University Calendar
Beyond scanning: A discussion and workshop on crafting reading/study guides to foster deeper and more meaningful student reading experiences
Lunch will be served!
One of the largest complaints I hear as a faculty development facilitator is that students don't read. Or don't read well. Or don't understand how to use what they have read. I was granted access to some forthcoming research that argues that the use of study/reading guides enhances students' engagement with course readings, increases quiz scores, and increases discussion/participation in the classroom*. This study investigated students enrolled in large introductory child development courses, with a much different scope, delivery, and content material than my own literary-oriented first-year writing courses. Beyond the study questions often assigned from the textbook, I wondered whether constructing my own reading guides would further engage students in more deeply reading and complexly analyzing the texts, rather than the superficial reading most students seem to do (if they read at all).
As a writing instructor, I want my students to do the reading and come to class prepared to analyze, interpret, discuss, and debate the material I've carefully selected (as we all do). This semester I experimented with requiring reading guides to be completed with each course reading, in addition to several other practices and exercises grounded in research and theory on how students read, why they do/don't, and how to get students to read, and to read for meaning.
Join me and your teaching colleagues for this interactive discussion and workshop (please bring one or two course readings you frequently use) on developing and using reading/study guides to engage students in reading.
April 29, 2015 at 12:00pm.
*Maurer, T.W., & Longfield, J. (in press). Using reading guides and on-line quizzes to improve reading compliance and quiz scores. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning.