Reading, explaining, and applying content in articles and textbooks is an important skill for health care professionals. Many students haven’t had a lot of practice in academic reading, so they might avoid and not complete the assignments. Consider these best practices before assigning required reading for your class.
Confirm the Readings are Necessary
- Be sure the readings help achieve the learning objectives.
- Consider how much reading students can reasonably complete.
- Confirm that reading assignments are not redundant.
- Look for the same content in more appealing packages. For example, many students prefer watching a video over reading an article.
- Tell your students why the assignments are important.
Make Readings Part of Instruction
- Show how learning materials fit together.
- Develop a reading guide that leads students to key concepts.
- Give students questions to answer or reflect upon.
- Use reading assignments as the foundation of in-class discussions. Lectures should build on concepts from the reading.
- Require students to complete a questionnaire identifying one concept from the reading to elaborate on in class.
Present Reading as a Professional Skill
- Advise students that health care professionals need to read journals and apply the content to their practice.
- Develop application scenarios, such as explaining research findings from a journal article to a patient.
- Require students to write summaries of articles or explain to peers.
- Encourage students who struggle with reading assignments to seek help from the Student Success Center.
Make Reading Materials Easy to Access
- Provide updated reading materials.
- Post legible reading materials. Avoid posting scanned or marked-up copies.
- Clearly communicate where assignments are located, how to access them, and due dates.
- Test reading material and external links.
Supplemental Materials
- “Active Reading Documents” by K. Patricia Cross Academy
- “Fact or Opinion” by K. Patricia Cross Academy
- “IRAs” by K. Patricia Cross Academy