I was really grateful to read Annette Lamb’s definitions of five electronic reading environments. Whilst I think I have a pretty book grasp of (and exposure to) ebooks, reference databases and interactive storybooks, as a high school teacher, my experience with transmedia storytelling and hypertexts is limited. I have felt very much like a dinosaur for transitioning to kindles or ebooks, because I just can’t move past the joy I get from reading a physical book. My ineptitude of not being able to read from a screen for my studies, was reaffirmed in Jabr’s reading that acknowledges the differences when navigating a physical and digital landscape. If surveys and studies tell us that reading physical texts leads to better engagement and comprehension of texts, as opposed to digital texts, and our students are immersed, well and truly, in a digital landscape, we have to consider the skills that our students must have to engage on a deep and meaningful level with online texts. If we are becoming ‘mentally drained’ and approach learning from a screen as one less conducive to learning (Jabr, 2013), we need rethink our pedagogical frameworks. I think the suggestion of metacognitive learning regulation (Jabr, 2013) is one way we can assist our students with recalling, retaining and engaging in deeper comprehension with texts. This paper is also seven years old, so I am sure there is more recent research out there that provides more a definitive and prescriptive approach to assisting students acquire the skills to engage effectively in the digital age.

In terms of selection of digital resources, I think ultimately it comes down to the Teacher Librarian (TL) (in consultation with teachers) to evaluate the value of the digital literature and whether it meets the needs of the curriculum and the students, and one that is easy to both access and navigate. If we evaluate the digital features of literature in terms of both its literary qualities and its multimodal abilities, as Walsh suggests (2013), this allows us to be discriminating in our choice of texts. Teachers will then need to consider whether the screen/audio features of that text still enable students to understand the narrative and whether these digital features enhance students’ response to literature (Walsh, 2013). What is inevitable, I think, is that we need to support the shift in how students read.

Then it is up to us to ensure that our pedagogy as teachers (and TLs!) supports this shift in how students read.

Lamb, A. (2011). Reading redefined for a transmedia universe. Learning and Leading with Technology, 39(3), 12-17. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=67371172&site=ehost-live

Jabr, F. (2013) The reading brain in the digital age: The science of paper versus screens. Scientific American, April 11. Retrieved from: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reading-paper-screens/

Walsh, M. (2013). Literature in a digital environment (Ch. 13). In L. McDonald (Ed.), A literature companion for teachers. Marrickville, NSW: Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA).