Students’ use of paper and pen versus digital media in university environments for writing and reading – a cross-cultural exploration

This paper offers a summative cross cultural analysis of qualitative survey data collected to investigate the impact of digital media on writing and reading within universities from different countries. It addresses the particular aspect of the student’s experiences of paper and pen versus digital media. This study is based on the results of individual qualitative research conducted in 10 countries in two continents by members of the COST Action FP1104, Work Group 1 – Customers and Users. The methodological approach used is qualitative content analysis of the reported research and analysis of the individual country surveys. The survey was conducted in the national language of each country using the same research questions. Various survey methods were deployed – online questionnaire; questionnaire and interviews or hand written essays. The principal results show that there are many similarities between the countries studied but that some use pen and paper less whereas others are more prepared to use hand writing, this may link to the availability and use of digital technologies as well as to personal preferences. Reading and writing competencies are changing with the use of digital technologies but students still see benefits of reading and writing with paper which they continue to use, especially to convey private emotions and intimate feelings. This study provides new learning about the contrasting use of paper and digital media within an educational rather than business setting. These surveys provided the basis for the design and analysis of a follow up quantitative study (not examined in this paper) and for further exploration of this important research topic within the countries surveyed, particularly in social sciences and pedagogical studies

m-Reading: Fiction reading from mobile phones

Mobile phones are reportedly the most rapidly expanding e-reading device worldwide. However, the embodied, cognitive and affective implications of smartphone-supported fiction reading for leisure (m-reading) have yet to be investigated empirically. Revisiting the theoretical work of digitization scholar Anne Mangen, we argue that the digital reading experience is not only contingent on patterns of embodied reader–device interaction (Mangen, 2008 and later) but also embedded in the immediate environment and broader situational context. We call this the situation constraint. Its application to Mangen’s general framework enables us to identify four novel research areas, wherein m-reading should be investigated with regard to its unique affordances. The areas are reader–device affectivity, situated embodiment, attention training and long-term immersion

Reading and company: embodiment and social space in silent reading practices

Reading, even when silent and individual, is a social phenomenon and has often been studied as such. Complementary to this view, research has begun to explore how reading is embodied beyond simply being ‘wired’ in the brain. This article brings the social and embodied perspectives together in a very literal sense. Reporting a qualitative study of reading practices across student focus groups from six European countries, it identifies an underexplored factor in reading behaviour and experience. This factor is the sheer physical presence, and concurrent activity, of other people in the environment where one engages in individual silent reading. The primary goal of the study was to explore the role and possible associations of a number of variables (text type, purpose, device) in selecting generic (e.g. indoors vs outdoors) as well as specific (e.g. home vs library) reading environments. Across all six samples included in the study, participants spontaneously attested to varied, and partly surprising, forms of sensitivity to company and social space in their daily efforts to align body with mind for reading. The article reports these emergent trends and discusses their potential implications for research and practice

From Culture 2.0 to a Network State of Mind: A Selective History of Web 2.0’s Axiologies and a Lesson from It

There is never a shortage of celebratory and condemnatory popular discourse on digital media even in its early days. This, of course, is also true of the advent of Web 2.0. In this article, I shall argue that normative analyses of digital media should not take lightly the popular discourse, as it can deepen our understanding of the normative and axiological foundation(s) of our judgements towards digital media. Looking at some of the most representative examples available, I examine the latest wave of popular discourse on digital media, focusing on the (new) worries and doubts voiced by the alarmists and the (new) hopes and dreams portrayed by the enthusiasts. I shall illustrate that various stances in the popular discourse on Web 2.0 are ultimately rested on different notions of the self. This conclusion entails an important lesson for our practice of critiques of digital media, as it entails that our critiques of digital media cannot be done without referring to a notion of the self. Hence, a normative enquiry of digital media should not only be about the moral and/or prudential goodness or badness per se; it should be about who we should be online, or which notion(s) of the self we should strive for

What can screen capture reveal about students’ use of software tools when undertaking a paraphrasing task?

Previous classroom observations, and examination of students’ written drafts, had suggested that when summarising or paraphrasing source texts, some of our students were using software tools (for example the copy-paste function and synonym lookup) in possibly unhelpful ways. To test these impressions we used screen capture software to record 20 university students paraphrasing a short text using the word-processing package on a networked PC, and analysed how they utilised software to fulfil the task. Participants displayed variable proficiency in using word-processing tools, and very few accessed external sites. The most frequently enlisted tool was the synonym finder. Some of the better writers (assessed in terms of their paraphrase quality) availed themselves little of software aids. We discuss how teachers of academic writing could help students make more efficient and judicious use of commonly available tools, and suggest further uses of screen capture in teaching and researching academic writing

You Can “Like” It on Paper Too: Reaching Digital Students through Analog Displays

In response to literature on libraries as space and the Millennial generation, this chapter speaks to the importance of the academic library as both social and communal space and how to communicate with today’s college students. These case studies illustrate that students can be reached through analog displays, building an unconscious community between students as a group and students with the library. Community built within the academic library is discussed in light of these analog displays, the current library literature and via sociological positions. It is concluded that although it is thought that students want digital or online communication only, the highest amount of interaction with displays come from the traditional, analog elements

Reading on paper and scrolling text on a screen in academic learning

UID/SOC/04647/2019In the contemporary context, there is a growing practice of reading higher education teaching support material using digital media tools, via scrolling text on a screen on multiple devices (e.g. tablets, iPads and computers). These materials can be either specifically prepared digital texts or scanned printed texts, as opposed to the tradition of reading on paper. Thus, the following question emerges, which functions as the leitmotiv of the present study: what is the pedagogical potential of digital reading by scrolling text? In order to answer this question, we analysed a variety of information addressing this topic, which was collected from multiple sources. The analysis of this information allows concluding that, sometimes, rather than by the intentionality or pedagogical potential of the academic learning reading processes, this practice seems to be justified by the possibility of implementing a technology that tends to meet the actors' expectations (mainly students). There is the need for some caution in the mobilisation of digital reading in each specific situation, insofar as this reading is not always - necessarily and under any circumstance - the most fruitful. Besides the specificities that differentiate digital reading from printed reading (such as concentration and the relationship with new technologies), students' traits, their motivation, their knowledge about the use of the reading device or the type of digital document are some of the key elements to take into account for the success of learning through this reading process in academic learning, which, in addition, cannot overlook the importance of the type of teacher-student relationship established.publishersversionpublishe

Improving children's comprehension and attitude towards reading by using technology

https://www.ester.ee/record=b5366756*es

The Relationship between the Digital Literacy Levels of Turkish Language Teacher Candidates and Their Attitudes Towards Digital Writing

The purpose of this study is to explore the levels of digital literacy among Turkish teacher candidates as well as their attitudes about digital writing, and to investigate the relationship between these variables. The survey model is used in this study using a quantitative research approach. The sample of the research consists of 556 Turkish language teacher candidates studying at 18 different public universities in Turkey in the fall of the 2021-2022 academic years. In this study, personal information form, Digital Literacy Scale, and Attitude Scale for Digital Writing (DWS) are employed as data collection tools. The data are analyzed using correlation and regression analysis test. The research findings show that the digital literacy levels of Turkish language teacher candidates and their attitudes towards digital writing are moderate. These findings disclose a necessity to improve both the digital literacy of Turkish teacher candidates and their attitudes towards digital writing. Additionally, the results generally reveal a favorable and significant correlation between the participants’ attitudes regarding digital writing and their degrees of digital literacy. The findings of the present study are examined in the light of the literature, and different recommendations are developed

Percepciones del alumnado universitario sobre el uso de tecnologías en actividades educativas y esfuerzo mental invertido

Las diferentes generaciones (nativos digitales, estudiantes residentes, generación Y, X o Z) muestran una preferencia hacia las tecnologías y el mundo digital. Este estudio “ex post-facto” se presenta bajo el objetivo de conocer las preferencias que estudiantes universitarios tienen respecto a o la utilización de diferentes recursos para diversas actividades educativas, así como la inversión de esfuerzo mental y percepción de facilidad que tienen para aprender respecto a diferentes medios y recursos tecnológicos. El muestreo empleado es no probabilístico, convencional e intencional. En én participan 2.148 estudiantes universitarios de diferentes ramas científicas de doce universidades públicas españolas. Para ello, se diseña un instrumento “ad hoc” cuyos datos arrojan altos índices de fiabilidad y vigencia. Los resultados apuntan que los estudiantes tienden a tener percepciones distintas respecto a los diversos medios y recursos presentados, en lo que se refiere al nivel de esfuerzo mental, así como la facilidad para aprender mediante ellos. En ese sentido, se discute la casuística de los resultados y comparar con la teoría del esfuerzo mental propuesta por Salomón(1981). Los hallazgo pueden ser explicados por el resultado de la interacción de tres elementos: los sistemas simbólicos movilizados para elaborar mensajes, el mensaje y la tecnología que los empaqueta, formaliza y transmite. De la misma forma, se concluye debatiendo la la aplicabilidad de los resultados para la mejora de la competencia digital del alumnadoDifferent generations (digital natives, resident students, generation Y, X, or Z) show a preference towards technologies and the digital world. This "ex-post-facto" study is presented to learn the preferences that university students have regarding the use of different resources for various educational activities, as well as the investment of mental effort and perceived ease of learning concerning different means and technological resources. The sampling used is non-probabilistic, conventional, and intentional. 2,148 university students from different scientific fields of twelve Spanish public universities participate in it. To do this, an "ad hoc" instrument is designed whose data show high reliability and validity indices. The results indicate that students tend to have different perceptions regarding the various means and resources presented, in terms of the level of mental effort needed, along with the degree of easiness to learn through them. In this sense, the casuistry of the results is discussed and compared with the theory of mental effort proposed by Salomon (1981). The findings can be explained by the result of the interaction of three elements: the symbolic systems mobilized to elaborate messages, the message, and the technology that packages, formalizes, and transmits them. In the same way, it concludes by discussing the applicability of the results for the improvement of the digital competence of the student