“The RAND Reading Study Group (2002),
citing several studies, suggests that students who are proficient
online readers are not necessarily proficient offline readers and
vice versa. Unlike reading assigned textbooks, reading online
challenges students to make judgments about the reputability and
validity of the information they see”(David, 2009).
I find the fact that people who are
good online readers, but are not good offline readers interesting.
When I think about this I can understand why people who are good
offline readers might struggle with online reading, but the other way
around does not make sense to me. When we read online we are faced
with pop-ups, images, sounds, and flashing advertisements in the
margins trying to distract us as we read. Also when reading online we
have to decide whether the information we are reading sounds accurate
and we must face the possibility that the web-site we are visiting
might be biased. I feel that when reading online we are faced with
several challenges that most offline readers do not face. One
similarity between online and offline reading is that both online and
offline readers face distractions. However, when we are reading
offline in a textbook we are mostly sure that the information is
accurate and that the author is not biased. I wonder if the reason
why online readers might find offline reading challenging is because
they do not find offline reading exciting. Maybe online readers enjoy being
able to click several links and discover if the information they are
reading is biased or not based on their searching.
In school we never did any activities
that really looked at the difference between online and offline
reading, and as we discussed in Education 2201 in class on Tuesday
some teachers never take the initiative to show students certain
subject matter they believe to not be their problem. Therefore, I
would find comparing my own students abilities between online and
offline reading propelling. An activity that I would one day like to
perform with my students would include having my students read on a
subject using online research and compare their findings with that of
the information in the book. This activity would teach my students
how to be careful when researching. Also this activity might reveal
to my students where their strengths and weakness lay when dealing
with online and offline research.
When I began searching for a video or
newspaper article on the subject of online and offline reading, I was
faced with some difficulty and rather surprised at the lack of
information on these important subjects. However, I did find a video
that discusses why some people might have difficulty reading online. This video suggest that some people might find reading online difficult because of the various presentations of fonts and colors created by the web designer. Furthermore, this video does not believe that there is a significant difference between reading online or offline; the process is all the same according to this video.
David,
J. (2009, March). Teaching media literacy.
Educational
Leadership,
66(6),
84-86. Retrieved from
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational- leadership/mar09/vol66/num06/Teaching-Media-Literacy.aspx
Online
speed reading-best methods. (2010, July 21). 7
Speed Reading.
[Video podcast]. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlYxEedluvA
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