Much of what is described as online reading skills is
- website evaluation
- computer interface manipulation
I watch horrible searching all the time in the library. Of course, I teach keyword searching and website credibility, but students really don't have the skills to quickly sort through the material they will not use. They get frustrated and use Wikipedia or whatever their neighbor is using.
I found the TICA checklist for Online Reading Comprehension Skills at the bottom of Leu's article to be thorough and fascinating. I do many of those things without having been formally taught. I hate wasting time, so I use a mental checklist of what to look for in a useful website. It is great to see it codified. I was able pick out the skills my students specifically need to quickly eliminate the garbage from the gold. This will, hopefully, mean less frustration and better quality work.
That being said, I never did master Boolean searching. It seems to work differently in different search engines, so I use Advanced Search options. I am not a master at finding my history. I stumble across it occasionally, but I most often search again and look for the highlighted site. I will have to explore the "Did you mean...?" function in Google, though it sounds self-explanatory.
Last week, I learned about the Research function in Google Docs (look in tools, above word count) that willl cite for you. You can also drag and drop images, choosing whether or not to use public. This feature copies the URL for the image into your document so you can paste it into Easybib. In case you didn't know, you can get an Easybib add-in for your Google Docs.
The videos sounded inspiring, but don't really address the "average" student that I come across.
References
Leu, Coiro, et. al., Research on Instruction and Assessment in the New Literacies of Online Reading Comprehension, 2008.
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