Digital vs. Print Reading

I watched a webinar sponsored by Pearson this week about the differences between reading digitally and reading on paper.   One interesting fact was that 40% - 50% of students are reading their textbooks on the small screens of their cell phones.   Some concerns with reading on a small screen are:

• The action of scrolling down promotes reading faster and skimming, leaving the reader less time to process or analyze the information.
• With the hyperlinks it is easy to get lost or distracted.
• It is cognitively more demanding because of the many decisions about what to pay attention to.
• The are many unreliable sources providing questionable information.
• Because the reader sees such a limited amount of the information it is difficult to see patterns and the overall picture.

Some things you can do:

• Use the standard reading strategies such as previewing, taking separate notes, actively striving to understand the overall picture.
• Plan on spending a bit more time and effort to successfully accomplish the above point.  Previewing and understanding the overall organization of the piece is harder on screen than when leafing through a book.
• Know your purpose for reading and adjust speed accordingly.
• Plan ahead about how to handle the hyperlinks. Perhaps look at them before reading or wait and view after.

It is bit easier on a computer screen, laptop or iPad because the screen is larger, but the distractions and how the material moves (by pages or scrolling down) are still an issue.

Whether reading digitally or on paper, comprehension and understanding are expected.   Use the same strategies for both with some adaption and extra effort for the screen.

*****
First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right link.

Potential changes in how students access textbooks

Last week I watched a webinar about Open Educational Resources (OER) presented by Innovative Educators.  Some things I learned are:

·       Many students cannot afford their textbooks and therefore either do not take a class or try to do without the book and struggle in the class.

·       Five major publishers account for 90% of the textbook market.

·       In the past ten years, the cost of textbooks has gone up by 88%.

·       The average cost of books and supplies for one semester of college is $600.

The idea behind OER is that professors can find textbooks and other documents online through a variety of sources that students can access for free.   Unlike renting an eBook from a publisher, students are able to keep these documents for use and reference later in their studies.

Several of the webinar participants indicated that their institutions were either already using these or starting to adopt this type of material, and one person stated that their institution was hoping to go paper-free in the near future.

What does this mean for the student besides saving money?  As a reading professional, I feel that the reader may have to work just a little harder to comprehend and retain the material they are reading.   At this point we do not know how the information will be presented, but we do know the following strategies will work:

·       Preview the information before starting to read.

·       Periodically stop and recall in your own words what you have read.  If you can successfully do so, move forward.  If not, reread and repeat.

·       Take separate notes.

·       Think about how what you are reading fits in with the lectures and the class as a whole.

·       Stop and review the information when done reading.

One thing we know for sure is that things will keep changing, but how we learn will not.  As readers and learners, we need to be flexible and use strategies that fit the material and our purpose for reading.

*****
First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right link.