Connecting and Promoting Multiple Literacies in an Online Summer Reading Program

• In Event: Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Multimodalities, Multiliteracies, Writing, and Identity

Abstract

This proposal reports a qualitative case study on the use of online book clubs to promote multiple reading and writing literacies during a summer reading program for adolescents. Sixteen adolescents voluntarily participated in the 8-week long summer reading program facilitated through a public library. Students selected to participate in one of five genre-based online book clubs, hosted on a Ning (www.Ning.com) social network, to asynchronously discuss young adult literature through written posts. Results suggest the online space allowed flexibility in participation in discussion, participants’ personal sentiments and connections to the books were of particular focus, and the open structure of the Ning prompted participants to spontaneously take part in multiple discussions.

Authors

• Jamie Colwell, Old Dominion University

• Danielle Eileen Forest, University of Southern Mississippi

• Lindsay Woodward, Iowa State University