Twenty-sixth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

A common frustration in tertiary education is that students tend to be reluctant to read and engage with, assigned academic texts. This presentation asks: Would this reluctance alter if students could collaboratively read, and comment on, an academic text online? From a thematic analysis of students’ online posts about the online reading task, three key findings emerged. Firstly, sentence starters rather than questions made it easier for students to begin a response about the text, Secondly, students believed that by being able to comment together about the text, created social spaces in which they interacted with the text more deeply and actively than they might otherwise. Usual practice, the admitted, was often a cursory skim reading rather than purposeful and engaged critical reading. The major downside was that each group needed someone to begin the commenting to initiate the collaborative responding, and whoever initiated this, felt exposed regarding their opinions and observations. On the other hand, other group members enjoyed reading the text with a peer’s thoughts and views in mind, making it easier to read more deeply themselves. Overall, sharing perspectives about the text helped make the reading experience more positive and rewarding.