Past Project Descriptions

Reading/Literacy

Enhancements to STELLAR Literacy Tutoring Website

Faculty Members: James Hoffman

Department: Curriculum and Instruction

Project Description: The Supportive Technology for the Education of Literacy Learners and Reading (STELLAR) website offers a highly interactive environment designed to develop effective teaching skills in the area of literacy education using a tutorial setting. The guides and videos are based on an understanding of effective teaching as responsive to the interests and needs of the learner. Instruction builds from the known to the new, extending into new levels of literacy activity. This Vision Award project provides additional tutorial videos.

Enhancing the Effectiveness of Reading Tutorials through Video Cases

Faculty Members: James Hoffman and Beth Maloch

Department: Curriculum and Instruction

Project Description: The goal of this project is to develop a set of video cases to complement the Longhorn Tutoring Handbook used in the Reading Specialization/Concentration program. Two short video cases will illustrate each of the major components of the handbook. The video clips will be annotated with comments from the instructors and will include a running transcript of the interactions between teacher and student. The video cases will be implemented within a website that will support threaded discussion between instructors and students.

Instructional Decision-making for Students with Reading Difficulties

Faculty Member: Carolyn Denton

Department: Special Education

Student Technologist: Ramsy Safadi

Project Description: This project provides an authentic and interactive environment in which preservice teachers evaluate students with reading difficulties. Users view a video of a student reading sample. The user can then request specific assessments and “consult with an expert” to gather additional information that they use to make a final assessment which is submitted electronically to the instructor.