Double Entry #6

“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