Empowering Academic Reading: Strategies for Student Engagement in the Digital Age

Abstract

Academic staff express concerns that many students do not engage with academic reading, do not have adequate note-taking skills and lack enthusiasm for academic texts (Hoeft, 2012; Miller & Merdian, 2020). Effective academic reading is a process of ‘enculturation’ in a given discipline and a key factor in student success (Cohn, 2021). To engage with digital reading requires different types of knowledge both declarative (the concepts and facts) and procedural (how to go about it) (Arnold et al, 2023). The Academic Engagement Team developed a session for academic staff using Cohn’s (2021) 5 Cs framework on digital reading. This session aims to give staff both the theory behind digital reading and pedagogical strategies to implement in their teaching; in doing so, we strengthen student engagement and help students effectively transition their reading skills to higher education and the digital environment. Staff are encouraged to reflect on their experiences using academic literature in their teaching and share examples of good practice. To date, 45 staff have attended the session. Of those who completed feedback forms 80% report they are highly likely to try one of the five strategies in their practice. In this presentation, we will discuss Cohn’s framework and hope to share real world stories from staff of their experiences of using these activities with students and the impact it has had on their engagement.