Listening Isn’t Cheating: How Audio Books Can Help Us Learn | MindShift | KQED News

Byryan

Audio books have surged in popularity in recent years, enabled by their ease of use and advancements in smart phones. Gone are the days of numbered cassettes and bulky players. Technology has created more opportunities to listen to good books.

But not everyone believes listening to books is a good thing — biases in favor of reading run deep, and those who listen are often accused of “cheating.” There’s a common perception that listening doesn’t require the same amount of work to reach understanding as reading does.

Source: Listening Isn’t Cheating: How Audio Books Can Help Us Learn | MindShift | KQED News

I believe it boils down to what you want the reader to experience or learn. If you are looking at increasing the ability to decode, then reading is what is needed. But, if you want the reader to absorb a text, and experience it, then it doesn’t matter if they read it or listen to it.

Similar Posts

Reading, writing, arithmetic — and don’t forget coding

Reading, writing, arithmetic — and don’t forget coding

Byryan

As kids head back to school this fall, which class should they enroll in? French — or programming? Apple CEO Tim Cook told a company conference this year that computer programming should be taught in schools as a second language. Others have echoed that view, arguing that programming should be considered a necessary skill for the 21st century, right alongside…

More math in preschool?

More math in preschool?

Byryan

But what about math? Deborah Stipek, a professor at Stanford and the former dean of the school of education, says math is just as important—if not more—to laying the foundations for educational success. But we are not nearly as focused on planting the seeds for a future love of math as we are for reading….

Just how bad is multitasking?

Just how bad is multitasking?

Byryan

Multitasking is a big part of the modern world. People are constantly doing two things at once; they send emails when they are spending time with their loved ones, they work out while texting a friend and they cook while they check Facebook. However, all of this multi-tasking is bad for your brain. Recent studies…