Research Report:

Learning to Become Internet Literate

by S. Arzadon

Spring 2003--Generation 18

Dr. Leon James, Instructor

Instructions for this report can be accessed here

Section 1:  Introduction & Reviews

It's safe to say that the students in the 409a, 409b, and 459 class (generation 18) have all experienced frustration, irritation, stress, and anxiety through this research report, topic search, filling forms, and in this class in general.  But they're not the only ones.  Dr. Leon's classes has many other past generations who have also experienced the same emotions.  But when new and unfamiliar things are presented to us, these reactions are natural and common.

Students who first encounter the internet will go through three phrases, in one way or another, and these are: 1) becoming information literate (through generational identification), 2) becoming self-directed autonomous learners (through generational modeling), and 3) Exercising leadership & inventiveness (through generational loyalty)

The three students that I have chosen to review are all similar in that they first started out scared, stress, and confused.  But in the end, they all learned a lot and are happy with what they know.  They are also glad that there are past generations to help them get through their tough times and help them get a feel of what to expect and how to do things.

  Review 1: Christine Marchadine

Christine's point of view of learning the internet was a positive one.  At first she didn't know much about computers until she actually tried to "surf" the net one night.  She goes through 4 phases: Frustration, Stress, Anxiety, and Depression.  However, in the end, she felt  privileged to have the opportunity to learn the internet.

Phase 1:  Frustration (Gosh Darn it!)

Who doesn't experience frustration when they use the internet, everybody does.  Christine says, "I experienced  frustration when my links weren't working properly and then when my icons wasn't loading up correctly."

Well, what do you know, I had the same problems.  The thing about the links that really frustrated me was that any wrong word or letter that you type will affect the entire link.  It will either work or not.  And for my icons, even until now, I still can't get those darn things to work.  But these aren't the only problems I had.  The biggest problem was posting my new revised web pages.  It wouldn't, for some reason post the new one and even now, I still have to keep posting and checking, posting and checking, to make sure that the new page is up.

Phase 2: Stressed (Worrying Stage) 

Stress is another feeling that one will experience when they encounter the internet.  Finding the right words to chose and pick the best links can have an impact on a student.  Christine says, "Can you believe that even I got stressed from this class.  I was up to the point, nah no need do the reports, got plenty of times".

For me, I had the same feelings once again.  It's like I didn't know where to begin so I figure I worry about it later.  But then some how, the due dates for the reports seemed to creep up so fast that I began to stress out and panic.  Finally getting the reports posted, though, can really give you some relief. 

Phase 3: Anxiety (Anxious Stage) 

So, were on stage three.  First, we go through the frustration in learning new terms and creating web pages.  Then we get stressed because there's so much information to take in.  And then we experience anxiousness.  Christine just mentions, "...found it irritating when a homepage took forever to load up."

Unfortunately, that's what happens when it comes to the internet.  That's why I get so irritated just hearing the word internet because of how long it takes for web sites to come up.  But when we are in a hurry and we don't want to wait for things, we make our selves anxious.

Phase 3: Depression (When Things Aren't Going Well!)

Christine doesn't really give her opinion in this phase of what she was feeling.  However she did mention another student Shane Akagi's, reaction to how he fights depression.  He says,  " I just take a break from the typing that I am doing." He also adds, "If I become really depressed, I find that a long hot shower does wonders for me."

Hmm.... What do I do when I'm depressed?  Well lets see, I became depressed quite often when I was doing my paper, just like Shane.  I had problems with when I wanted to do or say something, it wasn't coming out the way I wanted it.  When I got depressed, I would stop typing too.  Not to take a break, but because I couldn't handle it and that's when I started to push off the reports.  But now that I've done a few posting, I know what to expect.  I just breath deeply when I'm experience that emotion and then continue my work.

Review 2: Ryan Mitsui

Ryan's point of view of learning the internet was a 'hands on process'.  He explains that there's some sort of method in learning the internet and breaks down his learning the internet into 3 phases.  The three phases are: Confusion, Resistance, and Spider Man Phase.

Phase 1: Confusion (I Don't Get it!)

Ryan says that this stage is for the novice/beginners.  He says, "...in this phase it's a trial and error."  Similar to when you first learn how to ride a bike, you'll always remember how to ride it once you learn it.  

I really liked this phases because I can relate to it.  Everyone that's first learning something new will not quite understand what's going on.  Everything that will be learned will have a reaction like, "Huh?", "How again?", "I don't get it."  When I first encountered posting my web page, I was still trying to figure out how to even get the FTP going and how to work it.  But then, by asking many questions to classmates, I managed to pass this phase.

Phase 2: Resistance (I Quit!)

The second phase is when we tend to want to give up or call it quits.  New things that are unfamiliar to us scare us.  Ryan says, "This phase is usually a little harder to detect than the rest because we think of it as just part of being frustrated, or confused, actually it is the result, but we need to keep pushing on!"

Boy, can I relate to this.  I can't count the many times I wanted to give up.  I was so frustrated and irritated because I was so lost and I didn't get some of the instructions.  But who doesn't experience that.  Giving up is so common with events that happens in our lives like trying out for a certain sport or doing a hard math problem (I hate math.)  But eventually we get over it and most of the time, we end up completing what we were trying to do.

Phase 3: Spider Man Phase (Confidence)

By this phase, students become more familiar with using the internet and have confidence.  They also reduce the time they spend wasting time trying to figure things out.  Ryan describes how students transformed and says, "They are like a worm that has blossomed into a butterfly. Or like a baby bird that just learned to fly."

Reaching this stage is a major accomplishment.  I felt so good when I first posted my web page.  After all the frustration, confusion, and irritation,  I found out that it wasn't all that bad.  It's great to see your work on the net and see how you went from knowing nothing about the internet, to having your own web page on the internet.  Ryan gives a good description on how students transforms into a "web slinger".

Review 3: Carol Ohta

Carol's point of view of learning the internet was a stressful one.  Her first reaction to when she found out that she was going on the internet, she began to freak out because she tried avoiding the internet for years.  Carol breaks up her adapting to the internet into 4 weeks.  She mentions in the beginning of the paper that the only thing she knew what to do on the computer was to write papers.   

Week 1: Getting My Feet Wet

Carol just seemed to experience so much anxiety and frustration during her first week of learning.  She first signs up for her login name and password, then learned how to open and read her e-mails, and lastly she learned how to send e-mail.  She says, "I was scared and unsure of my self but I did it anyway.  I think I sent the message about two or three times because I wasn't sure if it went through or not".

I can relate to Carol when I was posting my discussion question on webct.  I kept debating what I was supposed to click on to send my message and how it was suppose to be done.  Like a few people, I ended up just sending Dr. James my search to be on the safe side.

Week 2: Catching on

This week, Carol receives instructions to practice some commands in Netscape.  As the teacher explained what terms meant, she began to catch on.  She says, "I tried them out.  Hey, not so bad and I'm still surviving this class."

In relation to my experience, that's how I felt about setting up the FTP.  At first I was scared that I wouldn't set the FTP up right.  But when things actually worked and I was able to follow the instructions step by step, I felt so relieved.

Week 3: What Now?

During this week, problems begin to surface up.  Carol has difficulties looking up the tearcher's home page.  She says, "I had problems typing the address in Netscape because the computer is so technical, if you make one error in the address you'll come to a page that says error 404."

I sort of had the same problems, but mines dealt with the links.  One word or letter that you type wrong in the address, so people can go to your web pages, you get that "error 404".  Man, that was irritating.

Week 4: Becoming Pro

Carol ends up learning a bunch of stuff and seems to be proud of herself during this week.  She accomplishes many things like how to do links, anchors (similar to links), and short cuts.  She becomes confident with herself and even helping her friends how to e-mail and create files.  She says, "I'm starting to fell good about the Internet and the computer world because I've learned how to look up information and create my files."

This is how I felt when I finished my first report.  Gosh, it was such a big accomplishment for me because I actually managed to keep with it even though I wanted to quit.  But that's the thing about learning new things, you feel really good about yourself when you finish something that you learned.   

Section 2:  Self-Observation Data

1)  Come and check out my forms.  By looking at my forms, you can get a picture of how I was feeling and thinking while doing the searches for my research report (from beginning to end).   

The instructions for how to fill out the forms is here.

2)  Every week I would choose a topic from the 15 discussion topics and search the internet for information.  When I was finished posting my search on the web, I filled out the forms.  There's a total of 10 forms.  After filling out the first couple of forms, I became a little irritated in filling them out because all my answers were basically the same (as you will see in the table below).  This is actually when the frustration feelings began to emerge.

As far as the forms helping me out, it really didn't.  It just reminded me of what type of information I was searching for and what type of results I got.  The information on the forms may help system designers and search engine administrators to minimize the results that come up, but then again, the searcher must be more specific in what they are searching for.  I think the system designer and search engine admin already know that people are thankful for the search engine because it does all the searching and work for us.  

For more information on what the instructions are for these reports, check out: 

  * forum instructions             

  *  bibliography report instructions

3)  Table 1: Summarization of data (shows the overall responses, as well as the average)

4)  As you can see from the table above, my data are pretty close in range.  Overall, my feelings before and after the search, and my feelings about the search, were generally the same for each occasion (a positive one).  The usual time that it took me to complete my search was on average of 45 minutes, although I underestimated the time it will take before the search.  I thought it would take me only half an hour or so to complete everything.

 I really didn't experience rage at all during the search, but I did (on some occasions) experience irritation and frustration.   However, if you take a look at how I was feeling at the beginning of those searches where I was frustrated or irritated, most of them shows that I wasn't feeling that good or I was in a rush to finish the search.  

The search engines that I mainly used was Yahoo.  I have tried several other search engines but I didn't like the results that came up and most of the time the sites that did come up were useless.  I also did use Google.  According to the data chart, I thought that the results of my search were based on the search engine I used and the searching technique (wording of phrases).  Only once that I got results by luck.

My feelings towards the forms itself, I don't think they show a lot of meaning.  I think the most useful information on the form was the total time it took for the search to be completed.  After I filled out the first couple of forms, I was getting irritated.  The questions were repetitive (reworded different) and generic.  I think the way to improve the forms is by, first of all, shortening it and secondly, there should be an option to explain the answer to the question only when it's needed rather than giving an explanation for every question.  Then again, it would be great if they were just taken out.

Overall summery: (a) My mood in the beginning of the search was mostly positive and during the search was  low/no irritation, frustration, and rage.  (b) The search engines that I mainly used was Yahoo and Google was my second choice.

5)  As far as close to my experiences during the searches, I'd have to say Brenda Dorador, from generation 17, was quite similar to me. Her searches stayed with 1/2-1 hour; levels of anxiety, frustration, irritation, and anger were low; high hopes of completing and refusing to quit; searching didn't take too much effort; and we're confident in the search engines chosen and didn't really have to rely on luck in getting results.

Section 3:  The Psychology of Information Literacy

1)  The instructors article: 

"Creating An Online Learning Environment That Fosters Information Literacy, Autonomous Learning and Leadership"

The article on the Generational Curriculum basically talks about the efforts in transforming a passive student into an active student that learns and benefits from the new online technology that has been going on for generations.  Dr. James believes the students go through these phases while learning on the internet.  

        1) Become information literate (through generational identification) 

        2) Become self-directed autonomous learners (through generational modeling)

        3) Exercising leadership & inventiveness (through generational loyalty)

Within these phases, the student has behavioral areas:

        a) Affective: ex. overcoming being scared of the computer; improving self-confidence

        b) Cognitive: ex. acquiring content & vocabulary; showing creativity and new material

        c) Sensorimotor: ex. acting as a generational participant; acting as a lifelong learner 

By using the Community-Classroom Approach of the Online Generational Curriculum, students can learn from past generations, as well as help the future generations, by seeing what problems the students had and how they solved it, what to expect, and how to keep focus and not give up.  Also, you (yourself) can contribute your experience and give advice to future generations as well.

2)  My research report can relate to these three phases of learning the internet.  During the first phase, like most people who are not familiar with web pages and the internet, I was a bit intimidated.  When I heard that we'll be creating and posting web pages, I was debating if I really wanted to take this class.  It reminded me of my freshman year when I have took a computer class.  Boy did I struggle through that class.  But, I decided to stay.    

When I first posted my web page, I was actually proud (even though my pictures weren't showing) and thought to myself how it wasn't that bad.  I started to gain confidence that I could actually do this.  So overcoming my fear of the computer and building myself confidence that I can learn new things, I became information literate (sort of).

The  second phase, through trial and error and repetition of posting things on the net, I wanted to do more than just the basic "Times New Roman" lettering and a generic look.  Although I still can't post pictures up, I was able to add some of my own creativity to the pages and (of course) apply information to other things than these projects.  As I learn more an more, I was able to put it all together and make bigger and better things.  I learned to expand my ideas and gain much more confidence with the internet.  

So, by acquiring the content and vocabulary of the computer and being able to show my creativity and new material, I managed to become a self-directed autonomous learners.

The last phase, is a big accomplishment.  After multiple posting on webct and posting web pages, I got real comfortable with it all.  It's nice to share my problems that I've  encountered while doing them.  By posting up some problems we had and giving future advice to people reading our report, it can really benefit future generations.  They can get an idea of how the reports are supposed to be and how they could improve them.  I can also take this experience with computer/internet with me and use it to my benefit later in life.  And, of course, picking up new information as I go along and adding it to what I already know.

By acting as a generational participant and continuing to a be a lifelong learner, I have accomplished the last phase of the learning the internet, exercising leadership and inventiveness.

3)  I never heard the term information literacy until I came to this class.  By the sound of it, it sounds like it means knowing the right information.  Come to find out, there's more to it.  The term "information literacy" can have many different definitions, depending on the content and who's giving it.  The term that I think gives a good example of what it's all about can be found at www.ed.gov/pubs/UnderLit/info-literacy.html.

According to the article, "information literacy", also called information competency, involves a corporation of things.  It's basically the ability to know how and where to retrieve information, know if the information is accurate to what you're looking for and be able to use it, and to know how to collate the information.  The information can come from a variety of different sources.

Information literacy also requires knowing how the information system works and how to define a particular subject or area of interest.

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