Reading at a Crossroads? ─ Disjunctures and Continuities in Current Conceptions and Practices

The Internet is transforming the experience of reading and learning-through-reading. Is this transformation effecting a radical change in reading processes as readers synthesize understandings from fragments across multiple texts? Or, conversely, is the Internet merely a new place to use the same reading skills and processes developed through experience with traditional print-based media? Are the changes in reading processes a matter of degree, or are they fundamentally new? And if so, how must reading theory, research, and instruction adjust?

This volume brings together distinguished experts from the fields of reading research, teacher education, educational psychology, cognitive science, rhetoric and composition, digital humanities, and educational technology to address these questions. Its unique structure features short essays, each drawing from its author's realm of expertise and projecting beyond to larger implications for reading research and education. These essays are followed by dialogue between the chapter author and respondents with contrasting viewpoints. The result is a lively exchange where authors are challenged to articulate their perspectives on a fundamental question for 21st century readers and researchers.

Rand J. Spiro is Professor of Educational Psychology and Educational Technology, Michigan State University, USA.

Michael DeSchryver is Assistant Professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Professional Development, Central Michigan University, USA.

Michelle Schira Hagerman is Director of Graduate Certificate Programs in Educational Technology and Online Teaching and Learning at Michigan State University, USA.

Paul Morsink is a doctoral student in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology, Michigan State University, USA.

Penny Thompson is Assistant Professor of Educational Technology at Oklahoma State University, USA.