The Effectiveness of Electronic Media vs Paper Media

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aokoye
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Re: The Effectiveness of Electronic Media vs Paper Media

Postby aokoye » Wed May 03, 2017 6:34 pm

Voytek wrote:From the book I'm reading...

Code: Select all

Reading textbooks can also be difficult because silent reading is a unisensory experience—only our eyes are involved. In addition, reading is a visually heavy process. In fact, reading is the slowest way humans input information into their brains (Dehaene, 2009).

I wonder how the author deals with reading textbooks compared reading other types of texts. One could easily argue that, using the author's logic, unless you're reading out loud (which I don't do unless I'm reading to another person) all reading "can also be difficult because silent reading is a unisensory experience." This also doesn't take into account people who are deaf and not oral as sign languages are also a unisensory experience.

Also you don't need to put quotes in the code brackets, you can put them in the quote brackets.
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aokoye
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Re: The Effectiveness of Electronic Media vs Paper Media

Postby aokoye » Wed May 03, 2017 7:25 pm

aokoye wrote:I wonder how the author deals with reading textbooks compared reading other types of texts. One could easily argue that, using the author's logic, unless you're reading out loud (which I don't do unless I'm reading to another person) all reading "can also be difficult because silent reading is a unisensory experience." This also doesn't take into account people who are deaf and not oral as sign languages are also a unisensory experience.

Also you don't need to put quotes in the code brackets, you can put them in the quote brackets.

Quoting myself - regardless of how inefficient reading silently may be in terms of the acquisition or knowledge, it's pretty unavoidable if you intend to do anything other than listening or speaking. It's a skill that everyone on this forum has learned in at least one language and one that many have learned in multiple languages.
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Re: The Effectiveness of Electronic Media vs Paper Media

Postby Ingaræð » Wed May 03, 2017 8:01 pm

The flickering of a screen backlight can have a negative effect on brain function, including the creation and recall of memories. Artificial room lighting can have the same effect, rendering paper media less effective. I'm sure I read somewhere that fluorescent lighting induces a stress response in humans, which will probably make anything less effective...
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Re: The Effectiveness of Electronic Media vs Paper Media

Postby Voytek » Sat May 13, 2017 6:51 am

Another interesting exerpts from the book:
In a 2012 study, Dr. Jessica Payne and her colleagues found that people who studied material right before they went to sleep each night made stronger memories for that information (Payne et al., 2012). Provided that you are not totally exhausted, 20 min of review right before bed is great for strengthening recall.


The brain needs additional time to process the new learning, make important connections, and strengthen the cues to the information just learned. Thus, it is helpful to relax after learning, rather than learn additional information right away. Research has shown that recall of new information was improved in people who were given a break after learning (Tambini et al., 2010).


Taken altogether, many factors make cramming a short-term solution without any real positive long-term outcomes. As one group of researchers put it, “If learning is your goal cramming is an irrational act” (Jang, Wixted, Pecher, Zeelenberg, & Huber, 2012, p. 973).
Following is a quick story from my own life to illustrate this point: When I was an undergraduate, I took two years of Spanish and earned an A in all courses. I also lived in a Spanish-speaking country for a year following college. Yet today I know only about 30 words of Spanish. Why? Because I crammed for all my Spanish exams, and when I lived abroad, I tried my best to find people who spoke English to hang out with. I never engaged in distributed practice with my Spanish, and for all my time, money, and cramming, I got 30 words. If your goal is to actually learn something, cramming does not work.


As learners, anytime you can connect on an emotional level to your new learning by personalizing it or connecting it to an emotional memory, you make it easier to form a memory for the new learning.
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