Using WebCT as a supplemental tool to enhance critical thinking and engagement among developmental reading students.(Report)

The purpose of this research was to examine possible outcomes of developmental students' critical thinking and motivation to read when the online learning community, WebCT, was implemented. My role, in addition to instructor, was that of participant-observer. I implemented WebCT tools, such as discussion board and chat, over a four-month period into my instruction to enhance critical thinking and motivation to read in my Developmental Studies in Reading II classroom. A mixed-method approach for intervention evaluation was employed, and improvements were noted in both reading engagement and critical thinking skills by using these online tools. By incorporating this technology into the developmental studies curriculum, we, as developmental education instructors, will be encouraging and supporting our students' needs to become independent thinkers and learners.

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The motivation behind conducting this research lies within the need to examine further effects of online learning for developmental reading students. To date, only a few researchers have conducted studies in which they have investigated developmental reading and online learning despite the rapid implementation of online learning opportunites in many colleges and universities. This dearth of research studies is mainly due to the lack of controlled studies in community college developmental education programs. Until studies are conducted, developmental education programs are adopting promising instruction by other community colleges and universities that have found them to be successful (Perin, 2005). Implementation preceding research could come at a costly price to developmental reading students in terms of learning and developmental education as a whole if the needed research is not conducted.

Developmental Education and Distance Education

The National Association for Developmental Education (NADE) provides a current definition of developmental education, a field that has dramatically changed over the last 10 years:

Developmental education is a field of practice and research within higher education with a theoretical foundation in developmental psychology and learning theory. It promotes the cognitive and affective growth of all postsecondary learners, at all levels of the learning continuum. Developmental education is sensitive and responsive to individual differences and special needs among learners. Developmental education programs and services commonly address academic preparedness, diagnostic assessment and placement, development of general and discipline-specific learning strategies, and affective barriers to learning. (NADE, 2007, "Definition of Developmental Education," p. 1)

Concomitant with this definition, Boylan (2002) suggested that colleges should give developmental students a variety of course experiences and not limit their learning to one mode of delivery. Other researchers have expanded this suggestion with the contention that students today must have computer knowledge to succeed in college and beyond. Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, and Commack (2004) stressed the importance in our global economy of equipping students with "new literacies" that support social communication and use of communication technologies where possessing these skills in our world today are vital. Leu et al. defined new literacies as