Computer ACE

This project has been developed as an important extension of ACE Reading, a proven literacy improvement program. ACE Reading was designed to give students frequent reading practice with community tutors, emphasizing high levels of success and boosting self-efficacy. Part of the strategy, through technology and other means, is to help students achieve images of future successes that have not yet occurred. The combination of community resources and video technology is very effective in teaching literacy related skills. 

The purpose of Computer ACE is to develop and evaluate a multimedia-based package to improve literacy related skills for young students. It is modeled on the strategies of the original ACE Reading — now used in many locations.

Computer ACE Reading is designed as a potential in-class supplement, although it is being used in various other ways, too. It employs computers and educational assistants or community partners trained to tutor several students at once. Typically, 4-10 students (those in the class having most difficulty with reading) will spend half an hour doing Computer ACE, while the teacher attends to the rest of the class in a separate lesson on the other side of the room. The students work at the computer, usually in pairs, beginning with off-the-shelf interactive software. However, students can click away at a mouse all day and not learn a thing . . . So the tutors are trained to guide the interaction explicitly to achieve the best learning experience. After the routine is established, they add a feedforward slideshow using Hyperstudio or KidPix authoring systems. In this slideshow, the students see themselves and hear themselves succeeding with challenging words. Community adults and high school students are taught to supervise and manage the sessions.

In the first 2 years, we developed the system in two schools in Kalihi (Hawaii), with pilot programs in Pohnpei (Micronesia), Kentucky, and Philadelphia. We developed step-by-step procedures for tutors to guide students through 40 computer-based lessons — which students enjoy as games — with good results. Now we are doing extensive evaluations in Kalihi, Pohnpei, and Bardstown Kentucky. Our non-profit partner, Creating Futures Inc, is collaborating with the development of MemCards (original interactive software for learning sight word vocabulary and beginning sounds).

Computer ACE is also used in afterschool programs and community technology centers, with good use of high school students and family members, trained as tutors and supervisors.

Principal Investigator: Peter Dowrick