Why Reading Still Matters–And How Social Annotation Can Help

Today’s college students read less for class than previous generations, often citing a lack of motivation and focus as main drivers of the change. Digital course texts like eBooks and PDFs can compound challenges with attention as students grapple with the effects of screens and hypertexts on cognitive processing. One consequence of the shift to digital is the erosion of linear reading, a skill necessary for comprehending novels and other kinds of longform writing. Linear reading is characterized by a “continuous” sequential focus on a single alphabetic text and a prerequisite to deep reading. Students today tend to prioritize nonlinear reading–specifically, “task-relevant navigation”–to scan and skim passages. While linear and nonlinear reading are important in their own ways, skimming and scanning can circumvent the process of encoding, leaving students unable to understand and integrate new information, let alone retrieve and apply it in real-world contexts.

One of the ways faculty can motivate students to spend more time reading is by explaining its relationship to learning–in other words, by making the purpose of reading transparent to students. If students understand how reading contributes to processes of retaining, comprehending, and communicating knowledge, they may be motivated to read their course texts more carefully and for longer. 

Hypothesis social annotation can be used to promote student learning through reading in a variety of ways–let’s review a few of them!

Annotate to Support Linear and Deep Reading

A practice most commonly associated with physical books, linear reading generally involves reading a text from start to finish, resulting in a gradual understanding of the text. This practice requires time and sustained attention, without which students may look to ChatGPT and other AI to “read” for them. Deep reading–whether understood as “in-depth processing” or perhaps even the discovery of our own thoughts–relies upon linear reading as its foundation. Hypothesis social annotation can support both linear and deep reading by prolonging student engagement with course texts. 

• Use annotation to slow down the reading process. Researchers have found that the longer students spend with a text, the better their comprehension and retention. Faculty can encourage this practice by adding guiding annotations to reading assignments, helping to direct students’ focus and encourage iterative reading practices. 
• Use annotation to encourage students to read texts in their entirety. In many cases, new ideas and concepts are best understood in their narrative context. In addition to requiring students to distribute their annotations throughout assigned readings, faculty can require students to make annotations that build upon ideas and information presented at the beginning, middle, and end of the text.

Annotate to Encourage Retrieval Practice and Metacognition

Research shows that studying using retrieval practice is more effective than relying upon re-reading alone to learn new concepts. Examples of retrieval practice include free-recall activities and quizzing (including self-quizzing with flashcards and similar tools). Metacognitive exercises can complement retrieval strategies by prompting students to identify what they know or don’t know as they practice recalling important information.

• Suggest the use of private annotation and page notes to support retrieval during self-study. Encourage students to practice free-recall (sometimes called “Brain Dumps”) in private annotations and page notes. For example, a student might return to a text a few days after their first read and write down everything they remember before reading it a second or third time.
• Use annotation to support metacognition. Ask students to reflect upon prior understanding and identify existing confusions in their annotations. Example prompts might include: How does this passage connect to last week’s topic? How would you define this concept, and what else do you need to know to feel like you fully understand it?

Annotate to Enhance Nonlinear and Multimodal Reading

The rise of nonlinear reading coincides with the popularization of multimodal digital texts for classroom learning. There are a variety of ways Hypothesis social annotation can be used to support effective nonlinear reading of digital texts and videos.

• Encourage students to use tagging. Tags help students quickly search class annotations by keyword. Further, the process of tagging–deciding what and how to categorize information–is a metacognitive task that reinforces learning, particularly as students encounter new words and concepts. Tagging can also help students “chunk” dense readings into understandable parts.  

• Use annotations to explore hypertext while maintaining a focus on learning. Digital eBooks and other instructional materials are often rich with potentially distracting hyperlinks. Annotations can be used to focus learning by providing a space to make connections between hyperlinked content and the primary reading.

• Annotate video transcripts to analyze multimodal texts. Hypothesis can now be used alongside YouTube and Canvas Studio to encourage active engagement as students watch videos for class instruction. 

When we situate reading and writing as learning, students are better equipped for success in and beyond the classroom. Hypothesis social annotation is a simple tool that supports student focus and unlocks the possibility of active reading in the digital age. 

So, the next time you pick up a book or an article, remember to hypothesize first–it could change the way you read forever!