Personal Empowerment in the Study
of Home Internet Use by Low-Income Families

Melinda Bier, Michael Gallo, Eddy Nucklos,
Stephen Sherblom, & Michael Pennick

107

Technology, Multimedia, and Qualitative Research in Education

Trudy Campbell.

122

Teachers' Perspectives on Factors that Affect Computer Use

Robin T. Chiero

133

Using E-Mail Within a Classroom Based on Feminist Pedagogy

Alice Atkinson Christie

146

Design Considerations for Computer Conferences

Lauren Cifuentes, Karen L. Murphy, Rhoda Segur, & Sailaja Kodall

177

Word Processors and Children's Writing
in a High-Computer-Access Setting

Ronald D. Owston & Herbert H. Wideman

202

Abstract
This article describes the personal transformations experienced by participants during a study of home Internet use by low-income families. The study was designed to collect data related to the barriers, benefits, and perceived worth of the Internet to low-income families. Specifically, it asked what families designated as informationally disadvantaged would actually do online given unrestricted home Internet access. This research project provided the prerequisite resources necessary for "ideal" home Internet use to six low-income urban families. The experiences of these participants between December 1994 and January 1996 provide research-based evidence affirming the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (1995) thesis that many of those "most disadvantaged in terms of absolute computer and modem penetration are the most enthusiastic users of online services that facilitate economic uplift and empowerment" (p. 3). The ethnographically informed results of this study indicate that home Internet access enabled the research participants to experience powerful emotional and psychological transformations. In this article we share segments of participants' personal transformations of identity, education, and community, transformations contributing to what has popularly becme known as empowerment.

Abstract
The role of technology and multimedia in enhancing research is illustrated through the use of examples from more qualitative approaches to inquiry. The author makes reference to key characteristics of qualitative techniques and emphasizes implications for data collection, data analysis, and the presentation of findings. Articles appearing in the online issue of JRCE and reprinted in 29(4), 30(1), and 30(2), serve as illustrations of both the characteristics of qualitative research and examples of the impact of technology and multimedia on the research process.

Abstract
This article reports results of a study that focused on computers and teachers' work. K-12 teachers were surveyed about their current computer use for noninstructional activities and about their perspectives on facilitating and impeding factors. The highest percentage of subjects used computers for preparing instructional materials (94.4%); the second most popular use was looking for information in a particular subject area (58.3%). Multiple linear regressions analyzed the collective predictiveness of organizational factors (time, training, technology-related support, access to computers, and collaboration) and individual characteristics (gender, age, experience, self-perception of computer expertise, and source of computer learning) on frequency of use for each activity. Of 14 tasks, 11 had at least one significant predictor, and 7 of these had more than one predictor.

Abstract
This article highlights parts of a descriptive study of elementary school children using technology and an array of telecommunications tools. The study analyzed naturalistic data to answer the question, "How does gender interface with computers and telecommunications?" Data for the overall study included field notes based on six months of participation and observation, 750 pages of e-mail messages, daily logs, newsletters, text and graphic documents generated by the children, and transcripts of interviews. This article depends on three data sources: e-mail messages, daily logs, and interviews. A feminist perspective informed the analysis. Analysis seemed to warrant three claims: both girls and boys used technology to confirm gender stereotypes, both girls and boys used technology to defy gender stereotypes, and gender biases in classroom interactions are more invisible and more difficult to eliminate than expected. A feminist perspective is essential in this struggle, but insufficient for eliminating the culturally embedded, long-standing gender biases pervading our schools and lives.

Abstract
This article describes a formative evaluation of computer conferences for preservice teachers during 5 semesters of implementation on a campuswide system. The successes and problems encountered by students in 24 sections of an upper-level undergraduate course on technology use in the classroom were evaluated by the 4-person research team. We used qualitative participant and observer research methods to understand why and how students participated in the computer conferences. Six design considerations emerged as we addressed challenges: (a) grading system, (b) grouping, (c) collaboration, (d) relevance, (e) learner control, and (f) technological preparation. During our study we made changes associated with all 6 design considerations. Finally, we examined students' conference messages and their postcourse surveys from the first and the last semesters as we continued to evaluate the impact of the design considerations on the conferences.

Abstract
Student writing products and processes were studied during a three-year period, beginning in Grade 3, at a school where students had routine daily access to word processors, and at a nearby comparison school that had only a few, infrequently used computers in its classrooms. A repeated measures MANOVA revealed that writing quality improved significantly (p < .00005) at the high-computer-access school, as determined by holistic measures of writing message (meaning and content quality) and medium (quality of the form and surface features). In-class observations support the contention that the use of word processors strongly contributed to the observed differences between sites. The attributes of the word processor that appeared to explain the observed differences were a combination of the unique ways text is edited, displayed, and manipulated with the computer.