Susan Batur, Digital Futures (CoHM), Academic Division
Fiona Newman, School of Nursing, CoHM
Although reading academic textbooks and journal articles plays a pivotal role in studying at university, research suggests that up to 70% of students fail to meet reading expectations set by teaching staff (St Clair-Thompson et al., 2018). Reported reasons are varied and include: lack of motivation; underestimating perceived benefits and/or importance; the effects of technology on reading patterns; time constraints and competing demands (Zeivots, 2021).
Given the clandestine nature of this passive learning activity, whether students actually complete assigned reading tasks is mostly hidden from educators. As such, we were interested in answering two key questions:
1. Does collaborative learning increase students’ motivation to read?
2. How can we gain insight into students’ reading habits?
This presentation shares the experience of piloting the Feedback Fruits Interactive Document tool in an online postgraduate nursing unit. The tool, designed to foster engagement and collaboration among students, tutors and content, was used to facilitate interaction with a key unit reading.
The results indicate that this teaching tool is effective for all types of academic reading: particularly for lengthy or dense readings that students find difficult to comprehend or engage with. Furthermore, real-time analytics data meant that students’ interaction with the reading material was readily available: providing valuable insight into student understanding of the reading material.
This exemplar shares not only results from the pilot but provides practical advice for how you could introduce this tool to your own learning and teaching context.
St Clair-Thompson, H., Graham, A., & Marsham, S. (2018). Exploring the reading practice of undergraduate students, Education Inquiry, 9(3), 284-298. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20004508.2017.1380487
Zeivots, S. (2021, August 24). Up to 80% of uni students don’t read their assigned readings. Here are 6 helpful tips for teachers. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/up-to-80-of-uni-students-dont-read-their-assigned-readings-here-are-6-helpful-tips-for-teachers-165952
View the exemplar on the Teaching Matters 2023 intranet page.