Years after the publication of its seventh and final volume in 2007 and the completion of the film series in 2011, the "Harry Potter" series is still studied and cited by professionals in fields ranging from science and economics to law and theology (for recent examples see Gierzynski and Eddy; Reagin; Bassham). Its continuing popularity…

With faculty changing instructional practices to take advantage of customizable, focused content (and digital delivery of that content), many people assume that digital distribution is the answer to bringing the costs of course content delivery in line. But the picture just isn't that simple. A wide continuum of options is available to faculty and…

To test whether cognitive interest in a topic is affected by how much the reader knows about the topic, 36 undergraduate students read a text, gave a rating for cognitive interest, and answered 2 recall measures. Associations among knowledge, cognitive interest, and text recall are discussed for their implications for learning. (SLD)

A study tested the hypothesis that readers continually evaluate the informational content of text in terms of its relevance to processing goals and congruence with existing knowledge, and that they prioritize this information in terms of its strategic importance to the task at hand, integrating it with existing schemata when it is compatible.…

Describes study that examined how Australian distance education students use and learn from textual materials. Text processing strategies and rates of progress are examined; textual features including study guides, table of contents, cross-referencing, and visual aids are considered; and recommendations for improving learning from textual…

Discussion of computer-assisted learning (CAL) versus book learning focuses on software called a book emulator that was applied to CAL to reflect desirable attributes of learning from books. A project at the University of York that used the book emulator in an electronics course is described, and future possibilities are suggested. (12 references)…

A study was conducted to examine the relationships of four areas of textual design factors that are relevant to external students' learning as they use their course study guides: the micro and macro textual features, the linguistics, and the instructional design elements. Twelve external students from two units at the Gippsland Institute were…

Challenges the widely endorsed practice of activating relevant knowledge prior to reading. Outlines a perspectival (perspective-relative) view of reading and suggests that this view provides a means to make coherent sense of interpretations. Concludes that having specific knowledge is not the main desideratum in interpreting texts--the main…

Examines the relationship between writing and learning in a college-level writing-across-the-curriculum class in philosophy. Results provide a basis for speculation about the conception of the writing/learning relationship and about the viability of further hermeneutical study of student writing. (SRT)

Forty-eight college students participated in a study that (1) explored the degree to which the reader response technique developed by W. F. Brewer and E. H. Lichtenstein to study artificial texts could be applied to natural texts, and (2) compared texts written over a wide time period and from two different literary traditions (six American and…

Papers in this report were presented at a conference on text characteristics, convened as part of the Learning from Text Project. The foreword describes the University of California and California State University Joint Projects Steering Committee project to determine the relationship between ability to learn from text and academic achievement,…