The concept of collaborative learning, the grouping and pairing of students for the purpose of achieving an academic goal, has been widely researched and advocated throughout the professional literature. The term "collaborative learning" refers to an instruction method in which students at various performance levels work together in small groups toward a common goa

Proponents of collaborative learning claim that the active exchange of ideas within small groups not only increases interest among the participants but also promotes critical thinking. According to Johnson and Johnson (1986), there is persuasive evidence that cooperative teams achieve at higher levels of thought and retain information longer than students who work quietly as individuals. The shared learning gives students an opportunity to engage in discussion, take responsibility for their own learning, and thus become critical thinkers (Totten, Sills, Digby, & Russ, 1991).

The advances in technology and changes in the organizational infrastructure put an increased emphasis on teamwork within the workforce. Workers need to be able to think creatively, solve problems, and make decisions as a team. Therefore, the development and enhancement of critical-thinking skills through collaborative learning is one of the primary goals of technology education. The present research was designed to study the effectiveness of collaborative learning as it relates to learning outcomes at the college level, for students in technology.

With so many quizzes, students' reading choices are endless. Only Accelerated Reader Enterprise offers unlimited access to more than 150,000 AR Quizzes (nearly half of which are nonfiction). With an all-new look, AR Quizzes still serve as a quick assessment of student reading comprehension in a friendly, inviting format. They can be taken on computers, laptops, and tablets 7 inches or larger. Click the titles below to take a sample quiz. There are five types of quizzes: Reading Practice Quizzes ask questions that measure a student’s comprehension of a book

Available Now. Three-Question AR™ Quizzes for Early Readers are Reading Practice Quizzes designed to help measure comprehension of short early-reader titles. Each title also has an accompanying Recorded Voice Quiz.

Textbook Quizzes enable you to monitor comprehension of material that students read in the specific textbook series you use.

Released: April 4, 2012

Summary of findings One-fifth of American adults (21%) report that they have read an e-book in the past year, and this number increased following a gift-giving season that saw a spike in the ownership of both tablet computers and e-book reading devices such as the original Kindles and Nooks.1 In mid-December 2011, 17% of American adults had reported they read an e-book in the previous year; by February, 2012, the share increased to 21%.

Using a broader definition of e-content in a survey ending in December 2011, some 43% of Americans age 16 and older say they have either read an e-book in the past year or have read other long-form content such as magazines, journals, and news articles in digital format on an e-book reader, tablet computer, regular computer, or cell phone.

AR helps teachers monitor students' vocabulary growth, literacy skills development, and other reading skills.

AR provides teachers with immediate information, helping them monitor the comprehension skills of each student and inform further instruction or intervention

A study demonstrated the positive impact of school ownership of the Accelerated Reader (AR) technology-based literacy program on attendance and standardized test scores at a representative sample of 2,500 elementary, middle, and high schools. These schools were compared with approximately 3,500 schools of similar geographic and demographic characteristics that did not own the software. A comparative analysis of data revealed: (1) statistically significant evidence that, on virtually every subject test (including reading, writing, math, science, and social studies), a majority of schools that owned AR performed better than socioeconomically comparable non-AR schools;

gains in academic performance increase with the length of time schools own AR--schools that have owned AR for 2 or more years are 59% more likely to show test performance above the median for their control group;

Findings suggest that AR has a positive effect on student academic performance, especially for socioeconomically disadvantaged children in urban areas. Together with the results of previous Institute studies, this is compelling evidence that AR is an effective tool in stimulating increased reading, and that increased reading will lead to higher attendance rates and greater academic success.

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 73% of American adults had used the Internet or e-mail as of March 2006. For the first time, the National Association of Adult Literacy—the most wide-ranging U.S. study of literacy—will test computer literacy in its 2008 survey that measures overall literacy.

Indeed, despite fears that the Internet would stunt the reading of books, the sale of books has continued to trend upward over the past several years. In 2005, sales jumped 9.9%, to $25 billion, according to the Association of American Publishers.

A number of studies have been released that suggested a negative correlation between Internet use and reading. Fortunately, those studies are now considered to have been unduly alarmist, according to several experts in the field. In 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts released a study titled “Reading at Risk” (the data was collected in 2002), saying that fewer than half of American adults read literature. “To lose this human capacity–and all the diverse benefits it fosters–impoverishes both cultural and civic life,” said the foundation chair Dana Gioia when the survey was released. The study failed to take into account whether people are actually reading more non-fiction works now.

A common thread across all literacy tasks is that each has a purpose–whether that purpose is to pay the telephone bill or to understand a poem.

NAAL defines literacy as both task-based and skills-based. The task-based definition of literacy, used in both the 1992 and 2003 assessments, focuses on the everyday literacy tasks an adult can and cannot perform. The 2003 NAAL adds a complementary skills-based definition of literacy that focuses on the knowledge and skills an adult must possess in order to perform these tasks. These skills range from basic, word-level skills (such as recognizing words) to higher level skills (such as drawing appropriate inferences from continuous text). New information provided by the 2003 NAAL is intended to improve understanding of the skill differences between adults who are able to perform relatively challenging literacy tasks and those who are not. to perform literacy tasks Task-based (conceptual) definition Literacy is the ability to use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential. The skills required Skills-based (operational) definition Successful use of printed material is a product of two classes of skills: Word-level reading skills Higher level literacy skills SOURCE: White, S., and McCloskey, M. (forthcoming). Framework for the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NCES 2005-531). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.