Larry Miller:

Matilda: Finland's Telematic Literature Project

This Matilda will neither waltz nor run to Venezuela; however, the Finnish project described in this month's International Perspectives feature has the potential to foster students' love and understanding of literature. Matilda, named after the smart, book-loving protagonist in one of Roald Dahl's books, was featured previously in Reading Today, the bimonthly newspaper of the International Reading Association. The article was prompted by Matilda's winning of a 1999 IRA Presidential Award for Reading and Technology.

It may seem redundant to focus on the Matilda project in Reading Online, given the Reading Today article; however, as an electronic journal, ROL offers presentation options unavailable in print media, and readers of this feature will be able to access the Matilda site as they read my discussion. Further, some additional information is offered here, resulting from my attendance at an International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) conference in Aulanko, Finland, in June 1999. There I had the pleasure of sitting in on a session conducted by Minttu Ollila, one of Matilda's founders, along with three students who had participated in the program. After the presentation, I had the opportunity to discuss with the project developers some of the challenges they faced in creating and maintaining the project. Second, I talked to the three students to learn more about their experiences with Matilda.

As a Canadian, I felt geographically and "climatically" at home when I traveled to Finland. Because I arrived two days before the conference began, I had time for some exploring. As I sat in the central square in Hämeenlinna, a pleasant town north of Helsinki, I noticed two skateboarders whiz by, which seemed normal to me -- except that both riders were talking on cellphones. Then two teens strolled by, dressed in the teen "uniform of the day" and both carrying cellphones. Suddenly, I noticed that many people were carrying or talking on cellphones. "So much for the cultural stereotype that Finns tend to be taciturn," I thought. Later, Matti Sinko, one of the conference organizers and a leader in fostering information and communication technologies in Finnish education, told me that Finland has more cellphones per capita than any other nation in the world. As I was to learn at the conference, Finland has embraced technology in important ways (Sinko & Kiesi, 2000). Matilda was just one of the Finnish projects I learned about over the next four days.

Everybody reads the "book of the month" chosen by the students. In addition to that, each student chooses one optional book from the same category. The students keep journals while reading the books. The idea is to reflect one's ideas and feelings in the journal and then share the impressions with the group by exchanging email. After reading a book, the students send their assignment to the home group and tutor. Every student gets personal feedback from the tutor. The students are encouraged to comment on each others' ideas in order to have true interaction within the home group.

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Matilda Students

In 1997-98, 32 students from 6 schools participated in the Matilda project. The next year, more than 80 students from 11 schools were involved, and the number grew to 250 students in 1999-2000. During the IFIP conference session, Minttu mentioned that the project was designed to attract bright young girls. This intrigued me. After the presentation she elaborated by pointing out that information technology (IT) projects tend to attract boys; since bright girls frequently are avid readers, Matilda took advantage of this interest to engage girls in using computer technology while enhancing their love of reading. She made no apology for the focus, pointing out that in Finland there were numerous programs for students with a range of special needs, but that bright young girls seemed to be left out. Boys are not banned from the project, and Minttu mentioned that recently more were taking part.

Students in the project range from 11 to 15 years of age. Finland, like Canada, has a fairly low and unevenly distributed population density; communities become more sparsely inhabited as you travel north. This distribution creates problems for educators in terms of resource allocation and student access to expertise. The Internet allows special programs such as Matilda to overcome these challenges. Matilda attracts student from across Finland, and although most are located in the south, there are participating schools from areas as far as 170 kilometers (appx. 100 miles) north of the Arctic Circle. Using the Internet, students in the north can post their comments about the books and engage in discussions as easily as their peers in the more populated south. Equally important, the specially trained tutors guide the assignments and discussions without regard to location.

As mentioned, each member of a literature group, which typically consist of eight students, reads at least two books each month: one core text and a second self-selected from a provided list. However, as Minttu pointed out, reading begets reading, and most students read more than the requirement (Ollila, 2000). There are eight categories of books -- including Animal House, Chamber of Horrors, Heart to Heart, and Fantasy -- and the lists in each category include international favorites as well as selections by well-known Finnish authors. In addition to requisite participation in discussion groups, students engage in formal assignments related to the literature, and these are submitted to the tutor for comment. Sometimes, special projects such as the creation of a literary magazine or "literature theme days" arise from the readings. Often, students present their projects to children in lower grades.

Literacy growth and appreciation is at the heart of Matilda, but IT skills also are developed through participation in the project. As the developers inform us, students were told that no special computer skills were required for participation, and when the project began only a few did have previous experience. With minimal training, students learned to use the Matilda Web site, to post book reviews on the bulletin board, and to communicate through e-mail. Ancillary skills were acquired by some students -- for example, those who participated in creating a literary magazine. Others, seeking books, learned to use online databases available in libraries.

One of the special benefits of attending the IFIP conference was the opportunity to listen to the three students who participated in the Matilda presentation. I noticed the students, without knowing their role, when I walked into the conference site on the morning of the session. There were three young women sitting in the lobby of the conference hotel, all reading books. As a fellow bibliophile, I made a mental note of approval. Later, I listened to them talk about their experiences with the Matilda project. It was not surprising to hear them share their love of both good literature and the value of Matilda. One student told the story of her trip to Portugal to receive Microsoft's Road Ahead prize, awarded personally by Bill Gates. Representatives from each of the winning projects were able to ask Bill a question. Jaana asked him if he read books outside work, and if so, to tell about his favorite type of literature. (For readers panting to know what Bill Gates reads in his free time, the answer is science fiction.)

I have a special appreciation for the development of IT skills through authentic projects such as Matilda. It seems logical that such skills would be acquired more readily and naturally when the need arises than in contrived situations. Recently, I observed a class of Grade 7 students learning to use a spreadsheet. Ennui filled the room as the students used data created by the teacher to make projections; interestingly, at the same time, a fund-raising activity was in progress at the school, and each day classes eagerly calculated sales to see which homeroom was ahead in the drive to win a pizza party. I heard one boy ask his friend how many more books they needed to sell over the next week to take over first place. His friend suggested they put the data into the spreadsheet and then do projections based on several sales scenarios; sadly, the teacher informed them the computer couldn't be used because it was needed for the next lesson on how to use spreadsheets.

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Matilda Teachers

Another attribute of the Matilda project is the professionalization of the teachers whose classes participate in the project and those who serve as tutors. The original tutors who guided the young readers specialized in literature or teaching the gifted. They met as often as possible to discuss the project, evaluate students' progress, and share ideas. Later, through a grant from one of the project's sponsors, the city of Espoo, Matilda tutors began sharing their enthusiasm and expertise with classroom teachers from the participating schools. Included in the in-service education were visits from Finnish authors of children's literature, seminars, and special courses.

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Challenges

As mentioned earlier, being at the IFIP conference afforded me the opportunity to talk with Matilda's developers. I was especially interested in the challenges they faced. The first, locating and securing funding, is not surprising. In addition to support from the city of Espoo, Matilda has been funded by the Finnish National Board of Education. The awards won by the project have been helpful in raising its visibility, but obtaining funding remains an ongoing task. Second, the success of the project -- it has expanded into Estonia -- has created logistical strains since increased numbers of quality tutors must be located and trained. As will be seen in the next section, even more demands are being made on Matilda because of its success.

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New Directions

When this article was being written, I learned from the developers that the Matilda project was in the process of modification and expansion. This year, 600 students and 65 tutors are expected to become involved, and 7 new locations now have access. There is a new name, Netlibris, and a new Web site designed to accommodate the project for three different age groups:

• Matilda -- for 10- to 12-year-olds
• Sinuhe -- for 13- to 15-year-olds
• Odysseia -- for 15- to 18-year-olds
  

Hannele Frantsi, one of the developers, pointed out that the discussion forum also has changed, from e-mail to the World Wide Web. I thought that meant Matilda would use chat rooms to facilitate discussions, but in a thoughtful e-mail, Minttu Ollila pointed out my error. The modifications include more than a change in how technology is used; they speak to learning and show how the developers' main concern is fostering literacy through rich interactions about quality literature. Minttu wrote,

Another clarification I would like to make is that we will NOT have any "chatrooms" for our literary discussions. The discussion is done in threaded discussions (asynchronous). The kids in Finland are very used to chatting, and it is a challenge to change the mode from chatting to something where the substance and tone is more permanent. We have to set the netiquette and learn about respectful and appropriate language -- something not very common in chat rooms. The norms and practices of literary discussions must be taught and learned because it is not something we were born with. Therefore, the biggest challenge is to develop tools and methods that raise the quality of the discussions. To emphasize this point, we do not give the students assignments on books anymore. The discussion IS the assignment. The quality of the discussion is what we evaluate, using similar assessment methods as would be used in oral discussions (e.g., paying attention to what has been said before, making conclusions, summarizing, presenting original ideas, backing up ideas with evidence, etc.). We are trying to accomplish that by practicing FIRST offline. The discussions are practiced in face-to-face meetings. One tool that has proved very powerful has been the adaptation of cooperative roles of student-centered literature circles in web discussions. In many cases, the students have different roles (or points of view), which helps them think of things to say about the book. A typical one would be the connection maker or summarizer.

The last modification involves the literary magazine written by students, which now will be published at the Web site.

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Learning Links

In some ways, Matilda reminded me of the Writers in Electronic Residence (WIER) program I described in the July issue of Reading Online. In both projects, computer technology is used as a conduit to facilitate learning and nurture literacy. Although students learn IT skills, they are acquired because of a genuine need rather than in contrived circumstances. In WIER and Matilda, tutors play an essential role in facilitating literacy learning, and scaffolding is evident in both situations. Further, in both settings, participants are using reading and writing for authentic purposes. Finally, each project has the potential for transportability.

The technology required for projects such as Matilda and WIER is available in many countries, but other ingredients are needed as well. These include vision, will, and dedicated teachers interested in enhancing students' literacy. Matilda and WIER serve as lighthouse projects (Miller & Olson, 1998), and they indeed shed a bright light.

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References

Miller, L., & Olson, J. (1998). Literacy research oriented toward features of technology and classrooms. In D. Reinking, M.G. McKenna, L.D. Labbo., & R.D. Kieffer (Eds.), Handbook of literacy and technology: Transformations in a post-typographic world (pp. 343-360). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. [Note: This book is reviewed elsewhere in this journal.]

Ollila, M. (2000). Matilda -- telematic literature. In D. Watson & T. Downes (Eds.), Communications and networking in education: Learning in a networked society (pp. 120-121). Norwell, MA: Kluwer.

Sinko, M., & Kiesi, E. (2000). Information and communication technologies in Finnish education. In D. Watson & T. Downes (Eds.), Communications and networking in education: Learning in a networked society (pp. 120-121). Norwell, MA: Kluwer.

Reading Online, www.readingonline.org
Posted September 2000
© 2000 International Reading Association, Inc. ISSN 1096-1232