Love it, avoid it, or ehh…Reading is a constant in higher education

“…faculty face the stark and depressing challenge of facilitating learning when over 70% of the students will not have read assigned course reading”

Hobson, E. H. (2004). Getting Students to Read: Fourteen Tips. IDEA Paper No. 44, Manhattan,

KS: Kansas State University, Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development.

“I don’t need to read it because the instructor goes over it in class”

vs.“I don’t need to read it because the instructor

never refers to it”Vs.

“You turned this course into an independent learning course and didn’t do your job of teaching.”

Amount of reading in any one class or during any given time frame

Types of items: handouts, non-scholarly articles, textbooks & secondary sources, scholarly articles, primary & classic sources, etc.

Difficulty of material Format of class: in-person, hybrid, or online*Your Mileage May Vary

Where specifically does reading frustrate you?

Speed: just getting through Comprehension: understanding Retention: remembering Analysis: taking it apart Synthesis: connecting it

Text to speech Vocabulary support Text interaction

Select at least three tools from the list on Day 2: Reading page of the wiki

Try them out Record your experiences on your page in

the wiki – use the table to make this easy

“...find out why you don't understand what you read...Is it because the words are unfamiliar? ...The reason you are having trouble is not because the book is written to confuse you. The trouble may be ...understanding difficult concepts. The trouble could be because you are faced with new words. The solution here is simple; look them up.”

Tips for increasing reading comprehension for students. http://www.helium.com/items/455675-college-students-become-frustrated Visited 4/24/08

� Time� Understanding the definitione How much do you look up?

Online dictionaries – bookmark your favorite!

Wikipedia for background (use search tools in Firefox)

Ultimate Talking Dictionary Website for your textbook- bookmark it Keep your bookmarks organized across

computers with Foxmarks or by using Firefox portable – or both!

Google search define:

Try using Google define: with a couple of words.

Try out Ultimate Talking Dictionary◦ Start>All Programs>Premier AT>Ultimate Talking

Dictionary Try 2 different online dictionaries. Which is

most helpful? Record your experiences on your wiki page

No tactile input Little variation in how text looks

(background, size, page layout) Other distractions on screen “...the reading process is 25%-40% slower on

screen than from the printed page and that we tend to skim read on screen material instead of reading the detailed textual content.” (Nielsen &Krug, 2000)

Text to speech Etext Reader – highlighting, extraction,

summary PDF Equalizer Skim (Mac)

Side-by-side reading view (in Word – View, Reading Layout)

Use full-screen view or remove toolbars temporarily

Change background color (Settings, Control Panel, Display, Appearance. Change to Windows classic)

Reading tools on your USB drive WordFlashReader

Try each of the four visual helps on your USB drive◦ T-Bar◦ RapidSet◦ Vu-Bar◦ ssOverlay

Record your experiences on your wiki page!

Bookshare Learning Ally Open Library Project Gutenberg and Librivox

Go check out each of these resources Record your experience on your wiki page.

How might they be useful to you in the future?

Kindle iPad Evolution of eBooks