I have been rereading Cohn’s Skim, Dive, Surface. This book advocates for the preparation of learners to read and write in a digital format challenging the position of many that students are better off with paper texts. The author argues the reality of learners need to process digital media outside of school settings and suggests that educators should not rely on students heavy use of digital gadgets as providing the necessary preparation.
The author reports asking her students if they had experience using pdf tools to highlight and annotate assigned content. She reports that 30% responded positively. Her point was that educators (she teaches at a university) should not assume that computer experienced students have skills appropriate to benefitting from exposure to such assignments. It struck me that this question should be asked by more educators assigning digital content. I assign pdfs all of the time, but I have never thought to ask how students engage with this content.
Cohn, J. (2021). Skim, dive, surface: Teaching digital reading. West Virginia University Press.