How Technology Is Revolutionizing College Reading

How Technology is Revolutionizing College Reading The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, by Nicholas Carr CHAPTER MAIN TOPICS One: 2008 – Research and consulting firm nGenera released study: For people who have grown up using Hal and Me the web, the “digital immersion has even affected the way they absorb information” (p. 9). They don’t follow traditional right to left, top to bottom pattern; instead, they jump around. Carr himself reported loss of ability to pay attention. Also, constant desire to get new information from the Net. He “always wanted to be connected.” (p. 16) Two: Michael Merzenich – 1968 – First to discover brain’s plasticity in monkeys. The Vital Hebb’s rule – cells that fire together wire together. Paths Brain constantly in a state of change; adapts to small changes in circumstances, behavior, & thinking. Once new pathways are formed, they want to stay; thus, habits, addictions, mental symptoms. Use it or lose it. Survival of the busiest. Three: Four outcomes of technology: Tools of 1. extend our physical strength (plow, fighter jet) the Mind 2. extend our senses (microscope, Geiger counter) 3. reshape nature (birth control) 4. extend mental powers (map, clock, computers) Two views of technology’s role; both support “technological advances mark turning points in history": 1. determinism – is outside of man’s control, eventually will make man dispensable. 2. instrumentalists – man uses technology to achieve what he wants. Speaking and understanding verbal words is innate. Reading and writing are learned skills – they require shaping of the brain. Four: Reading – there are particular regions of brain devoted to deciphering of text. This becomes The automatic. Then, able to focus on meaning. Deepening Readers’ brains become able to ignore distractions and sustain attention. Page Many report a change in consciousness when “immersed” in a book. Five: 2009 – Time people spent online increased rapidly, but no decrease in time spent watching television. A Medium Decrease in time spent reading. of the “We don’t see the forest when we search the web. We don’t even see the trees. We see twigs and Most leaves” (p. 91). General Nature People using Internet more and other media less (music CDs, movie DVDs, newspapers). Six: Benefits of books over digital readers: The Very  Easier to read paper than pixels Image of a  Less eye fatigue Book  Navigating book easier, turning pages  Able to add notes  When done, put on book shelf or give to a friend Advantages of digital reader:  Clarity almost as good as printed page  Can now use in direct sun  New technologies reduces eye strain  Easier to flip page, bookmark, highlight, annotate  Font size can be changed  Can hold hundreds of books  Can get a book almost immediately Seven: Surfing the web promotes cursory reading, hurried/distracted thinking, superficial learning (p. 116). The It is multi-sensory: hands and fingers, visual, auditory. Juggler’s We don’t really “read” when browsing the web. Our eyes mostly scan the screen. Brain Constant source of new information overloads the working memory. Readers of “linear texts comprehend more, remember more and learn more than those who read text peppered with links” (p. 127). CRLA 2013: Arden Hamer & Sally Lipsky, Indiana University of Pennsylvania How Technology is Revolutionizing College Reading Brain activity: Reading – language, memory, visual processing, brains more calm in experienced readers. Surfing the Web – decision-making, problem solving, helps keep minds sharp. Strengthens lower- level cognitive skills: hand-eye coordination, reflex response, processing visual cues, fast-paced problem solving. Eight: Larry Page and Sergey Buin – founders of Google. They see information as a commodity with the The goal to access and process as much information as possible as quickly as possible. Church of Carr – need both “efficient data collection and inefficient contemplation” (p. 168). Google We live in a time of “information overload” (p. 170). Nine: Computer’s memory: limited space, information immediately saved as entered, never changes. Search, Human long-term memory: no limit, continues to process information after received, constant state of Memory renewal. Ten: ELIZA – Computer program that can carry on conversation playing off what human responded. A Thing Developed by Joseph Weizenbaum. Like Me Alan Turing – Turing Test – can a person distinguish between a computer and a human respondent? John Culkin, 1967 – “We shape our tools and thereafter they shape us” (p. 210). Christof van Nimwegen, 2003 – Experiment involving problem solving with and without help of computer. Those without help solved problems quicker and more efficiently. Also, group without help solved similar problems quicker and more efficiently 8 months later.

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CRLA 2013: Arden Hamer & Sally Lipsky, Indiana University of Pennsylvania How Technology is Revolutionizing College Reading Yong, J. R. The object formerly known as the textbook. (January 27, 2013). The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Dont-Call-Them-Textbooks/136835/? cid=wb&utm_source=wb&utm_medium=en

CRLA 2013: Arden Hamer & Sally Lipsky, Indiana University of Pennsylvania