"If I need help with technology, I just ask my kids—they always know how to do it."

"I don't know how to use all the apps on my cell phone, but my students help me out."

"My grandson can turn on his favorite show on the television! He knows all the buttons to push, and he is only 4!"

Chances are, you have heard comments like these, or you have said them yourself. But is knowing how to use a device enough when it comes to using technology for learning? Despite the belief in the superior technology knowledge of children and young adults, Angela Maiers reminds us that digital natives aren’t necessarily “infosumers or savvy participants in a digital space.” Knowing how to use a device or digital content for entertainment does not mean students know how to use them for learning. Today's digital natives are primarily "tech comfy," Teens may need to show adults how to use SnapChat, but age and experience help adults know more about how to evaluate the content on this platform and other digital spaces.

In order to create critical thinkers who are able to comprehend, analyze, and evaluate digital content, educators must be intentional in preparing students for 21st century learning. That includes reading content on the screen from a variety of sources—blogs, social media posts, databases, articles, and forums.

There are many initiatives in education today that drive the need to teach students how to read on a screen to the forefront of digital literacy: blended learning, Google Apps for Education, 1:1 schools, and of course, online testing. While this is a relatively new field of study, there is some research that tells us that reading online text is much different than reading print. Maria Konnikova's New Yorker article Being a Better Online Reader shares these ideas about reading on a screen:

The recent focus on fake news has also increased the public's awareness that reading information on a screen is much different than reading an article from a newspaper or magazine. It takes a close eye, active engagement, and even a little research to not only read text on a screen, but also identify it as valid, truthful information. The task at hand may seem daunting, but INFOhio has been collecting research and best practices to help educators begin to teach digital natives how to be thoughtful, engaged, readers able to evaluate online text.

Best Practices

Where do you start? Begin by reading the Best Practices for Online Reading which was developed by the INFOhio Early Literacy Task Force. The best practices in this document were developed using research and educational articles. Best practices for the instruction of reading digital text include using digital text in a lesson, modeling active reading strategies using digital tools for annotation or navigation, and communicating with parents to let them know how important it is to include digital text as part of reading at home. The best practices are suitable for teaching readers of any age, and should not be considered a part of early literacy only.

Lesson Plans

Within the Best Practices for Online Reading document, there are several lesson plans that incorporate the practices in reading instruction. Each of the six lessons is aligned with the Ohio Learning Standards and uses INFOhio digital content. The grade level, topics, and INFOhio resources for each are:

Preschool—Reading - Opposites, World Book Early Learning

Kindergarten—Reading - Friendship, BookFlix

First Grade—Reading - Physical Fitness, BookFlix

Second/Third Grade—Reading - Physical Fitness, World Book Kids

6th Grade—Social Studies/Reading - Maps, World Book Student, World Book Kids, World Book Timelines, and the Digital Video Collection

High School—Biology/Reading - Cell Structure and Function, Science Online, and Explora for Grades 9-12

Professional Development

In addition to lessons for student instruction, the Learn With INFOhio professional development webinar series features several recorded presentations on helping digital natives engage and connect with text on a screen. Each Learn With INFOhio webinar is worth one contact hour. Participants can take short quiz after viewing and will receive a certificate. Eric Curts, Ohio's Google guru, presented Google Tools for Struggling Students. Many of the tools he shared in this webinar are for reading digital text. Control, Alt, Read offers research, resources and easy to apply strategies to use with students of any age who are reading on the screen. 

INFOhio's Learning Pathways are another way to do PD your way with flexible, self-paced online classes. Be sure to take the Reading on the Screen class in the K-5 Digital Content Learning Pathway to learn more about the importance of instruction using digital text and the best practices and strategies to impact learning. This class provides a contact hour certificate and has something for all educators who teach grades K-12.

There are also blog posts that share ideas and approaches for teaching students to read digital text. Check out Close Reading and Analysis of Digital Text for English grades 9-12 and Engage, Connect, and Reflect: Using Digital Text in the Classroom. Other posts discuss Scholastic's digital text and resources, such as Scholastic Stuff for Students - Straight to Your Desktop!

Find It All In One Place

There are many different resources and tools from INFOhio that will help you support the digital natives in your classroom as they read, and ultimately learn from, digital text. The easiest way to get all these materials is to visit INFOhio's Educator Tools. Search for "online reading" or use the limiter under Instructional Trends. 

Developing readers who can tackle tough text on a device or in a book is a key part of preparing today's digital natives to be tomorrow's technology leaders no matter what path they choose for their future. Integrating digital text in many forms and from many platforms and asking students to engage, connect, and reflect on it is an important part of 21st century education. Let us know your ideas about reading on the screen. Stay connected and email, tweet, or post your use of INFOhio's digital text and tools and resources. Don't forget #INFOhioWorks!