Academic Writing and Information

Literacy Instruction in Digital

Environments: A Complementary
Approach Tamilla Mammadova
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 Academic Writing and
Information Literacy
Instruction in Digital
Environments
A Complementary Approach
Tamilla Mammadova
Academic Writing and Information Literacy
Instruction in Digital Environments
 Tamilla Mammadova

Academic Writing
and Information
Literacy Instruction
in Digital
Environments
A Complementary Approach
Tamilla Mammadova
ADA University
Baku, Azerbaijan

ISBN 978-3-031-19159-6    ISBN 978-3-031-19160-2 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19160-2

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 Preface

Within the last few decades, the educational system in most countries
around the globe underwent considerable changes such as the process of
reformation and development. These changes mainly depend on two key
processes—globalization and technological advancement. In turn, glo-
balization has resulted in change in student population from monocul-
tural to multicultural classes; the appearance of Generation 1.5—that is,
students who have had the majority of their education in English but for
whom English is not their native language; and, of course, the explora-
tion of Web Generation 2.0—technological advancement that generated
the digitalization of education globally. All these processes have consider-
ably affected the teaching of Academic Writing and Information Literacy
(AW & IL) which presently has totally new implications. One implica-
tion that remains unchanged is the challenge of having the students’
attention on your subject for the whole semester, and this is central to the
current volume, either in a real or virtual dimension. Overall, the teach-
ing of academic writing itself needs to deal critically with the norms and
expectations of particular discourse communities, to raise issues of social,
economic, and political concern, yet provide students with the tools
they need.
There are hundreds of publications on AW & IL, yet, the rapid devel-
opment of the discipline says that this is never enough. While the existing
literature in academic writing normally focuses on organizational
v
vi Preface

structures, that is, the way to write certain types of papers, focusing on
main ideas, grammar, and vocabulary selection; writing drafts; proofread-
ing; editing; and many others, the current book provides some theoretical
and practical recommendations on how to teach academic writing to stu-
dents, native or non-native speakers of English, whose language level is
higher than B2 (c.f. CEFR 2001). In turn, while a good level of language
proficiency is necessary, it is not, however, sufficient for students to suc-
ceed in academic settings. Moreover, the current volume is probably the
first attempt to demonstrate the indivisibility of academic writing and
information literacy, including digital literacy, under a single shelter.
Finally, the book does not impose any ready-made methodology but
rather suggests various components used in the teaching of AW & IL to
be picked up by the instructors to design their own unique methodology
applicable to the particular classroom. Just like in a supermarket, you
choose those products that would favorably mix in your pot to make a
tasty dinner. Enjoy!

Baku, Azerbaijan Tamilla Mammadova

 Contents

1 I ntroduction  1
Academic Writing and Information Literacy Today    1
From EFL, CALL, and DL to AW & IL    5
Writing Teachers and Teaching Writing   7
What We Expect, and What We Are Expected To?   10
References  13

2 A
 cknowledged Digital Era 17
Technology-Integrated Education  17
What Do We Know About Digital Environments?   19
Digital Citizenship  22
Academic Writing and Technology  23
Multimodality  24
Digital Approach to Teaching   25
Digital Classes and Learning Management Systems   26
Online Bichronous Classes   27
Hybrid Class  27
Blended Class  28
Flipped Class  28
HyFlex Class  29
Digital Tools  30
Mobile Technologies  30
vii
viii Contents

Apps  31
Websites  32
Search Engines  33
Social Media  33
Cloud Services  34
References  36

3 Writing
 Is a Challenge 41
Common Writing Problems  41
Motivation or Its Absence   43
Lack of Interest   46
Distractions  47
Ineffective Concentration  48
Stress and Its Management   49
Writer’s Block  51
Lack of Confidence   54
Lack of Ideas   55
Deadlines  56
Procrastination  58
Time Management  60
References  63

4 Pedagogy
 of Writing and Digital Writing 67
Students’ Needs  68
Students’ Attitudes to Writing   69
Students’ Engagement  71
Goal-Setting  73
Students’ Learning Experiences   74
The Way to Start Teaching AW & IL   76
Right Content and its Value   78
Syllabus Design  80
Developing Habits of Mind   83
Critical Reading  84
Critical Writing  86
Critical Thinking  86
Critical Analysis  88
 Contents ix

Writing Across Curriculum—WAC   90

Digitalization of Writing  93
Multimodal Reading and Writing   94
Creative Writing  96
Digital Storytelling  97
References 101

5 Information
 Literacy and Digital Literacy107
Information Versus Knowledge  108
Methods to Acquire Knowledge  108
Information Literacy  110
Digital Literacy  112
Digitally Literate Students  113
Digital Natives  114
Digital Immigrants  115
Digital Citizens  115
Digital Literacy Toolkit  116
Web Search Engines  116
Open Educational Resources—OER  117
Library Databases  118
Reference Generators  119
Export Citations  120
Sources: Reliable Versus Unreliable  120
Source Evaluation  122
Information Assimilation Techniques  124
Note Taking  124
Paramedic Method  125
Quotation 126
Paraphrasing 126
Summarizing 126
Academic Misconduct  127
Plagiarism 127
Prototypical Plagiarism  128
Patchwriting 129
Ghost Writers  130
x Contents

Ways to Prevent Academic Misconduct  131

Plagiarism Detectors  131
Respondus LockDown  133
Generally Accepted Techniques to Prevent Plagiarism  134
References 139

6 F
 acilitating Collaboration143
Collaborative Learning and Student Communication Tools  143
Communication Tools  145
Collaborative Assignments  146
Collaborative Reading  146
Collaborative Writing  147
Group Projects  150
Collaborative Presentations  151
Peer Support and Its Challenges  153
Peer-Feedback 153
Peer-Review 155
Peer-Assessment 158
Misunderstandings Among the Team Members and Their
Solutions 160
Student Complaints and Peer Pressure  160
Group Formation Peculiarities  161
Group Types  161
Division into Groups  162
Setting Ground Rules for Effective Group Collaboration  163
Conflict Resolution Documents  164
Assessing Student Collaboration  165
References 168

7 G
 rading and Feedback173
Grading and Its Essence  173
Constructive Feedback  176
Technology-Mediated Feedback  180
Graded Versus Ungraded Assignments  181
Rubrics for Graded Assignments  183
Grade Distribution  184
 Contents xi

Grade-Oriented Concerns in AW Classes  186

In-Class Participation  187
Class Attendance  188
Quizzes 191
Exams 192
Presentations 195
Portfolios 198
References 200

8 Student
 Academic Support Services203
Extracurricular Meetings  203
Office Hours  203
Public Space  205
Online Meetings  205
Obligatory Consultations  206
Writing Centers  207
Modernist and Postmodernist Writing Centers  211
Multiliteracy Centers  211
Online Consulting Services  213
Library Session  213
IT Literacy Session  216
References 220

I ndex223
 About the Author

Tamilla Mammadova is an assistant professor at ADA University,

Azerbaijan. She holds a PhD from the University of Santiago de
Compostela, Spain, where she is a member of the SPERTUS research
group. She completed her post-doctoral research at the University of
Fribourg, Switzerland.

xiii
 Abbreviations

ACRL Association of College and Research Libraries

APA American Psychological Association
AW & IL Academic Writing and Information Literacy
BB Blackboard
BYOD Buy Your Own Device
c.f. compare
CALL Computer-Assisted Language Learning
CARS Creating a Research Space
CD Compact Disc
CEFR the Common European Framework of References for
Languages
CL Collaborative Learning
CMS Classroom Management Software
COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease
CRAAP Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy and Purpose
CSR Collaborative Strategic Reading
DL Digital Literacy
DOI Digital Object Identifier
DP Design Principles
DVD Digital Video Disc
e.g. for example
EFL English Foreign Language
et al. et alia, and others

xv
xvi Abbreviations

etc. et cetera, the rest

FAQ Frequently Asked Questions
FL Fall
GPA Grade Point Average
HyFlex Hybrid and Flexible
i.e. id est, that is
ICALL Intelligent Computer-Assisted Language Learning
ICT Information and Communication Technology
ISBN International Standard Book Number
ISSN International Standard Serial Number
IT Information Technology
L1 First Language
LMS Learning Management System
LSE London School of Economics
MLA Modern Languages Association
MOOC Massive Open Online Course
OER Open Educational Resources
PAL Peer-Assisted Learning
PDF Portable Document Format
PhD Doctor of Philosophy
PPT Power Point File
Q&A Question and Answer
RADAR Rationale, Authority, Date, Accuracy and Relevance
SASS Student Academic Support Services
SP Spring
TA Teacher Assistant
TELL Technology-Integrated Language Learning
TPACK Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge
UNIESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization
VCS Video Conferencing Software
vs. versus, opposed to
WAC Writing Across Curriculum
WID Writing in the Discipline
Wi-Fi Wireless Fidelity
WWW World Wide Web
 List of Tables

Table 6.1 Peer-evaluation and peer-assessment rubrics 157

Table 6.2 Rubrics to assess student’s collaboration 166
Table 7.1 Rubrics to evaluate student’s participation 189
Table 7.2 Items to evaluate student’s oral presentation 197

xvii
 1
Introduction

This introduction explores what is meant by teaching AW & IL today.

The chapter elucidates the present-day necessity to teach academic writ-
ing and information literacy to university students emphasizing the goals
and objectives of this discipline. Having juxtaposed traditional teaching
of AW & IL to a digitalized one, it offers new insights into the teaching
of AW & IL in an era of digitalization, where technology plays a key role.
As a result, it is quite obvious that with the rapid changes in general edu-
cational domain, the approach to the teaching of academic writing and
information literacy will not remain as previous, and both teachers’ and
students’ expectations from the class will vary to a great extent. Thus, the
introduction will try to define those expectations, as well as examine the
most appropriate digital tools that will be used throughout this book.

 cademic Writing and Information

A
Literacy Today
Within the last few decades, we have been witnessing rapid developments
in all fields of our lives. As a result, there is an acute need for highly quali-
fied specialists able to manage those fields the way that life goes better,

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 1

T. Mammadova, Academic Writing and Information Literacy Instruction in Digital
Environments, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19160-2_1
2 T. Mammadova

not worse. As a key engine for bringing up a new expert generation, the
educational system focuses on fostering core and soft skills, the latter
competencies being applicable to all professions. One of the competen-
cies that are currently of crucial importance is academic writing (Sparks
et al., 2014). This competence is especially important for any future pro-
fessional who will be required to communicate theoretical and technical
concepts in a clear, credible, and effective manner (Ramon-Casas et al.,
2019). Drawing on work by applied linguists such as Halliday (1985)
and Swales (1990), we understand that communication in a university
context cannot be understood merely as grammatical proficiency or
generic written and spoken competence in English (Harper & Orr Vered,
2017: 691). This goes far beyond and includes such competencies as criti-
cal thinking, problem-solving, time management, teamwork, digital lit-
eracy, and many others. Although many students are in the early stages of
developing these competencies, it is important to guide them from the
very beginning.
Today, academic writing represents a key focus of instruction in a vari-
ety of disciplines. Papers, lab reports, abstracts, written presentations,
emails, and web content rely heavily on writing discourse. Yet the mean-
ing and methods of teaching writing, even within composition studies are
hardly settled (Friedrich, 2008: 147). It should be mentioned that teach-
ing writing (composition) traces back to ancient times in the form of
rhetoric, yet institutionalization of the first-year composition starts in the
late nineteenth century (Friedrich, 2008: 3). Russell (1991, as cited in
Harper & Orr Vered, 2017: 691) explains that in the US academic writ-
ing first emerged in the late nineteenth century after the formation of
discrete academic disciplines and in the midst of a push for mass educa-
tion spurred by industrialization and urbanization. Writing instruction
was first deemed necessary to teach the emerging discourses attached to
those new disciplines. As new professionals and academics communi-
cated with one another primarily through writing and began to write for
specialized communities rather than general audiences, writing “was no
longer a single, generalizable skill learned once and for all at an early age;
rather it was a complex and continuously developing response to special-
ized text-based discourse communities.” The teaching of academic writing
in its relatively global sense starts in some of the developed countries after
 1 Introduction 3

the Second World War when the influx of returned soldiers to universi-
ties brought new diversification and writing instruction again became a
priority (c.f. Russell, 1991: 239). Another reason for the Second World
War to be the catalyst for academic writing teaching was the lack of com-
munication, both within and between nations (Friedrich, 2008: 7). Since
writing has been seen as a daunting task, researchers and practitioners
have long looked for appealing and practical ways to improve students’
writing skills. Consequently, over the decades, approaches to teaching
writing have gone through a myriad of changes. The literature on aca-
demic writing suggests such approaches as the behaviorist approach, con-
trastive rhetoric approach, the product-orientated approach, the
process-­orientated approach, and so on (c.f. Azim, 2018: 17). In most
non-English speaking countries, academic writing appeared as one of the
EFL skills with a particular focus on students’ written language produc-
tion (c.f. Hyland, 1993; Hyland, 2016). However, presently, as most edu-
cational institutions offer courses in English, academic writing has
acquired a different connotation. The current state of academic writing
was established a couple of decades ago. Formal writing instruction has
traditionally occurred in a particular kind of course, designed to improve
the general writing skills of an increasingly diverse undergraduate popu-
lation. Teaching writing became a profession in itself, distinct from the
teaching of other disciplines (Gottschalk & Hjortshoj, 2004: 5). With
this in mind, we may assert that presently academic writing is a stand-­
alone discipline with its own program and teaching methodology.
Writing does not appear as an isolated action, that is, one may agree
that there is no output without input. As Paltridge et al. (2009: 18) put
it, just as with any kind of writing, the writer carries out a variety of inter-
nal, cognitive processes to produce the text. Moreover, academic writing
does not occur in a vacuum. Rather, it is influenced by factors that lie
outside the writer, some of which serve as direct input to produce a text.
The final product of a writer is an output in the form of a text. Allison
(2008: 76) emphasizes a tight connection between reading and writing.
Research shows that writing and reading are not restricted to the compo-
sition classroom but occur in a purposeful relationship across the curricu-
lum. In most college courses, literacy tasks range from note-taking a
single day’s lecture to visually reviewing a semester’s collection of lecture
4 T. Mammadova

and text notes to writing responses in final exams and writing papers
based on using researchable sources. Gottschalk and Hjortshoj (2004:
123) contend that writing and reading are closely related in higher educa-
tion, in part because so much academic writing is based on publications
in a field of study. Academic books and articles invariably contain refer-
ences to other books and articles on the subject. The significance of what
we have to say as writers emerges in relation to other work we have read,
in complex frames of reference. Writing and reading are also linked with
presentations and discussions at academic conferences and with informal
exchanges of many kinds through which scholars define their positions in
relation to other scholars in their disciplines. To this end, present-day
academic writing goes hand-in-hand with information literacy (AW &
IL), setting up a relatively young discipline in Applied Linguistics.
Knowledge is important for writing. While writing, in general, can
potentially have various purposes, academic writing seeks to document
and communicate knowledge in a written form. Knowledge can be gen-
erated through various means such as experiences, intuition, tradition,
and science (c.f. Monippally & Pawar, 2010: 4). That is why it is extremely
important to expand knowledge and develop a wide variety of soft skills
within the AW & IL program. Additionally, an academic literacies
approach sees learning to write in academic settings as learning to acquire
a repertoire of linguistic practices that are based on complex sets of dis-
courses, identities, and values (Lea & Street, 1998). To this end, instruc-
tion is more than just a language-related issue. It teaches the student to
effectively produce a piece of writing using the knowledge of the culture,
circumstances, purposes, and motives that prevail in particular academic
settings (Paltridge, 2009: 6).
Finally, the development of new technology, such as computers and
word processing, has attempted how students write and new academic
writing is taught (Paltridge, 2009: 79). Electronic networking, the
Internet, the World Wide Web, computer-based tools like e-mail
exchanges, synchronous/asynchronous software platforms, blogging
tools, and so on became an important source for student writers.
Additionally, electronic feedback that involves automated responses gen-
erated in relation to writing has somewhat substituted human feedback.
Peer feedback is fulfilled through an electronic medium that permits to
 1 Introduction 5

exchange multiple drafts and make contributions to online discussions

(Paltridge, 2009: 136). In other words, the extended reach and rapid
expansion of digital networks across conventional cultural, linguistic, and
geopolitical borders, for example, has encouraged many teachers to
expand their understanding of composition to engage students in explor-
ing multiple modalities of communicating meaning, using not only
alphabetic writing as a semiotic channel but also experimenting with
moving still images, sound and animation, and combinations of these
(Friedrich, 2008). Zheng et al. (2020) suggest four common online strat-
egies to build an AW & IL course: learning contracts, forums, self-­
directed learning, and team learning. This list is far from exhaustive;
many of the strategies used in online teaching and learning have been
adapted from use in the face-to-face classroom. The authors emphasize
that when preparing to teach online, we should consider the instructional
strategies we employ in our face-to-face teaching and how they may, or
may not, translate into the online environment. In turn, Paltridge et al.
(c.f. 2009: 157) recommend a list of academic websites to get online writ-
ing support. Hence, these and many other tips for traditional and digi-
talized AW & IL instruction will be widely discussed all along the
current volume.

From EFL, CALL, and DL to AW & IL

AW & IL has gone through a long way until it reached its current status
as a stand-alone discipline. Yet, a study conducted among numerous uni-
versities (2021) around the globe demonstrates that there are still many
educational institutions where AW remains a part of an EFL program.
This book is a good opportunity for the stakeholders to see that AW & IL
is and should be a stand-alone discipline within the social sciences
domain. Additionally, with the integration of the most recent technologi-
cal tools in the teaching of AW & IL, this current discipline turns into an
asset for any educational institution able to foster the core and soft skills
among the students.
Scholars may have long debates about the history of technological inte-
gration into education. That is natural because each country due to its
6 T. Mammadova

level of social, political, financial, cultural, and technological development

can date different periods. Having referred to global literature, and based
on my personal observations within the last two-three decades, I will pres-
ent a rough timeline with respect to the integration of technology into
education. A large body of literature suggests that the first integration of
technology in education took place in the USA back in the 1980s or even
earlier in 1960s. Yet, we all know that a considerable expansion of technol-
ogy in education starts in the 1990s–2000s, particularly in the countries
of Europe, some Eastern countries, and Asia. I will conventionally focus
on the last three decades anchoring my views and visions to such revolu-
tionary steps in education as the engagement of most of the countries in
the Bologna Process, the expansion of English as a lingua franca not just
among the citizens but the university students as such, and standardiza-
tion of English language ability levels known as CEFR (2001).
Within several decades, academic writing was witnessed as a part of
general English language teaching in non-native English-speaking envi-
ronments, and a part of a mother-tongue course for native speakers of
English. Foreign language teachers at every level struggled to fit writing
into an already-full curriculum and needed the most effective methods
and tools with which to teach. While writing in one’s first language can
be complex enough for some, second-language learners are further chal-
lenged because of their incomplete command of grammar and vocabu-
lary with which to express their thoughts and ideas (Oxford, 2006). Due
to this, the digitalization of academic writing was observed within the
EFL when the teachers of English were first introduced to the CALL
(computer-assisted language learning). With the incorporation of CALL
(Hubbard, 2009; Otto & Pusack, 2009; Hsu, 2013) in EFL, the tradi-
tional sense of the computer replaced some paper-based materials and
offered a wide variety of software tools. A typical example is presented by
Otto and Pusack (2009: 785) when a teacher immediately developed a
new communicative writing activity asking students to get on the web to
find an image of a French town square, festival, or traditional dish, and
import it into the postcard tool, compose a 75-word message about an
imagined experience (perhaps using some prescribed vocabulary and syn-
tax), and check and revise the grammar and syntax (based on advice from
the software).
 1 Introduction 7

Today, teachers are seen as pivotal players in utilizing the potential of

technology to improve materials and activities for the needs of their stu-
dents and engage their students in more meaningful learning (Aşık et al.,
2020: 708). Digitalization, which is extensively discussed in Chap. 2 of
the current volume, has urged many instructors to reconsider their
approaches to the teaching of language, mainly to the four skills (reading,
writing, speaking, and listening). Academic writing in marriage with the
Information Literacy and Digital Literacy was gradually shaping its own
image as a separate discipline yet going hand-in-hand with other univer-
sity disciplines for native and non-native speakers of English. Thus, the
current volume advocates for the unprecedented role of AW & IL as an
individual course at universities around the globe.

Writing Teachers and Teaching Writing

They say, wiring is frustrating, complicated, and un-fun (Silvia, 2007: 4).
Maybe! But only for those, who do not know how to make it interesting,
captivating, and even easy. Writing has long been considered as a main
tool for the development of cognition and metacognition (Buoncristiani
& Buoncristiani, 2012). And, while some consider it as a skill, not an
innate gift or a special talent (Silvia, 2007: 6), others believe that writing
is just about experience you shape by time (Rogers, 2002). Like any
advanced skill, writing must be developed through systematic instruction
and practice (Silvia, 2007: 6). Writers are inevitably shaped by their pre-
vious experiences with literacy, education, and schooling, bringing com-
plex and contested histories of participation to any new writing task
(Kibler, 2013: 47). Danberg (2015) compares writing with cooking,
emphasizing that the ingredients don’t present themselves like the ingre-
dients in a cupboard. Similarly, learning writing is compared to practic-
ing an instrument, but your problem doesn’t always present itself like a
score. In other words, whatever writing is, it occupies an important place
in academic life, developing the most crucial study skills. While univer-
sity writing is not a simple or a straightforward one and demands a range
of interconnected capacities that learners master (Moore et al., 2010),
academic writing helps to acquire most of the necessary skills and
8 T. Mammadova

capacities that later on help students to fulfil any type of writing. Academic
writing is a complicated task that involves a wide range of different kinds
of skills, and if you are going to do it properly, it means that you have to
know clearly what is required of you and how to deliver it (Moore et al.,
2010). In turn, writing essays, reports, literature reviews, and other
assignments can be much more interesting and satisfying than one might
first expect, yet, many things depend on the instructor.
While teaching is challenging, teaching writing is double challenging.
The necessity to bring the course content, the AW & IL program, and
primarily, the technological advancement together are principal chal-
lenges that writing instructors would face. Teaching writing is labor-­
intensive (Gottschalk & Hjortshoj, 2004); writing instruction requires
attention to individual students, interaction among students and teach-
ers, and extensive practice. If students are continually writing and revis-
ing papers, teachers must read, respond to, and evaluate this work, often
multiple drafts, and keep track of each student’s progress. Classes devoted
to writing instruction are typically small but sometimes larger than their
teachers would prefer. An ideal enrollment for a writing class would sug-
gest about 15 students (Gottschalk & Hjortshoj, 2004: 147), yet the
reality does not respond to this ideal and reaches up to 20 or 22 students.
As teaching writing is one of the major concerns of academics and
scholars, many of them have different visions of the writing teachers’ role.
The teacher in the classroom is neither the source nor the viaduct for all
information. Alternatively, [writing] teacher is the facilitator, creating an
environment within which students can engage with knowledge at a
complex level, manipulating it, transferring it, and structuring a concep-
tual framework within which new information can be integrated
(Buoncristiani & Buoncristiani, 2012: 5). It is believed that good teach-
ers are able to provide effective classes. There is actually no definition of a
good teacher, but in general good teachers are defined as knowledgeable
about their subject, interested in it, collaborative members of staff, well
organized, adaptable to new school policies and new technology, and
have a sound understanding of students’ needs (Herring, 2011: 7).
As earlier mentioned, it has been a while since AW & IL has occupied
a position of a stand-alone discipline globally. Historically, people who
taught freshman composition were formally trained in literary studies,
 1 Introduction 9

not in writing instruction per se. This is why early composition courses
were essentially literate classes, or writing classes within the field of
English (Gottschalk & Hjortshoj, 2004: 5). Presently, writing instructors
fall into two main categories: a) second-language teachers who have not
had any particular training in this area; b) teachers trained to teach writ-
ing to students who speak English as a native speaker and are uncertain
of the needs of second-language students in their classes (Paltridge, 2009).
Practice shows that since writing directly deals with the language, compe-
tent AW & IL instructors are those who come from a Linguistic back-
ground with a firm framework of own writing experience.
Going back to competent writing instruction, Killen (2007: 13) iden-
tifies several steps that effective teachers take to focus their teaching on
student learning, and states that the first step is to describe what it is you
want your students to understand. Moreover, many teachers prioritize
students’ success, both current and future. Certainly, the most important
contribution a professor can make toward promoting student success is
to create the type of active, rich learning environment (Buller & Cipriano,
2015: 24). It should also be mentioned that today, along with the changes
in how information is produced and how people access it and put it to
use, teaching practice, and mainly, teaching writing has changed to a
great extent. The main target of the writing instructors today is to show
the students what they need to do, rather than what they need to do well
(Danberg, 2015). For this, teachers should create an image of expertise
and help students to answer the following questions: What kind of situa-
tions do they find themselves in? How do they behave when they encoun-
ter some particular situations? What kind of problems will they have to
solve? When they need to learn something new, what do they do?
(Danberg, 2015).
Writing processes are not linear. Successful writers use different pro-
cesses that vary over time and depend on the particular task. For example,
a writer may research a topic before drafting, then after receiving feed-
back conduct additional research as part of revising. Writers learn to
move back and forth through different stages of writing, adapting those
stages to the situation. This ability to employ flexible writing processes is
important as students encounter different types of writing tasks that
require them to work through the various stages independently to
10 T. Mammadova

produce final, polished texts. Hence, according to the council of writing

program administrators (2011: 8), teachers can help writers develop flex-
ible processes by having students:

–– practice all aspects of writing processes including invention, research,

drafting, sharing with others, revising in response to reviews, and
editing;
–– generate ideas and texts using a variety of processes and situate those
ideas within different academic disciplines and contexts;
–– incorporate evidence and ideas from written, visual, graphic, verbal,
and other kinds of texts;
–– use feedback to revise texts to make them appropriate for the academic
discipline or context for which the writing is intended;
–– work with others in various stages of writing; and
–– reflect on how different writing tasks and elements of the writing pro-
cess contribute to their development as a writer.

Unfortunately, not all teachers are capable of foreseeing these changes

and fostering the above-mentioned skills, which seriously impedes suc-
cessful course teaching. On the other hand, most teachers teach the way
they were taught to teach. Moreover, some believe that creating active
learning experiences is extremely time-intensive, and cannot be imple-
mented due to the number of days consumed by the need to keep up
with research, serve on endless committees, and so on (Buller & Cipriano,
2015: 2). In the light of this, I believe that the current book accompanied
by a series of workshops will be a good tool to level up the teaching of
AW & IL among the instructors globally.

 hat We Expect, and What We Are

W
Expected To?
Enjoying our teaching will not only benefit our students but may actually
combat the negative effects (see Chap. 3) of the current academic climate
(Berg & Seeber, 2016: 40). But, as I always mention, the academic
 1 Introduction 11

climate is mostly created by us—stakeholders. While university authori-

ties create a positive climate for its staff, teachers/instructors are those
who create a positive climate in their classes. And this positive climate
should be established from the first day.

“A good beginning makes a good ending”—they say.

The first class is the most important in establishing a positive atmo-

sphere for the students. If we turn to our syllabi, many of us will find:
“Intro class & syllabus discussion” in the first lines of the semester agenda.
Students should know what to expect and what they are expected to do
from the very first class. Your introduction lesson is a basement for a
bridge to be constructed between you and your students. Students always
want to know who you are, your background, and whether you are “eli-
gible” enough to be their teacher. They may not ask you these questions,
but they do want to know it, and the way you relate your educational
background to what you teach them will constitute their degree of trust
in you. Don’t stay indifferent: let them talk from the first class. After you
ask their names and reveal their major, question them on what they
expect from your class and what they need to acquire at the end of the
term. This will make it possible to understand your learners’ interests and
needs, as well as make them believe that their opinions matter to you.
Some 8–10 minutes of syllabus discussion is important. Do not expect
your students to read it carefully before they come to class. Even if they
do, your clarification would remain crucial. Make sure that the students
understand the grading criteria and their class-related responsibilities,
because this is what later may cause misunderstanding and even some
arguments between you and your student (see Chap. 4). Students should
clearly understand the role of technology (see Chap. 2) for the AW & IL
class since some of the students may need help from the student academic
support services (see Chap. 8). Additionally, they should be aware of the
necessity to distinguish information literacy from digital literacy (see
Chap. 5), though today, both are integral parts of academic writing. The
acknowledgment of group work is equally important. The supporters of
the individualistic approach should understand that teamwork is a key
soft skill a new generation should possess (see Chap. 6).
12 T. Mammadova

Despite some common issues reflected in the syllabus, each of us

constructs it differently due to the university requirements or some other
factors. Yet, we will all probably share such important rubrics as course
descriptions, learning objectives, grading policy, and assignments. Describe
the course and explain the learning objectives. Students should under-
stand what they are here for, and what sort of knowledge and skills they
are going to possess at the end of the course. Rose (2007: 4) believes that
understanding the course flow as well as its objectives will help students
feel in control of the situation and concentrate on the important areas of
the course. It is also appropriate to consider carefully each writing assign-
ment and how it fits into the instructional plan for the course (White,
2007: 10). Make sure the assignments you select for this particular class
correspond to students’ needs. AW & IL is a wide discipline and we can
approach it from many different angles offering a huge variety of (written)
assignments. The assignments you include in the syllabus should be either
specific or general, both being dependent on the specificity of your class
and students’ general needs. It is true that all of us want students who are
enthusiastic about the material and appreciative of our efforts to make it
clear. At the same time, all students want teachers who are enthusiastic
about the material and appreciate their efforts to comprehend it (Berg &
Seeber, 2016: 33). To achieve this, first, we need to carefully consider the
materials and include all tiny items that may become a source of debate in
the future. Berg and Seeber (2016), for instance, find it important to
include “classroom etiquette” into the syllabus while I believe that grading
policy should be carefully described in the syllabus and uttered in the class
(see Chap. 7). In one word, tell your students what you expect from them
and try to understand what they expect from you.
Above all, today as we all deal with a number of international students
of various backgrounds coming from different environments, a positive
atmosphere of adaptation should be created for them. It is quite natural
that every country as well as every university has its rules and regulation
to be followed. In this respect, campus and local communities need to
provide a welcoming environment to support student integration and a
positive quality of life (Arthur & Popadiuk, 2015: 47). And in line with
the university responsible for orientation sessions and other events to
accommodate the students, instructors should also create a positive class-
room atmosphere from the very first day.
 1 Introduction 13

Chapter Highlights
• Writing competence is a gateway to academic success.
• AW & IL is of crucial importance in fostering soft skills among university
students.
• Academic writing represents a key focus of instruction in a variety of
disciplines.
• Presently, AW & IL is a stand-alone discipline with its own program and
teaching methodology.
• There is no output without input. Hence, reading is key to having a writ-
ten production.
• The AW & IL in its current state stays on three pillars: the course content,
technological outfit, and the AW & IL content itself.
• Incorporation of technology in the teaching of AW & IL comes from such
processes as CALL and DL.
• A competent AW & IL instructor comes from a Linguistic background
with a firm framework of their own writing experiences.
• The first AW & IL class is important to establish an atmosphere conducive
to productive teacher–student cooperation.

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 2
Acknowledged Digital Era

Having evolved from extensive use of technology in present-day teach-

ing, an acknowledged digital era in education stands for a new form of
teaching and learning various disciplines. Defining a digital environment,
this chapter walks the reader through different types of digital classes,
that is, classrooms that are immersed in technology, including blended
and hybrid classrooms, as well as online platforms used as a means of
realization of those classes. The chapter gives count to multimodal and
digital approaches in modern education and focuses on the involvement
of such digital tools as apps, websites, cloud services, social media, mobile
technologies, and others in the teaching and learning process. In turn,
the digitalization of AW & IL will constitute the backbone of the book
applied to the pedagogy of AW & IL.

Technology-Integrated Education
Integration of technology in education has been widely discussed by
scholars within the last three or four decades. A large body of literature
suggests that the first use of technology in education traces back to
1960–1970, a post-war time, and implements such tools as film strips,

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 17

T. Mammadova, Academic Writing and Information Literacy Instruction in Digital
Environments, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19160-2_2
18 T. Mammadova

slide projectors, language laboratories, audiotapes, and television

(Gregory & Lodge, 2015). The utilization of technology in teaching and
learning has been differently termed by scholars at each stage of the time-
line. In many cases, we come across computer-assisted language learning
(CALL) that takes its roots from the 1960s and studies the application of
the computer into the teaching of language (Higgins, 1983). Later in the
early 1980s, few articles were discussing intelligent computer-assisted
language learning (ICALL), which referred primarily to the fields like
natural language processing, educational technology, and CALL without
the “I”—that is, computer-assisted language learning that does not
attempt to use so-called artificial intelligence techniques (Bailin, 1995).
Already in the 1990s, technology-integrated language learning (TELL)
emerged as an alternative to CALL. As mentioned in the first chapter,
academic writing and information literacy as a stand-alone discipline
appeared from the EFL; hence, it is not by accident that I refer to the
integration of technology into the teaching of language at earlier times.
Today, as a result of societal, political, economic, and technological
development that has a global effect, technology has completely restruc-
tured and reformed education (Anderson, 1995). Hence, the problem of
integrating technology into the teaching and learning process has become
a perennial one. Common excuses for the limited use of technology to
support instruction include a shortage of computers, lack of computer
skills, and computer intimidation. While these could affect the success of
technology integration, it should be acknowledged that the degree of suc-
cess teachers have in using technology for instruction could depend in
part on their ability to explore the relationship between pedagogy and
technology (Okojie et al., 2006). In this respect, it is highly recom-
mended that to be effective in education, information and communica-
tion technology (ICT) must be fully integrated into the pedagogy.
According to Avidov-Ungar and Amir (2018), technology should not be
regarded as its own discipline, but rather integrated into the pedagogy
and content of teaching. Good technology-integrated teaching includes
three components: content, pedagogy, and technology, and the effective-
ness of the integration depends on the inter-relationships between them.
In this vein, the current book does not see these three as separate
 2 Acknowledged Digital Era 19

components of academic writing and information literacy teaching, but

as complementary ones aimed to commonly bring effective outcomes.
The exploitation of technology in the teaching of academic writing
and information literacy plays a paramount role. However, instructors
should be certain of their technological, pedagogical, and content knowl-
edge—TPACK (Avidov-Ungar & Amir, 2018). As Oxford (2006) puts
it, “communication through writing … is a desirable tool”; yet, teaching
writing is a complex, time-consuming endeavor in any language, that is
why technology may provide a viable scaffold to support writing instruc-
tion for teachers and students. Moreover, universities do not stay indiffer-
ent to the process of globalization and change, creating a transdisciplinary
environment where instructors of technology and other fields may inter-
act (Aneas, 2015). While some scholars (Higgins, 1983; Bailin, 1995;
Anderson, 1995) predicted that the opportunity of technology in study
design would reach up to 50 percent by the beginning of the twenty-first
century, the process of digitalization in the first two decades of the cur-
rent century has been steadily embracing many educational institutions.
Thus, the following sections will be addressing the key components of
digitalization.

 hat Do We Know About Digital

W
Environments?
Digital Environment has turned into a key habitat for many people in
civilized societies. Among major components of a digital environment
are mobile apps, websites, search engines, social media, audio and video
resources, web-based resources, and cloud services. Key digital environ-
ments are digital business environments, digital communication environ-
ments, digital social environments, digital learning environments, and
others. According to Reid Chassiakos and Stager (2020), today, adoles-
cents, who constitute the future generation of a progressive world, are
immersed in a digital environment. Traditional media, such as radio, tele-
vision, films, and magazines have been eclipsed by digital media, such as
apps, games, and virtual reality, viewed through mobile tablets,
20 T. Mammadova

smartphones, and headsets. Teens no longer need to be passive media

consumers; these new technologies have expanded the opportunities for
teens to communicate, engage, learn, and create.
In educational contexts today, we can see many advantages with digital
tools, and how technology can support teaching, learning, and assess-
ment (Wikström & Eklöf, 2019). While the growing use of educational
technologies is evident in all levels of formal education, it is perhaps in
higher education that some of the most profound changes are taking
place (Lodge et al., 2020). There is a broad consensus that digitalization
can promote educational quality: it can enhance professionalism, student
activity, improve the quality of students’ digital skills, and, in a broader
sense, the quality of their schooling and therefore their lives in general
(Engeness, 2021). Students are increasingly engaging in their studies in
“blended”, “flipped”, or online modes with significant proportions of the
learning activities they undertake occurring in digital environments
(Lodge et al., 2020).
As technology continues to impact the ways in which students learn, it
also will continue to impact the ways in which teachers and students
interact with each other and with content (Lodge et al., 2020). In this
respect, both teachers and students are expected to be profound users of
educational digital technologies, teachers being also engaged in the design
of digital learning environments to adapt to the needs of the students.
Such digital environments are online courses (e.g. Massive Open Online
Courses—MOOCs), learning management systems (LMS), and various
applications (Engeness, 2021). Having addressed Galperin’s pedagogical
theory, Engeness (2021) distinguishes the following design principles
(DP) of digital environments aimed to enhance students’ learning
capacities:

DP 1: When designing a digital environment, it seems important to

identify the target concept about which students need to develop their
understanding based on their prior knowledge and skills.
DP 2: If a learning activity is to adequately assist the development of
students’ learning and their understanding of the learning process, stu-
dents should be engaged in the construction of a digital environment;
 2 Acknowledged Digital Era 21

DP 3: The overview of the entire activity, termed by Galperin as the

“operational scheme of thinking”, might be integrated into digital
environments to enhance students’ understanding of the learning pro-
cess they engage in.
DP 4: Some resources to assist the development of learners’ conceptual
understanding should be presented in the materialized form (digital
resources, animations, etc.). Students’ experience from interactions
with the materialized resources is transferred through collaborative
interactions to the internal plane of the learner (materialized action—
communicative thinking—dialogical thinking—acting mentally).
DP 5: The phase of communicative thinking urges to create premises for
social interactions in digital environments (e.g. discussion forums and
collaborative video meetings).
DP 6: The role of feedback as well as facilitation of the learning process
by teachers need to be accounted for in the design: feedback provided
to students in digital environments might assist them to develop their
conceptual understanding and enhance their understanding of how to
go about learning.

According to the University of Wisconsin System, a digital learning

environment fosters the following improvements for the three stake-
holder groups:

1. Instructors—increased collaboration and sharing of expertise and

resources among instructors, thereby reducing redundancy and spur-
ring innovation;
2. Students—a “one-stop” resource environment alleviates the disparate
nature of accessing teaching and learning tools and services, thereby
increasing retention rates and improving student learning outcomes;
3. Administration—reduces and standardizes infrastructure, improves
support, and provides cross-institution opportunities for common
practices, thereby freeing up resources for innovations in teaching
and learning.

In the next sections, we will try to touch upon major components of

digitalization used in present-day classes.
22 T. Mammadova

Digital Citizenship
Education is central to the process of creating citizens (Pedersen et al.,
2018). However, due to a digital paradigm of the existing reality, citizen-
ship has acquired a new connotation. Digital citizenship is the notion of
teaching students about media literacy and safe and responsible Internet
use (Gleason & von Gillern, 2018). Moreover, digital citizenship is not
just teaching learners about the appropriate use of social media but help-
ing them learn and model good behavior by integrating social media into
the learning process where appropriate. Digital citizenship manifests
itself in many ways (Gleason & von Gillern, 2018). While many young
people are savvy at communicating their values and influencing the atti-
tudes and behaviors of their peers with social media, secondary educators
also have a role and opportunity to help their students develop skills that
enhance students’ ability to identify problems, create persuasive media,
and strategically distribute this media to their peers and communities
(Gleason & von Gillern, 2018).
The acknowledgment of digital citizenship in academic writing and
information literacy class seems particularly important as it deals with the
two key issues involved with responsible Internet use: plagiarism and
cyberbullying, both being essential in the sense of multimodality, digital
literacy, and academic integrity. There needs to be an awareness of these
matters in the classroom and clear policies when dealing with offenses.
The scale of the digital citizenship profile is leveled by information liter-
acy as it provides access and means to build the required knowledge. This
includes conceptacles to evaluate information sources. Instructional prac-
tices could support the dissemination of credible information through
integrating relevant practices across the curriculum and authentic tasks
(Atif & Chou, 2018: 152) further discussed in this book. Finally, educa-
tion for digital citizenship is not simply a matter of information, knowl-
edge, and know-how. It is also a matter of interpersonal and inherently
ethical relations, of how we think about and behave towards others, par-
ticularly those who differ from us in their race, religion, class, and the like
(Kymlicka, 2002).
 2 Acknowledged Digital Era 23

Academic Writing and Technology

As mentioned earlier, the development and diffusion of information and
communication technologies have dramatically transformed the way
people write. On the one hand, written interaction, for example via email
or text messages, has both supplemented and supplanted forms of com-
munication previously conducted orally. On the other hand, blogs, wikis,
and social media have given much more to people in the sense of experi-
encing authorship and publication that previous generations could only
imagine (De Oliveira & Silva, 2013: 104). While technology access via
laptops and other devices can have positive effects on the amount of time
that students practice writing, specific modes of computer-mediated
communication—either synchronous forms, such as instant messaging,
or asynchronous forms such as email or discussion forums—can also help
increase student participation in writing (Ito et al., 2009: 105, as cited in
De Oliveira & Silva, 2013). Numerous investigations have found multi-
media use to be potentially motivating for young writers. Using software
to compose and illustrate their stories, students may write more and
experience “less fatigue than with pen and paper” (Warschauer, 2008: 60,
as cited in De Oliveira & Silva, 2013).
Academic writing requires practice. Access to technology may improve
student engagement, thereby increasing time spent on the task (De
Oliveira & Silva, 2013: 105). It is also clear that keeping students engaged
in the course material can often be a challenge. Since increasing numbers
of students are using laptop computers, tablets, and smartphones for
note-taking and as replacements for traditional textbooks, it is important
for faculty members to explore ways of making these devices an integral
part of the learning process, rather than a mere distraction (Buller &
Cipriano, 2015: 37). Dunne and Owen (2013) illustrate the creation of
a Facebook group used by students to answer any queries from class-
mates, such as assignment due dates, how to go about re-sitting, if neces-
sary, and other administrative issues. Facebook was selected since it was a
daily-used platform. An example of a student who had missed many of
the classes and wanted to know how to go about resuming the module,
without potentially being reprimanded by the tutor. Today, there are
24 T. Mammadova

many more platforms, both daily-used and educational, able to provide a

space for the stakeholders to collaborate and communicate.

Multimodality
The word multimodality has been extensively used in education within
the last decades. However, many educators might not be aware of the
factual meaning of multimodality, as there is no exact definition of the
term. In fact, multimodality refers to the various sources—among them,
images, sounds, document design, and graphics—that authors tap to cre-
ate meaning in all kinds of text (Multimodality, 2014). According to
Smith et al. (2011), there are three major affordances in multimodal
discourse:

1. access to the audio, visual, somatic, and other data in a variety of

formats;
2. the capacity to annotate the data within the same environment in
which one accesses the data, via an annotation interface, and store
these analyses in a database;
3. the capacity to retrieve, interrogate, present and share one’s analyses in
a variety of relations to one another in the template interface.

Turning to AW & IL, as more texts become available in digital form,

users access information in different ways that have potentially profound
ramifications for reading and writing (Luke, 2003). Although the funda-
mental principles of reading and writing have not changed, the process
has shifted from the serial cognitive processing of linear print text to the
parallel processing of multimodal text-image information sources. Luke
(2003) enumerates some examples of multimodality: pencil and paper
writing has been replaced by keyboarding and, increasingly, iconic but-
ton click writing. Text and meaning are no longer embedded exclusively
in a linear sequence of alphabetic characters. Hypertext embeds text-­
image and links. In other words, print-based reading and writing are and
always have been multimodal. They require the interpretation and design
of visual marks, space, color, font or style, and, increasingly image, and
 2 Acknowledged Digital Era 25

other modes of representation and communication (Carey, 2005).

Students in writing class can expect to compose texts requiring multimo-
dality, ranging from print texts with “minimal” multimodality—words,
layout, and font size and style—to blogs with a fuller multimodal repre-
sentation—including images, photos, banners, words, and podcasts
(Multimodality, 2014). Moreover, multimodality and multimodal liter-
acy have been researched as a goal of literacy education aimed to promote
learning (Weninger, 2021). Finally, digital technologies make multimo-
dality both more visible and easier to employ (Multimodality, 2014).

Digital Approach to Teaching

Educators today are gradually developing online tools, making the classes
more and more digitalized. This is definitely the right way to get prepared
for a digitally native generation we will be hosting within the next decade.
Digital natives have been exposed to the Internet since childhood. Thus,
the Internet can be a valuable tool to gain their attention and spark their
interest in the discipline (Moustafa, 2017).
According to Moustafa (2017), digitalization takes place in the light of
the following:

–– blended learning approach, which is a hybrid of online and face-to-­

face classes;
–– another approach is to take advantage of the different digital tools on
your university website or free tools online;
–– instructors can also direct students to online materials in the library
collection to use for their own research;
–– instructors can also use the Internet to emphasize the value of primary
sources;
–– professors can also use the Internet to encourage student engagement
in class.

Finally, “we are in a time where almost every element of our lives is online.
Students are online through their computers, phones, and TVs. They go online
to talk to families and friends via Skype. They follow friends via Facebook,
26 T. Mammadova

Twitter, and Instagram. Therefore, instructors [ ] should use digital technology

and online sources more to communicate with this generation of students. Our
teaching tools need to adapt to the technology that is used by our students to
support their needs and attract them to our discipline.” (Moustafa, 2017)

 igital Classes and Learning Management

D
Systems
Top Hat Glossary (tophat.com/glossary) defines a digital classroom as
typically one that incorporates electronic devices and software into the
learning environment. A digital classroom is where a physical classroom
extends into a digital space. A digital classroom refers to a classroom that
is fully immersed in technology. These classrooms rely on educational
apps and websites to enhance student learning, mainly known as LMS
(Learning Management System). LMSs are defined as online learning
technologies for the creation, management, and delivery of course mate-
rials. It acts as a repository of information and as a communication mech-
anism between students and lecturers (Brady & O’Reilly, 2020; Turnbull
et al., 2021). LMSs have changed the roles of teachers from knowledge
transmitters to facilitators, having implications for individual lecturers in
terms of teaching style, classroom management approaches and abilities,
and digital skills (Brady & O’Reilly, 2020). Moreover, the authors claim
that the materials are stored on an organizational-level repository and
consequently, the academic creator no longer has full control over these
materials. Multiple copies of the materials exist: on the lecturer’s own
desktop and laptop, on the LMS server, in university LMS archives, and
on multiple student laptops and other devices. Among the most popular
LMS are Blackboard, Edmodo, eFront, Moodle, and so on. Digitalization
of classes is also fulfilled through the Video Conferencing Software (VCS)
and online platforms. The most outstanding VCS are Blackboard
Collaborate, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Skype, WebEx Meetings,
Zoom, and so on. The most popular online educational platforms
(MOOCs) are Coursera, Duolingo, Future Learn, LinkedIn Learning,
Skillshare, Udemy, and so on. In this respect, it is no longer possible to
teach AW & IL without the implementation of these digital facilities into
the teaching and learning process.
 2 Acknowledged Digital Era 27

Online Bichronous Classes

Digital classes can be both synchronous and asynchronous in nature.

Synchronous class foresees a teacher as a facilitator of the course that
takes place at a specific time on a specific web link, LMS, or a web confer-
ence program. The key advantage of synchronous classes is the immedi-
acy of interaction among the course participants as well as timely feedback
provided.
Asynchronous courses take place on a certain LMS and have no sched-
uled meeting time. Since the communication of the stakeholders does
not take place in real-time, all course participants, as well as facilitators,
interact at different times based on their personal schedules. The conve-
nience of access is one of the advantages of the asynchronous class. The
participants are flexible to log in whenever they want with respect to the
time zones, their study preferences, and their pace of work. Additionally,
asynchronous classes are good for fostering the culture of personalized
learning that has acquired vast popularity within the last decade.
Depending on the type of your course, its objectives, and estimated
outcomes, you can always decide whether your students will benefit from
the synchronous or asynchronous class. However, recently many educa-
tors have chosen a Bichronous form of teaching, merging their course
into a synchronous and asynchronous mode.

Hybrid Class

The possibility of being always connected to the Internet and/or the

mobile network is increasingly blurring the borderline between physical
and digital spaces, introducing a new concept of space, known as “hybrid”
(Trentin, 2016). Hybrid education is such crossbreeding of different
dimensions like online and on-site, digital and analog, formal and infor-
mal. Hybridity within education is the acknowledgment of otherness and
difference as something productive (Pedersen et al., 2018). Hybrid spaces
are dynamic spaces created by the constant movement of users carrying
portable devices which are continuously connected to the Internet and
other users (Trentin, 2016). In other words, hybrid learning is based on
traditional learning that allows the use of technology both in-class and
28 T. Mammadova

outside it. The technology used may range from the students’ personal
devices up to classroom equipment that leads to digitalization of teaching
and learning.

Blended Class

Blended course design, which is “a systematic combination of co-present

(face-to-face) interactions and technologically-mediated interactions
between students, teachers, and learning resources” (Bliuc et al., 2007:
234), has been increasingly adopted in the higher education sector world-
wide (Han & Ellis, 2021). Garrison (1988) defines such learning as a
balanced approach between teacher-centered relationships found in face-­
to-­face education and the tendency to stress learner-centered relation-
ships in the emerging electronic environment. Although, in the beginning,
the blend had essentially involved a twinning of Moodle and classroom
teaching, by the later stages a new generation of tools added diversity to
the enactment of blended learning approaches (Breen, 2018). Today, the
term “blended learning” is taken as synonymous with the integration of
classroom instruction and web-based technologies (Breen, 2018).
Teachers see the blended and fully online space as a tremendous oppor-
tunity for flexible learning. From this perspective, students are free to use
journal articles, eBooks, websites, and documents easily accessible via
laptops, computers, and even their mobile phones.

Flipped Class

Flipped learning is a pedagogical approach in which direct instruction

moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space and
the resulting group space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learn-
ing environment where the educator guides students as they apply con-
cepts and engage creatively in the subject matter (Flipped Learning
Network, 2014). A flipped classroom is also called an “inverted class-
room” or “reversed instruction”. The major component of a flipped class-
room involves reversing what happens in the classroom with what
happens out of the classroom as compared with a typical lecture-style
class. In a traditional classroom, the instructor delivers content during
 2 Acknowledged Digital Era 29

class to the students via direct instruction. Outside of class, students are
to work on homework assignments, often independently. In the flipped
(inverted) classroom this is reversed. The learners watch the content vid-
eos at home and solve problems in the class (Zheng et al., 2020). Students
come to class having already gained basic content knowledge from sources
such as videos and books. Instructors can then turn face-to-face contact
with students from a time to lecture to an opportunity to actively engage
students in the learning process (Love et al., 2015). In a flipped classroom
teacher of a course serves in many roles that may include subject matter
expert, instructional designer, and media developer. The role of learners
in the flipped classroom is to use self-directed learning methods to review
and critically consider materials outside of class, and then actively apply
what was learned in a collaborative class environment. The advantages of
a flipped design are that the teacher becomes more of a mentor or guide
for learning, rather than a disseminator of information. In addition,
learners can process the content at different speeds, helping them become
more responsible for their learning. Technology serves as the major tool
to implement a flipped approach to teaching.

HyFlex Class

The HyFlex (hybrid + flexible) model combines face-to-face and online

modes to provide flexibility for students to participate in the best mode
for them (face-to-face, online synchronously, or asynchronously) (Miller
et al., 2021; Vilhauer, 2021). HyFlex sees teachers teaching students at
the same time in a physical classroom and synchronously online through
videoconferencing software (Kohnke & Moorhouse, 2021). According to
Beatty (2019), HyFlex is based on four values:

–– Learner Choice: The learner chooses their mode of participation (face-­

to-­face, online, synchronously, or asynchronously) and can change
that mode as often as necessary throughout the course.
–– Equivalency: All learning opportunities, no matter the mode offered,
lead students to meet the learning outcomes for the course.
–– Reusability: Students in different modes can access the outcomes of
the learning opportunities for students in another mode, for example,
discussion board posts, Padlet, Google Docs, or course recordings.
30 T. Mammadova

–– Accessibility: Students are provided the tools and skills and participate
in all the participation modes offered.

In other words, HyFlex classes have emerged in response to some phys-

ical limitations and constitute a new normal teaching and learning
environment.

Digital Tools
Digital Tools are programs, websites, online resources, mobile technolo-
gies, apps, social media, search engines, and some others. Below, we will
try to understand what each of them is used for, and how we can benefit
from these tools.

Mobile Technologies

Advanced mobile devices such as “smart” cellular telephones are very

popular among people primarily because they are wireless and portable.
These functionalities enable users to communicate while on the move.
The popularity of these devices is therefore a consequence of their ability
to function at multiple levels (El-Hussein & Cronje, 2010). Handheld
smartphones are commonly used for socializing, communication, and
academic purposes. Many students believe that smartphones facilitate
their learning process through quick access to online dictionaries, univer-
sity library pages, universal search engines, and personal e-mails. Similarly,
smartphone functions like note-taking, on-screen reading, taking photos
of the whiteboard and/or smartboard (see the Photo 2.1), and recording
oral presentations can contribute to increased learning productivity,
boosting student motivation (Mammadova, 2018). Mobile learning
stands for learning via mobile devices such as basic mobile phones,
e-readers, smartphones, and tablet computers. These devices are digital,
easily portable, lightweight, pocket-sized, and mobile, usually owned and
controlled by an individual rather than an institution, able to access the
 2 Acknowledged Digital Era 31

Photo 2.1

Internet and other networks. Wi-Fi connectivity and the availability of

the WhatsApp application, in particular, strengthen students’ peer sup-
port, communication skills, and capacity for teamwork (Mammadova,
2018). One of the major trends with respect to mobile devices is Bring
Your Own Device (BYOD) that allows the learners to make a free choice
regarding the device they want to use to enable interaction with content.

Apps

In the most common context, mobile applications are defined as a type

of application designed to run on a mobile device, which can be a smart-
phone or tablet computer. Educational mobile apps provide an added value
from the perspective of the responsible teachers and administration and
promise to overcome obstacles such as technological problems, additional
technical skills, and further challenges with respect to privacy and security
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
välittäneet ja jotka eivät siihen kyenneetkään, ja silloin taasen Kalle
huomasi pettyneensä.

Hän itse oli itsensä kehittänyt edelle muita seutukuntansa nuoria ja

vaati näiltä samaa kuin itseltäänkin. Siinä hän pettyi.

Lukurengas oli ihan kuolemaisillaan.

Yhtenä sunnuntai-iltana oli seuran varaesimiehen, Pikku-Kankaan

Antin vuoro esittää erään teoksen sisältö. Mutta kun hän tuli seuran
talolle ja Kalle kehoitti häntä ryhtymään toimeensa, vastasi hän:

— En minä ole valmistanut.

— Miksikä et? kysyi Kalle.

— Enpä vaan ole joutanut, puolusti toinen.

— Miksei sitä jouda, kun vaan on halua, sanoi Kalle

närkästyneenä.

— Ei kaiketi se nyt pakollista liene. Kuka siihen voi pakottaa, kun

ei vaan tahdo, sanoi toinenkin terävästi.

— Kylläpä se on pakko, kun kerran lupaa. Miksi lupasit? kun sitten

et lupaustasi täytäkään, sanoi Kalle. Nyt sinun tähtesi meni koko ilta
hukkaan, eihän muutakaan ohjelmaa ole.

Kaikki olivat hyvin nolon näköisiä.

Antti vihellellen lähti tarjoiluhuoneeseen. Hän, vaikka olikin

teräväkielinen, ei löytänyt sanoja tällä kertaa.

— Tanssi lopuksi, sanoi joku.

 — Tanssi pystyyn! kuului kiihkeitä ääniä.

Kalle huomasi joittenkin heittävän häneen vahingoniloisia

syrjäsilmäyksiä.

— Tanssikaa sitten! sanoi Kalle. Mutta otetaanhan tästä lähtien

tavaksi täyttää velvollisuutemme seuran työssä, sillä muuten siitä ei
mitään tule. Mutta hänen äänensä hukkui hälinään ja meluun.

Samassa alkoi viulun viritys-äänet kuulua.

Jonkun aikaa pidätetty tanssi-kiihko otti taasen vallan käsiinsä.

Hetken perästä oli pareja lattialla täydessä menossa. Kalle istui
taasen seinän viereen katselemaan toisten iloa, tuota, josta hän ei
osannut nauttia. Hän tunsi mielensä hiukan katkeraksi; mutta toivoi
kuitenkin, ettei tämä ollut muu kuin tuollainen poikkeustilaisuus,
sattuman kaupassa tullut, joka tällä kertaa oli hänen aikeensa
tyhjäksi tehnyt.

Samassa sattui hänen katseensa Annaan, joka seisoi seinän

vierellä. Hän huomasi kuinka tytön silmät loistivat ja kuinka hän
odottavan näköisenä seisoi. Kalle siirtyi hänen luokseen, siinä oli
pari muutakin tyttöä.

— Tekeekö tyttöjen mieli pyörimään, kysyi hän iloisella äänellä,

painaen äsken kohonneen suuttumuksen alas.

— Tekee niin hirmuisesti. Etkö lähde, Kalle tanssimaan kanssani?

Minusta ei kukaan huoli, sanoi yksi tytöistä piloillaan Kallelle.

— Mutta kun en minä osaa.

— Kyllä minä opetan. Lähdepäs! sanoi tyttö.

 — Me kolmen pyöritämme sinua koko illan, niin kyllä viimein opit,
jatkoi tyttö.

— Koetetaanpas!

— Ei, en minä opi. Ei minusta tule kalua, sanoi Kalle. Suuttumus

kokonaan katosi. Hänestä tuntui kuin hänkin voisi ottaa osaa
tuollaiseen iloon. Mutta kun ei ollut ennemmin tullut opetelluksi.
Tuntui mieli käyvän niin keveäksi tyttösten kanssa jutellessa. Sävelet
hivelivät hänen korviaan ja hän sai hiukkasen käsitystä tuosta, joka
toiset sai valtoihinsa, tuosta tanssista.

Mutta samassa tuli Pikku-Kankaan Antti ja vei Annan tanssiin.

Se oli kuin isku vasten kasvoja. Mieli kävi katkeraksi. Tuo se sai
paremman ajanvietteen tänä iltana pilalle, mietti Kalle. Hän vihasi
Anttia, sillä tämä oli tuollainen "iloinen poika," josta tytöt pitivät
sukkelan kielensä ja mainion tanssitaitonsa vuoksi. Monen tytön
pään hän oli pyörälle pannut, ja huhuiltiinpa hänen saaneen
pahempaakin aikaan tyttöväen keskuudessa.

Kalle halveksi häntä. Ja äskeinen tapaus toi vihankin hänen

sydämeensä.

Silmillään seurasi Kalle heitä. Hän näki kuinka iloisen näköisenä

Anna pyörähteli.

Mutta Kalle oli synkkänä koko illan.

— Oliko hauska? kysyi hän Annalta, heidän kotia mennessään.

— Oli niin hirmuisesti, kuului vastaus.

 — Oliko sinulla? kysyi tyttö.

— Ei.

— Miksikä?

— Kun panivat pilalle koko illan.

— Miten?

— Tanssilla.

— Saahan sitä nyt joskus tanssiakin. Mikset sinä ole opetellut

tanssimaan? Sinun kanssasi olisi hauska tanssia.

— En minä siitä välitä.

— Mikset?

— Se on niin joutavaa. Nytkin sen tähden Antti pilasi iloisen illan.

— Eihän pilannut. Kyllä oli niin hauska, ettei pitkään aikaan.

— Sinäkin menit vielä sen kanssa tanssiin.

— Se on hyvä tanssimaan.

— Siihen taitaa olla hyvä.

— Miksi sinä olet nyt murrina?

— Pistelee niin vihaksi.

— Mikä?
 — Tanssi.

— Etkö sinä antaisi tanssia ollenkaan?

— En, kun se vaan minun vallassani olisi.

— Etkö minunkaan?

— En.

— Anna nyt tanssia tämä aika ensi syksyyn. Sitten saat minut
tanssimattomaksi. Sitten saat tehdä minusta minkälaisen tahdot.
Tahdotko suukkosen? Tuossa!

Samassa tunsi Kalle tanssista lämpöisen tytön sylissään.

— Tanssi vaan! Eihän se mitään haittaa. Tanssi ja iloitse! kuiski

Kalle.

— En minä tahdo tanssia, jos se on sinusta vastenmielistä.

— Ei ole. Tanssi vaan!

— Miksi sinä äsken puhuit sitten niin — — —

— Ilman aikojani. Harmitti kun se Antti ei tehnyt niinkuin olisi

pitänyt tehdä.

— Niin, väärinhän se teki, kun oikein ajattelee, sanoi tyttö.

VII.

Mutta Kallen perustama lukurengas ei ottanut menestyäkseen.

Joitakin teoksia saatiin läpi käydyksi, mutta sitten loppui uutuuden
viehätys.

Vielä ponnisteli Kalle. Hän lopulta itse selosti useita teoksia

perättäin pyhä-iltoina. Hänellä oli kiihkeä halu oppia ja saada
muillakin herätetyksi saman halun. Mutta hän huomasi, että hänen
kuulijakuntansa pieneni pienenemistään.

Taasen oli pyhä-ilta.

Kalle oli tullut seuran talolle ennen muita. Ei ollut vielä kuin
emännät siellä. He olivat menneet ulos ja Kalle istui kyökissä yksin.

Oven takana hän istui ja katseli jonkun unohtamaa kirjaa. Tuli

joitakin saliin. He puhelivat ja nauroivat. Oli tyttöjä ja poikia. Pikku-
Kankaan Antin äänen hän tunsi. He tulivat meluten
tarjoiluhuoneeseen.

— Eihän tänne se saarnamies ole vielä tullutkaan, kuuli hän Antin

sanovan.
 — Ei vielä näy, vaikka onhan sen tapana tulla ennen muita, sanoi
joku tyttö.

— Kyllä tulee, kun odotetaan, sanoi muuan.

— Kuka sen vietävä häntä odottaa, äänsi yksi.

— Saa olla kuin kirkossa kun se saarnaa.

— Kirjallisuudesta, jatkoi Antti, matkien Kallen puhetta.

Toiset räjähtivät nauramaan. Tuollaiseen tyhmään naurun

hohotukseen, johon aina ovat valmiit kehittymättömät ihmiset.

— Kun saisi tanssia! äänsi joku tyttö-ääni.

— Älä uneksikaan ennenkuin pappi on saarnansa pitänyt, puhui

toinen.

— Se ei osaa tanssia, niin silti se ei muutenkaan antaisi, kuuli

taasen
Kalle.

— Miksiköhän se ei opettele?

— Kun se lukee.

— Mitähän hyötyä se luulee muka siitä olevan?

— Se kehittää henkeään, matki taasen Antti.

— Kyllä minä en ainakaan viitsisi lukea.

— Enkä minä.
 — Oletko lukenut sitten kun rippikoulusta pääsit?

— Perhana! kirosi raa'asti, jolta kysyttiin.

— Tuollahan on suuri kaappi kirjoja täynnä. Lukekaa pojat ja

tyttöset, kuului taasen Antin ääni.

— Saakeli heitä kotia venyttäköön! Jos minun vallassani olisi, niin

polttaisin koko moskat.

— Oletko lukenut yhtään kirjaa tuolta?

— En. Otin kerran, mutta en viitsinyt. Toin semmoisenaan takaisin.

— Mitä hyötyä siitä lukemisesta sille meidän saarnaajallekin on?

Ei se papiksi kuitenkaan pääse.

— Mutta lähdetään tuonne saliin! sanoi muuan.

— Kun siellä olisi Samppa soittamassa! sanoi toinen.

Jotkut heistä lähtivät saliin. Samalla Kalle pyörähti kyökin ovesta

ulos. Hän kerkesi juuri parhaaksi, sillä joitakin tyttöjä tuli kyökkiin
tarjoiluhuoneesta.

Hän oli kuullut kaikki mitä toiset puhuivat. Hammasta purren seisoi
hän hetken pihalla ja ajatteli lähteä kotia ja jättää kaiken sikseen.
Vielä noille pässinpäille rupeaisi puhumaan ja heidän kanssaan
yksissä toimimaan. Mitä hyötyä siitä olisi. Eivät he kuitenkaan
mistään muusta kuin syömisestä mitään ymmärrä. Erilläni heistä
pysyn. Tehkööt sitten seuransa kanssa mitä haluavat, mietti hän.
Hän halveksi sydämensä pohjasta koko joukkoa.
 Tieltä kuului iloisia ääniä ja hetken perästä pyörähti noita äänen
pitäjiä suuri parvi pihalle.

— Hei! Kuka siellä seisoo? kysyi muuan. Se oli Kantolan Matti.

Kallehan se on. No mitä sinä täällä mietit?

— Enpä juuri mitään.

— Lähde sisälle!

— Minä käyn vielä kotona, sanoi Kalle ja lähti samalla kävelemään

tielle. Hän ei olisi saattanut mennä tänä-iltana toisten joukkoon. Ei,
vaikka köydellä vedettäisiin, päätti hän, en mene. Olkoot ja eläkööt
niinkuin haluavat.

Hän tuli kotiinsa.

Täällä istui muutamia naapuritalon isäntiä iltaansa viettämässä.

— No etkö sinä nuorisoseuralle ole mennytkään? kysyi hänen

äitinsä, kun
Kalle tuli sisälle.

— En, vastasi lyhyesti Kalle ja istui kaapin pään ja seinän väliseen

loukkoon.

— Eikö siellä sitten tänä iltana mitään olekaan? kysyi muuan

isäntä.

— Eikö tuolla jotain liene, vastasi Kalle.

Hän haki aina, kun vaan oli useampia ihmisiä huoneessa, sellaisia
piilopaikkoja itselleen, että hän voi hyvin tarkastaa muitten elämää ja
puheita, ollen itse näkymättömänä. Tuossa loukossa tuntui hänestä
niin turvalliselta istua.

Miehet juttelivat emännän kantaessa heille kahvia. Kallen tulo toi

heidän mieleensä nuorisoseuran ja puhe itsestään taasen kääntyi
siihen.

— Kaikenlaisia seuroja niillä nykyaikana pitää olla. Tultiin tuota

ennen toimeen vaikkei ollut mitään seuroja. Mentiin jonkun talon
pirttiin, maksettiin soittajalle joku penni ja sillä sai tanssia vaikka
aamuun asti, puhui Tokalan isäntä, tuuheapartainen vanhan ajan
äijä.

— Mutta oli siellä elämääkin, juotiin ja tapeltiin, sanoi Saviojan

isäntä.

— No tappelevathan nuo nytkin, vaikka on seurakin ja sitä rahaa

nyt pitää olla eri paljon kuin ennen, toimitti Tokalan äijä.

— Mutta on kuitenkin elämä entisestään parantunut. Eivät ne

nuoret enään niin hirmuisesti tappele kuin meidän aikoina, ja on se
elämä muutenkin siivompaa. Kyllä tuo seura on sen vaikuttanut.
Onhan heillä mihin saavat kokoontua, ettei tarvitse riihissä ja
ladoissa meluta. Tuolla kun ne tanssivat aikansa, niin sitten lähtevät
kotiaan ja siihen se loppuu sillä kertaa, sanoi Kaarelan isäntä.

— Kyllä se sellaista on, että siivommaksi elämä on muuttunut

entisestään. Paljon siihen on tuo seura vaikuttanut. Mutta en minä
sittekään tuosta seurasta oikein hyvää ajattele. Minusta tuntuu se
sellaiselta viimeisen ajan seuralta.

— Miksi? kysyi Kaarelan isäntä.

 — Kun siellä puuhataan niin paljon tämän maailman ruhtinaan
palveluksessa.

— No miten?

— Kun siellä pidetään niitä näyttelyitä ja opetellaan jos jotain

jonnin joutavaa. Kaikkea sellaista, mikä on tarpeetonta ja
vahingollista. Se kirjastokin sinne laitettiin ja ei sinne saatu yhtään
oikeaa kirjaa, josta olisi hyötyä ihmisille, puhui Mäntyläinen.

— Onhan siellä esimerkiksi maatalous-kirjallisuutta, josta on

hyötyä, kun vaan niin tekee kuin sellaisissa kirjoissa neuvotaan. Siitä
on hyötyä vaikka teillekin, selitti Kaarelan isäntä.

— Mitä hyötyä? Kyllä työnteko on parasta kirjallisuutta. Kun vaan

tekee työtä, niin kyllä elää ilman kirjoja. Ei talonpoika tarvitse mitään
tietoja, sellaisia, joita on niissä kirjoissa. Eikä talonpoika joudakaan
lukemaan sellaisia. Talonpoika tarvitsee aikansa tositoimeen, puhui
Mäntyläinen.

— Mutta ei sitä nykyaikana työtäkään osaa tehdä ilman tietoa, intti

Kaarelan isäntä.

— Onpa tuota osattu. Eliväthän nuo ihmiset ennen meitä niine

tietoineen. Ja vielä nytkin elää, kun vaan työtä tekee. Kaikki
lukeminen ja muu sellainen on turhaa ja vahingoittaa ihmistä. Työtä
osaa tehdä vähin tiedoin, kun vaan on ahkeruutta, puhui
Mäntyläinen.

— Osaahan hevonenkin työtä tehdä, vaikkei tiedä niinkään paljoa

kuin
Mäntylän isäntä, sanoi Kalle loukostaan.
 — Sen minä sanon, että nykyaikana tietoineen ja seuroineen
menevät ihmiset suoraa päätä helvettiin. Sillä kaiken muun tähden
unohdetaan tuo paras tieto, raamattu. Kuka sitä joutaa enään
lukemaan, kun täytyy lukea muuta, josta ei ole mitään hyötyä? väitti
itsepintaisella äänellä Mäntyläinen.

— Mutta kuka entisaikana jouti sitten raamattua lukemaan, vaikkei

ollut muutakaan lukemista? kysyi Kalle.

— Ei tainnut Mäntyläinenkään lukea paljon raamattua nuorena

ollessaan, sanoi nauraen Kaarelan isäntä.

— Enpä kyllä lukenut, myönsi Mäntyläinen.

— Sinä olit kova tanssissa kulkemaan, sanoi Kallen isä.

— Mutta nykyaikana nuoret toki lukenevat edes jotain ja elävät

siivommin kuin ennen, nuorisoseurallakin esimerkiksi, sanoi
Kaarelainen.

— Siinäpä se, että ne lukevat. Ennen minä poikani ja tyttöni

antaisin kulkea riihitansseissa ennenkuin nuorisoseuralla, sanoi
Mäntyläinen.

— Miksi? kysyi Kalle.

— Siksi, että entisaikaan tansseissa ei oppinut sitä, mitä nyt tuolla

seuralla koetetaan opetella. Ei silloin ollut kirjoja. Eikä silloin luettu ja
aikaa siihen hukattu. Nyt ne nuoret tulevat niin viisaiksi tuolla, että
tiedon tähden unohtavat sen paremman, kaikista kalleimman. Niin se
on, puheli Mäntyläinen.
 — Ettäkö te antaisitte lapsenne ennemmin riihitansseihin mennä
kuin nuorisoseuralle? Kysyi Kaarelan isäntä.

— Niin juuri. Siellä he eivät opi Jumalaa pilkkaamaan.

— Mutta kiittämään ja ylistämään, jatkoi Kalle katkerasti

Mäntyläisen alottaman lauseen.

Sen sanottuaan lähti hän kamariinsa ja heittäytyi sänkyynsä vaate

päällä pitkälleen. Hän ei viitsinyt sytyttää lamppua, vaan makasi
pimeässä. Voi kun hän halveksi noita ihmisiä. Hänen sisässään
kiehui ja hyppi tuhannen tuhatta suuttunutta ajatusta. Hän iski
nyrkillään sängyn laitaan. Häntä suututti tuon Mäntyläisen puhe,
häntä suututti nuorisoseura; hän oli vihassa koko maailmalle ja
itselleenkin. Hän tunsi olevansa yksin. Niin juuri, yksin olen, en huoli
kenestäkään kumppalikseni, en tahdo kenenkään kanssa olla
tekemisessä muutoin kuin mitä täytyy työssä olla.

Hän mietti työtään nuorisoseurassa. Hän oli koettanut parhaansa

mukaan siinä toimia, mutta hän huomasi, ettei kukaan hänen
työstään välittänyt. He eivät ymmärtäneet häntä, eivätkä mitään mikä
on ylevää ja jaloa. Eivät ne ymmärtäneet nauttia kirjallisuudesta,
eivät edes viitsineet lukea. Mutta mitenkäpä he lukevat kun se heitä
ei huvita. Hän oli tuossa lukurenkaassa tullut tuntemaan
kumppanissaan paljon tyhmyyttä. Kun joku heistä kerran oli ottanut
selostaakseen erään teoksen, niin ei hän ollut käsittänyt ollenkaan
tuon teoksen sisältöä. Esitti kerrassaan sen sillä tavoin, että kaikki
kauneus sen sisällöstä katosi. Hän ei ollenkaan kyennyt
ymmärtämään tuossa teoksessa piileviä kauneuksia, noita, jotka
Kallen sydäntä hivelivät hänen lukiessaan sitä ja jotka nostattivat
hänen henkensä jokapäiväisyyden yläpuolelle. Ei tuo hänen
kumppaninsa ollut ymmärtänyt mitään. Oli lukenut ja sittekin oli hän
niin itsetietoisena ja varmana lausunut mielipiteensä. Tuo Kallea juuri
suututtikin, tuo ylpeys, joka on kehittymättömille ihmisille ominainen.
Kun he saavat jonkun asian mielestään selville, tuollaisen, jonka
kaikki enemmän kehittyneet tietävät, niin sitä he sitten mahtavasti
toitottavat, niinkuin he sen olisivat keksineet ja selvittäneet. Ja
tällaisena monet ihmiset pysyvät koko ikänsä, vaikka eläisivät kuinka
vanhoiksi. Heissä ei ole kykyä huomata omaa pienuuttaan eikä tämä
kyky heillä koskaan kehitykään. Sen oli Kalle luullut tulleensa
huomaamaan. He ovat idiootteja, joilta puuttuu se, mikä toisilla
ihmisillä on. He eivät ole säälittäviä, vaan suututtavia; he häiritsevät
kuin ilkeät hyönteiset elämisen ilon ihmisiltä. Tällaisia, mietti Kalle,
on suurin osa hänen tovereistaankin. Mutta olenko minä parempi?
kysyi hän itseltään. Tähän kysymykseen ei hän voinut antaa
vastausta, joka olisi häntä tyydyttänyt. Hän kyllä myönsi, että hän ei
ole parempi, mutta hän tunsi kuitenkin äänen sisässään, jota hän ei
voinut vaientaa, joka ääni kuiskasi, että sinä olet toisellainen kuin he.
He eivät kykene nauttimaan siitä, mistä sinä. He nauravat tyhmästi
sille, mille sinä itket, niinkuin silloin kerrankin, jolloin esitettiin seuran
iltamissa eräs näytelmä, joka esitti erään ihmishengen pohjatonta
tuskaa. Se oli silloin, jolloin oli muuan herra kesäänsä täällä
viettämässä. Hän oli huvikseen ja auttaakseen seuraa sen
näytelmän harjoittanut ja itse siinä esiintynyt. Hui, kun Kalle halveksi
noita toisia. Hän yksin oli silloin huomannut tuon sykkäilevän tuskan,
joka pani tuon näytelmän henkilön toimimaan sillä tavoin, että hänen
toimintansa näytti naurettavalta, mutta kun muisti hänen toimintansa
vaikuttimen, niin se nostatti kyyneleet silmiin ja pani sielun
väreilemään. Tällaiselle olivat he nauraneet tyhmästi kiiluvin silmin.

Olenko parempi? mietti Kalle. Ei hän varmaa vastausta siihen

saanut. Miksi minä ymmärsin, vaikka olen samoissa oloissa ollut ja
kasvanut kuin hekin? Miksi minä tunnen tyydytystä henkisestä
työstä, jota he eivät ymmärrä? Samallalaillahan monet heistä olisivat
voineet kehittyä. Mutta heiltä puuttuu kehityskyky. Näin hän ajatteli ja
häntä kauhistutti ajatuksensa lento. Häntä hirvitti, että hän tuomitsee
toisia ihmisiä sillä tavalla vertaamalla heitä itseensä, pitäen itseään
mittapuuna. Hän taisteli vaistomaisesti ajattelunsa tulosta vastaan.
Ei se ole niin, ei ei, hoki hän. Nythän olen samallainen kuin hekin,
kun pidän itseäni etevänä niinkuin tyhmä poikanulikka. Mikä minä
muu olisin? Sehän minä olen. Ei muu kuin poikanulikka, jupisi hän
itsekseen.

Mutta silloin muistui hänen mieleensä tuo Mäntyläinen. Hän

raivostui. Hän vihasi tuota uskovaista äijää, joka ennen antaisi
lastensa vaikka muuttua eläimiksi ennenkuin sallisi heidän päästä
edes pienelle nurkalle ihmishengen tuloksista nauttimaan. Sellainen
äijä! Eläin ihmisen haamussa! Ja sellaisia on paljon, sen hän tiesi.
Voi, kun hän vihasi Mäntyläistä ja hänenlaisiaan.

Hän tunsi olevansa yksin.

Tuo Mäntyläinen ja hänenlaisensa. En tahdo heidän joukkoonsa

kuulua. Entäpäs Kaarelainen? Houkkio, joka kehuu nuorisoseuran
saaneen aikaan sen, että tanssiminen on siirtynyt mustista riihistä
seuran talolle. Ei luule tuolla liikkeellä muuta tarkoitusta olevankaan.
Puhui tiedoista ja niiden hyödyllisyydestä mitä muilta on kuullut. Ei
osaa ajatella. Ja nuo toiset. Suu auki kuuntelevat ja eivät osaa
muusta puhuakaan kuin hevosen varsoista ja lehmistä.

Ja sitten nuorten, hänen kumppaleittensa joukossa, oliko siellä

ketään? Toiset sellaisia, jotka pelkäävät kirjaa kuin purevaa
käärmettä. Eivät ymmärrä syömistä korkeampaa nautintoa
olevankaan. Toiset sitten tuollaisia puolihupsuja höperöitä, jotka
luulottelevat olevansa jotain, mutta eivät kuitenkaan ole todella noita
toisia korkeammalla.

Hän nousi, sytytti lampun ja otti kirjan käteensä. Mutta ei tullut

lukemisesta mitään. Mieli oli niin kuohuksissa.

Hän muisti Annan. Häntä hän rakasti. Häntä ei hän ryhtynytkään

arvostelemaan. Hän oli tyttöön mieltynyt ja hänen mieleensäkään ei
tullut verrata tyttöä itseensä. Hän rakasti ja piti tyttöä täydellisenä,
sillä rakkaushan, niin sanotaan, on sokea. Tässä saikin se olla
sokea, sillä tytössä ei mitään vikaa ollutkaan. Hän oli sievä ja
henkisesti kehityskykyinen enemmän kuin tavallista. Sen Kalle ehkä
vaistomaisesti tunsikin. Ja siksi hän rakasti.

Hän tuli kamaristaan pirttiin, mutta täällä ei ollut muita kuin vanha,
sokea huutolaismuori ja eräs kulkumies, jonka hänen isänsä oli
ottanut ensi viikoksi työhön. Hetken tämän kanssa juteltuaan tuli hän
taasen kamariinsa.

Hänen mielestään eivät häipyneet rauhattomat mietteet. Hän vielä

rupesi miettimään suhdettaan nuorisoseuraan, mutta yhä hän tunsi
ei voivansa tulla toimeen siinä seurassa. Kuin tauti oli häneen
tarttunut halveksiminen. Hän ei voinut sille mitään. Hänen täytyi
halveksia noita toisia, kun hän muisteli yhdessäoloaan heidän
kanssaan. Heillä ei ole muita harrastuksia kuin syönti ja
huvittelemisen halu, toisti hän.

Eivätköhän he ole hiukan odottaneet esimiestään, mietti hän.

Odottakoot! Mitä vielä, hekö nyt joutaisivat odottamaan. Tanssimaan
heillä on kiire. Hän koetti kuvitella, mitä siellä nyt tehdään, siellä
seuran talolla. Hän näki kuinka lattialla parit pyörivät ja kuinka
Samppa soitti.
 Ilmoittaisin suoraan, etten enään tahdo teidän joukossanne olla,
niin olisi paljon parempi, mietti hän. Mutta ei, en minä sitä tee, mietti
hän. Olen heidän joukossaan nimeksi edes niin kauvan kunnes
Annan saan pois. Hänen mielensä tekee kuitenkin sinne.

Hän tuli mustasukkaiseksi miettiessään, että ehkä tyttö tällä

hetkellä on jonkun kainalossa tanssissa.

Mutta mikä ihme siinä tanssissa viehättää, mietti hän. Olisikohan

se jäännös siltä ajalta, jolloin tanssi kuului Jumalanpalvelukseen,
jolloin ihmiset olivat alkuperäisemmällä kannalla kuin nyt ovat?
Jolloin he, niinkuin vielä nytkin jotkut luonnonkansat huumaavat
itsensä tanssimalla lähetäkseen jumalaansa. Olisikohan se suvusta
sukuun, vuosituhansien takaa kulkenut perintö, joka on hiukan
alkutarkoitustaan muuttanut, joka panee toisen ihmisen tarttumaan
toiseen kiinni ja sitten pyörimään niin, että unohtuu muu,
väsymyskin, panee pyörimään niin että väsyneenä viimein huohottaa
kuin koira. Olisikohan tuo jäännös alkuperäistä, raivokasta
eläimellisyyttä? Siihenhän, tanssiin, on halua ja kykyä noilla, joilta
halu korkeampaan nautintoon puuttuu. — Mutta ei niinkään.
Tanssivathan, niinhän näkyy, yhteiskunnan ylimmätkin. Niin, mutta
mitä se todistaa? Ei mitään. Heiltähän voi puuttua halu korkeampaan
samalla tavalla kuin noilta toisiltakin. He ovat vaan niin kaukana
meistä, niin ylhäälle kohotettuja, ettemme heidän henkistä
köyhyyttään näekään.

Ihmeellistä se vaan on, mikä tanssissa viehättää. En ymmärrä.

Siihen on halua ja siihen kykenevät kaikki, melkein kaikki.

Kaikkea tuota miettii. Eläkööt ja olkoot! Minä elän laillani.

 Ei Kalle ennen nukkumaan päässyt ennenkuin kuuli toisten
tulevan seuran talolta. Siellä kuului Annankin ääni. Tuntui niin
helpottavalta kun kuuli hänen tulevan.
VIII.

Vielä rikkoi hän päätöksensä, sillä kävi hän vieläkin nuorisoseuran

kokouksissa.

Mutta nuorisoseuratyö tuntui hänestä tästä lähtien

vastenmieliseltä, hänestä, joka ennen oli ollut innokkain sitä
tekemään. Kyllä hän vieläkin jonkun aikaa kävi seuran kokouksissa
ja iltamissa, mutta entinen innostus oli kadonnut. Hänen täytyi
mielestään vielä tämä vuosi olla seuran toimessa, koska hän oli
ruvennut esimieheksi. Hän koetti täyttää velvollisuutensa, mutta kun
se oli vastenmielistä, niin se kävi liian raskaaksi. Hänestä oli koko
touhu turhaa, sillä hänen toverinsa olivat hänen mielestään sellaisia,
joitten hyväksi ei kannata mitään tehdä, koska heiltä puuttuu kaikki
harrastus ja kyky mihinkään korkeampaan. Tämä oli juurtunut
häneen sellaiseksi varmaksi totuudeksi, jota ei mikään voinut
järkyttää.

Mutta vaikka hän vähän kerrallaan oli tähän tulokseen tullut, niin ei
hän sitä uskaltanut kuitenkaan muille ilmoittaa. Eikä hän
välittänytkään siitä, sillä hän tunsi, etteivät nuo toiset häntä
ymmärtäisi, vaikka hän sen selittäisikin heille.
 Seuran kokouksiin ja iltamiin veti häntä Anna. Mitä enemmän Kalle
vieraantui nuorisoseuratyöstä, sitä innokkaammin Anna siihen kiintyi.
Häneen oli Kalle saanut herätetyksi lukuhalun lainaamiensa kirjojen
ja oman elämänsä kautta.

Tyttö oli ensin ihmetellyt, mikä kirjoissa voipi viehättää niin, että
niitä aina katselee, kun hän oli nähnyt Kallen joutohetkensä aina
lukemalla viettävän. Mutta viimein hän oli tuon salaisuuden oppinut
ymmärtämään ja lukeminen oli ruvennut häntäkin viehättämään.
Voimakkaana kiihottajana oli hänelle Kallen kiitolliset silmäykset aina
silloin kun hän kirjan käteensä otti.

Yhä välinpitämättömämmäksi kävi Kalle nuorisoseuralle. Hänelle

rupesi ilmaantumaan etsittyjä esteitä aina silloin kun olisi pitänyt
lähteä seuran kokouksiin ja iltamiin. Hän rupesi karttamaan muiden
seuraa ja oleili enimmäkseen itsekseen. Useita kertoja oli hän
jättänyt esimiehen tehtävät Pikku-Kankaan Antille.

Kevät oli jo tullut ja tuonut tullessaan valoisat yöt ja lämpöiset

päivät.

Nuorisoseura oli toiminut jotenkin virkeästi, vaikka Kalle ei

ollutkaan mukana niinkuin ennen. Hänen alottamansa työ oli
kuitenkin edistynyt, vaikkakaan ei niin nopeasti kuin hän olisi
tahtonut. Tanssittiin kyllä, mutta tehtiin muutakin.

Kalle oli tähän asti ollut johtavassa asemassa ja kaikki

edistyneemmät seuran jäsenet olivat luottaneet häneen ja taipuneet
hänen johtonsa mukaan toimimaan. Mutta nyt, kun hän oli heittänyt
seuran toiminnan oman onnensa nojaan olivat nuo edistyneemmät
käyneet asiaan kiinni ja eteenpäin sitä hiljalleen mentiin. Tuo seuran