This document discusses reading comprehension in the digital age. It explains that reading comprehension involves an interaction between the reader and text, and strategies have traditionally involved previewing, predicting, questioning, and organizing information. However, digital text is now nonlinear, incorporating various multimedia. This has transformed reading comprehension strategies, which for digital text involve skimming, scanning, and evaluating multiple online sources simultaneously. The document also discusses traditional print-based assessments of comprehension and the need to develop new methods to assess comprehension of digital texts, such as project-based and think-aloud approaches.

1. Reading in the Digital Age:
Transforming Strategies & Assessments
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Kristen Girard
Ph.D. student in School Psychology
Sandra Sawaya
Ph.D. student in Educational Psychology & Educational Technology
College of Education
Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology & Special Education

2. Introduction: Kristen
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3. Introduction: Kristen
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4. Introduction: Kristen
Education
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 Bachelor’s degree in Psychology
 Master’s degree in School Psychology
 Working on PhD in School Psychology
Experience
 Rural & city primary schools
in Michigan
Research
 Successful school change
 Reading instruction & extra help for struggling students
 Using assessments & goals to help motivate students

5. Introduction: Kristen
What do School Psychologists do in the schools?
 Help students who are struggling
 Work with teachers & parents to evaluate students for special
education services
 Increase student achievement
 Collect and analyze data for school improvement & student
outcomes
 And more!
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6. Introduction: Sandra
What do Educational Psychologists do in the schools?
 Research
 How humans learn in educational settings
 Evaluating curricula and interventions
 Inform fields like
School psychology
Instructional design
Special education
Curriculum design
Educational technology
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7. Introduction: Sandra
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8. Introduction: Sandra
Education
 Finished second year in Educational Psychology and
Educational Technology PhD program
 Background in Psychology and Special Education
Research interests
 Mobile learning
 Online learning
 Digital learning
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9. Presentation Outline
Introduction to Topic
 Reading Comprehension
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 Print Text Comprehension Strategies
Digital Age:
 Transformation of Text
 Transformation of Strategies
Assessment
 Examples of Print Text Reading Comprehension Measures
 Transformation of Assessments for Digital Age

10. We Hope You Will Learn
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What is reading comprehension?
What are reading comprehension strategies?
What is digital text and online text?
How is digital reading comprehension different from print
reading comprehension?
How are digital reading comprehension strategies different from
print reading comprehension strategies?
How does the U.S. use assessment tools to measure reading
comprehension?

11. Text
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Print Text Digital Text

12. Reading Comprehension
Reading is an important skill!
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Student’s successful progress in reading &
writing  success in school
We need basic reading skills but we also
need to understand what we read
Understanding the meaning of what we read
= READING COMPREHENSION

13. Purposes & Types of Reading
You can read for:
Fun/Enjoyment
Information/school
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You can read different types of text:
Narrative (story)
Informational text

14. Reading Comprehension
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Comprehension involves
A complex process
A constructive process
An interaction between the reader and the text
 Text: language, content/information, structure, purpose,
features
 Reader: existing knowledge, experience, vocabulary, skills,
strategies, purpose, context, opinions/views
Meaning-making process

15. Reading Comprehension Strategies
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What do we mean by strategies?
Sets of steps that good readers use
Active processes
Help to understand text
Some develop naturally
Students can be taught strategies
through instruction

16. Print Text Strategies
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Previewing
Making predictions
Asking & answering questions
Understanding important vocabulary
Analyzing charts & graphs
Interpreting text
Using graphic organizers

17. Name: ________________________________________ Date: ________________ Period: _____
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Note Taker
Events People
Topic: _______________________ Source: __________________
Key Terms Facts
Important Quotes __________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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Examples of Gra17phic Organizers

18. Reading in the Digital Age
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AGE OF TRANSFORMATION

19. Transformation of Text
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Text THEN = words + images
Text NOW = words + images + videos + audio +
simulations + ……..
Text THEN = linear
Text NOW = linear or non-linear
 Linear text: order pre-set by the author
 Non-linear text: learners choose how to navigate

20. Linear Text
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21. Non-linear Text
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22. Why do we have this transformation?
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Reading THEN = only paper
Reading NOW = paper + computer screens + phone
screens + tablet screens
 Read one PDF with hundreds of pages
 Read a 500-page book on your iPad which is less than 1 cm
thick
 Read by navigating the world wide web
Digital tools are more flexible than paper
 Allow for non-linear text (example)
 Possibilities are limitless

23. Importance of Non-linear Text
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Aligned with how we think
We don’t think and process information linearly
We think about many things at the same time
We multitask
We evaluate
We hold many ideas in our head at once
Our brains are wired to process many things at once

24. Transformation of Reading
What you read
 Books/magazines/etc…
 Websites/blogs/etc…
Where you read
 In class/at home
 On the go
How you read
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25. Transformation of how you read
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Affordances of the Web
Many sources of information within your reach
Interactions not only with text, but with hyperlinks,
audio, video, simulations…
Readers are more in control of the reading process
We do not need to read linearly
Interaction between the reader, text, and the Web
Big question: When to stop?
 In print, author tells you when to stop
 Online, you are in control of what you read

26. Strategies for Online Reading
Strategies for linear text
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 Open a website, read all of it, close it, open another one
OR
Strategies for non-linear text
 Open many websites
 Skim
 Scan
 Evaluate
 Keeping in mind the goal for reading

27. Assessment
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28. Assessment
Assessment:
 Broad term
 Collecting information about
a student’s behavior or skills
 Different methods
 Reading records/files
 Interviews
 Observations
 Tests & short measures
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Purposes:
 Screening
 Progress monitoring
 Program evaluation
 Eligibility
Use assessment data to
compare student to self &
compare student to
others

29. Assessment of Reading Comprehension
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Comprehension is often
viewed as an outcome or product of reading
tested to see if students understand
Small/short tests to examine students’ reading
comprehension are called:
Reading Comprehension Measures

30. Examples of
Reading Comprehension Measures
4 Examples of Measures
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All currently used in the U.S.
All can be used with regular and some students with
disabilities
All currently used with traditional print text

31. Examples of
Reading Comprehension Measures
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Comprehension Questions:
Student reads short story or paragraph with information
Teacher asks: Who is the main character? Where does the story
take place?
Teacher asks: What do you think would be a good title for this
story?
Teacher asks: How long did it take Dan to walk to the store?
A. 5 minutes
B. 30 minutes
C. 1 hour
Does the student get the questions correct or incorrect?

32. Examples of
Reading Comprehension Measures
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Recall Task:
Student reads short story or paragraph with information
Teacher says: Tell me as much as you can about what you just read.
Teacher says: Tell me everything you remember about the
beginning, middle, and end of the story.
How much can the student remember (how many words do they say)?
How many details can the student remember?
Can the student correctly sequence the events of the story?
Does the student understand the main idea?

33. Examples of
Reading Comprehension Measures
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Maze Measures:
Student completes a worksheet with a printed passage. Every seventh word
is replaced with a box.
Teacher says: You are going to read a story with some missing
words. For each missing word there will be a box with 3 words. Circle the
word that makes the most sense in the story.
After playing in the dirt, Sam went home, summer, was to wash her hands.
How many worksheet items does the student answer correctly in 3
minutes?

34. Examples of
Reading Comprehension Measures
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Cloze Measures:
Student completes a worksheet with a printed passage. Every seventh word
is replaced with a blank.
Teacher says: You are going to read a story with some missing
words. For each missing word you must choose a word that makes
sense in the story.
On her way home, she walked a tall building.
How many worksheet items does the student answer correctly in 3
minutes?

35. Assessing online reading
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No measures to assess online reading
comprehension
Proposed methods
 Project-based: open-ended, aligned with how we think and
learn
 Think-aloud

36. We Hope You Learned
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What is reading comprehension?
What are reading comprehension strategies?
What is digital text and online text?
 How is digital reading comprehension different from print reading
comprehension?
 How are digital reading comprehension strategies different from print
reading comprehension strategies?
 How does the U.S. use assessment tools to measure reading
comprehension?
Questions?

37. References & Resources
National Association of School Psychologists www.nasponline.org
Coiro, J., & Dobler, E. (2007). Exploring the online reading comprehension strategies used by sixth-grade skilled
readers to search for and locate information on the internet. Reading Research Quarterly, 42 (2), 214-257.
doi: 10.1598/RRQ42.2.2
International Reading Association (IRA) & National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
(adopted 1998). Learning to read and write: Developmentally appropriate practices for young children [a joint
position statement]. Newark, DE and Washington, DC: Author.
McNamara, T., Miller, D., & Bransford, J. D. (2000). Mental models and reading comprehension. In R. Barr, M. L.
Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 2, pp. 490-511). New
York: Longman.
Duke, N. K., & Carlisle, J. F. (2011). The development of comprehension. In M. L. Kamil, P. D. Pearson, E. B. Moje,
and P. Afflerbach (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research, Vol. IV. London: Routledge.
RAND Reading Study Group. (2002). Reading for understanding: Toward an R & D program in reading
comprehension. Santa Monica, CA: RAND.
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