More on "Reading Just Ain't What it Used to Be

This post was not intended to denigrate the traditional paper book, which I too will continue to enjoy, but was about exploring the possibilities that now exist because of the evolution of technology and how having access to a device while I read is causing changes in how I interact with text.  As an educator, I can't help but think how this will transfer to reading in my classroom once more students have devices in hand.

This was the first time I found myself frustrated by the limitations of the form. The text I was reading required knowledge not within my current schema. In the past I might have abandoned the text because of my inability to create context, or I might have continued to read, skipping over that which I did not understand, or I might have pursued a few of the ideas and new vocabulary, but definitely not to the extent that I am doing now. With a device I can search and construct knowledge while reading so that the text becomes more meaningful.  This has led inevitably to a slowing down of the reading process as I read rhizomatically rather than linearly - if those words might be allowed.


The possibility to seek additional information has always existed, as Nigel Victor Rees pointed out to me on twitter, but ease of access to that information has not.  For a student to develop a question while reading and to persist in finding the answer to that question requires easy access to information.  It becomes a complex process when the only source material is printed books. It requires the school to have appropriate texts on hand at the requisite reading level of the student and it requires that those materials be accessible while the student has the question in mind.  This is definitely not the case in most schools, particularly with the elimination of teacher-librarians who in the past would have helped students find answers to their questions. I suspect that there are many, many students who leave our classrooms with unanswered questions because of lack of easy access to knowledge. With the transition to well-constructed e-readers or devices or whatever form the modern textbook will take, there is a greater chance that the students will actually persist in finding answers to their questions.

Being able to click on links and interact with the text can only be a good thing when it comes to developing critical thinking skills.  When questionable information is presented, the capacity now exists to fact check, compare sources and more actively question the validity of texts while reading, rather than having to pursue this after the text has been read and for feedback to be given to the authors of the texts so that corrections can be made.

It is not is not that suggestions of where to pursue additional information are not included in printed textbooks. References are there. However, when a website suggestion is made, this requires a student to have access to a computer, to log in, to wait several minutes to access the web, to key in a sometimes lengthy URL and then finally to search the site.  The complexity of this process deters most students from even beginning.  With e-textbooks every student will be able to quickly access relevant information with a simple click. Why wouldn't we want that for our students?   It's not that the traditional and familiar process of reading a printed text is not an enjoyable experience, it's that the possibility of pursuing a different reading experience now exists and will, I believe, make the process of reading richer.