hong Kong students, it was surprising to know that a significant number of students actually encountered problems locating target information from digital texts.

PISA's focus on both print reading and digital reading probably gives language teacher a new perspective of students' literacy development. Apart from the traditional reading skills, teachers should also consider incorporating the use of technology in their teaching and classroom, so as to facilitate students' development of essential skills for doing digital reading.

Video on Theories of Learning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YOqgXjynd0

Summary

	Behaviorism	Cognitivism	Constructivism
Learning is…	Regular and expected responses	Recall of stored information	Building knowledge by doing
Instruction is…	Repetition and reinforcement	Grab attention and help storage	Guiding problem solving
Other important concepts	Input (stimulus) --> Output (responses) “Practice makes perfect.”	Mind as computer Memorization	Importance of hands-on experience

Two types of theories regarding learning:

1. Descriptive theory (Learning theory - what is learning)

2. Prescriptive theory (Instructional theory - how do we help people learn)

Insights

• There seems to be a trend shifting from behavorism and cognitivism to constructivism in pedagogical practice nowadays
• One can find all three perspectives in local classroom in HK
• Which perspective to adopt depends on the learning outcome expected
• The video did not contain much discussion on the importance of social connection in the process of learning