students to co-create knowledge about texts .
5 . There are various reasons why students engage in digital reading for their learning , including accessibility and customisability ( McNaught and Alexander 2014 ), convenience ( Walton 2014 ), portability ( Marques 2012 ), collaborative annotation ( O ’ Brien and Voss 2011 ), as well as affordability and environmental concerns ( Grajek 2013 ). There are , however , issues associated with digital reading , such as eyestrain and reading fatigue , distraction , and surface – rather than deep – reading ( Casselden and Pears 2020 ). I follow Cohn in advocating for educators to embed digital reading literacies into the curriculum to teach students to be more effective and critical digital readers , which can help to overcome these issues and enhance student learning . In Playing Parts , I used Talis Elevate as a platform to model ‘ deep readings ’ of literary texts , as well as to engage students in collaborative reading activities that enabled them to develop their own digital reading literacies and critical analysis skills .
6 . It should be noted that all students were encouraged to engage with sources on Talis Elevate beyond synchronous seminars to promote deeper engagement with the subject matter ; as a result , some students interacted with sources on Talis Elevate asynchronously even when they attended the seminar for that week .
7 . I did not enforce a camera or microphone policy for online seminars on MS Teams ; such policies could prevent some students from engaging in discussions for various reasons , including lack of reliable internet connection , social anxiety , privacy concerns , and cognitive overload . Instead , I provided students with the opportunity to choose their preferred communication method , e . g . speaking on microphone , camera , and / or instant messaging via the Chat function on MS Teams . the Masters in Higher Education Practice course in November 2020 , which I was invited to teach as a guest lecturer . However , Talis Elevate was not used again on the module that academic year . Talis Elevate will be piloted at Keele University in September 2021 , creating opportunities for educators and students across the institution to use it for teaching and learning .
Acknowledgements
I want to thank the editor and anonymous peer reviewers for their generous engagement with my work , through which I had the opportunity to improve this article in multiple ways . Thank you to Dr Rachel Adcock for your mentorship and support in embedding Talis Elevate into the module , as well as to the students for their enthusiastic interaction with and feedback on Talis Elevate . Special thanks go to the History UK Pandemic Pedagogy team , especially Professor Jamie Wood , for introducing me to Talis Elevate in the first place , as well as to Matt East ( Talis ) for the numerous opportunities to discuss and think through many of the issues explored in this article . Finally , I want to thank Angela Rhead for igniting my interest in academic reading several years ago through her reading retreats , which instilled in me the value of group reading activities to develop students ’ reading literacies and build a sense of community .
8 . For further critical discussion on the power dynamics of collaborative annotation activities , see Brown and Croft ( 2020 ).
9 . See Bali et al . ( 2020 ) for further analysis of the social justice implications of collaborative annotation activities .
10 . I used Talis Elevate to engage students in asynchronous reading activities for one session on
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