New AI reading tools can summarize, synthesize, and even change the reading level of a digital text. AI reading assistants have the potential to help students with reading difficulties; they can also rob them of the desirable difficulties that make close reading skills so valuable for critical thinking and ethical reasoning. This session will explore the promise and peril of these tools and offer educators practical advice about AI reading assistants.

Perusall, as a social, collaborative platform, encourages students to read assigned articles while connecting with their peers outside the classroom. The chat feature on Perusall enables students to receive live feedback and motivates them to connect with their peers. First-year undergraduates have been tasked with reading articles and are assigned to complete a variety of readings throughout the semester for one semester. When students encounter literature that reflects different identities,...

What do students hear when their professors ask for "quality" responses to readings? This presentation will explore how an emphasis on "quality" annotations might hamper students' engagement with readings in Perusall, limit their development of active reading skills, and ultimately lead them to generate responses with AI. Leaning into the social media nature of Perusall and encouraging frequency of genuine responses to reading can build confidence, especially amongst lower-division students...

This research explores instructors’ experiences teaching at the University of Florida’s Schools, Society, and Policy undergraduate program, where Perusall is used to foster collaboration and enhance students’ engagement with required course readings. Through practitioner journals and storytelling circles, we examine how Perusall influences our assessment strategies, supports students with reading, and transforms engagement in asynchronous online courses. These reflections reveal new ways to...

This presentation will explore the neurochemical foundations of reading and how current challenges affect this cognitive process. It will address the decline in reading skills and the need for innovative teaching strategies. Key topics include the neurochemistry behind reading, the role of social learning experiences, and the importance of self-regulation in deep, collaborative reading. The discussion will highlight how tools like Perusall can enhance reading engagement through features such...

Group size is an important and relatively unexplored variable in social annotation. This study provides a rigorous within-subjects approach to evaluate group sizes of ~20, 10, and 5 students in the Perusall social annotation platform. Students in the largest group with more access to peer annotations, had higher output levels on a per student per document basis, and a more favorable responsive/initiative annotation balance. Furthermore, longitudinal analysis of responsive/initiative balance...