Presented at ALT-C 2014, University of Warwick, 1-3 September 2014. Paper 592. The Paperless Student: The impact of an intervention addressing digital study competencies. Matt Cornock and Blayn Parkinson, University of York, UK. Do we make too many assumptions about students' confidence and competence with digital literacy? Are the problems reading on screen based on technology or behaviours? What approaches can we use to support students and help them realise new skills to engage with digital documents? This paper aims to address these questions drawing upon survey and small scale feedback from the readingonscreen.com website.

1. The Paperless Student
The impact of an intervention addressing digital study
competencies. Presented at ALT-C, 2 September 2014.
Matt Cornock, ELDT
Blayn Parkinson, HYMS
University of York, UK

2. Context
From a sampling of first year students, nearly all owned a laptop. Many
owned other devices such as tablets and smartphones. This is a
pattern seen across higher education (Champagne, 2013; Chen &
Denoyelles, 2013). We see them use these devices in class, we
presume they are comfortable with using them for educational
purposes: reading text, annotation, collaboration. However, are these
assumptions well-founded?

3. Staff problems reading on screen
 eye strain
 blurring of text
 small screen size
 annotation
 physical discomfort
 concentration
Website feedback form

4. Student problems reading on screen
 focus and attention
 annotation
 changing formatting
 file management
Website feedback form

5. on screen than on paper “
less effective reading habits
”
Ackerman & Lauterman (2012:1817)

6. Just technological reasons
Ackerman & Lauterman (2012) and Wästlund et al. (2005) both
suggest that difficulties with technology may be down to cognitive
load, rather than the quality of the device or technological issues.
Drawing upon survey data with first year students, we looked at
perceived confidence with reading on screen against other factors.

7. Student lack of confidence with IT
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Generally
with IT
Internet Word PowerPoint Reading on
Screen
Not confident

8. Very weak correlations, if any
However, not statistically significant
comparing lack of confidence reading
on screen against other IT confidence,
device ownership or whether in
education in previous year

9. What other evidence?
Drawing upon Ackerman & Lauterman (2012), can we interpret the site
statistics as further suggestions of users difficulties with reading on
screen being based in user behaviour rather than technological flaw?

10. Most popular pages
Page title Hits Aug 2013-Aug 2014
Getting at your Kindle Notes (and Highlights) 5954
GMail Text Size 5122
Home 1722
Adobe Reader PDF Annotation 1225
Full-screen modes 972
Software to help focus 690
Word Annotation 488
Browser Text Size 410
Tablets / eReaders Annotation 364
Annotation 269
Open Office / Libra Office 266
Choosing a device to bring to university 260
PDFs on mobile devices 248
Site stats collected 18 Aug 2014

11. What could you do
Link to the site at readingonscreen.com for all new students.
Recognise that reading on screen, interacting with digital documents
and digital note-taking require additional skills in order to overcome
the perceived accepted norm of technical limitations. Solutions to
these skills gaps or confidence gaps may not be known, hence the
importance of discussing concepts like digital annotation, full screen
modes and assistive technology for all users.

12. Conclusion
Reading on screen problems affect a wide range of users with a range
of confidence with IT and different devices. Content on the site that
looks at focusing attention appears popular and may imply a
connection with theories that support difficulty with reading on screen
is down to user behaviour rather than problems with the technology.

13. readingonscreen.com
@blaynparkinson @mattcornock
See Cornock & Parkinson (2013) for project background; online presentation at http://slidesha.re/16MJ46l

14. References
Ackerman, R. & Lauterman, T. (2012). Taking reading comprehension exams on screen or on paper? A metacognitive analysis of
learning texts under time pressure. Computers in Human Behaviour, 28, 1816-1828.
Champagne, M. V. (2013). 'Student use of mobile devices in course evaluation: a longitudinal study', Educational Research and
Evaluation, Vol. 19, No. 7, pp. 636-646.
Chen, B. and Denoyelles, A. (2013). 'Exploring Students' Mobile Learning Practices in Higher Education' [online], Educase Review
Online. Available at http://www.educaue.edu/ero/article/exploring-students-mobile-learning-practices-higher-education
(accessed 10 April 2014).
Cornock, M. and Parkinson, B. (2013). Encouraging use of digital resources: responding to student feedback about problems of
reading on screen. Presentation at the 3rd Annual Higher York eLearning Conference, 4 June 2013, York St John University.
Available at http://slidesha.re/16MJ46l
Wästlund, E., Reinikka, H., Norlander, T., & Archer, T. (2005). Effects of VDT and paper presentation on consumption and
production of information: Psychological and physiological factors. Computers in Human Behaviour, 21, 377–394.