Critical reading breaks boundaries – Open Science Promoter Award to the CRITICAL project

CRITICAL promotes openness in learning in an influential, research-informed and timely manner.

This year, the theme of Tampere University’s Open Science Promoter Award focused on the openness of learning and learning materials. 

According to the award citation, the Tampere-based CRITICAL project has produced openly accessible learning materials that support the development of critical online reading skills at different levels of education. The project team comprises Carita Kiili, Pirjo Kulju, Riikka Anttonen, Reijo Kupiainen, Antero Lindstedt, Kristian Kiili and Elina Hämäläinen.

The project partners include, for example, the City of Tampere. The collaboration will continue in a recently established working group focusing on the promotion of reading skills, which is part of the strategic partnership agreement between Tampere Universities and the City of Tampere. 

The significance of the CRITICAL project is underlined at a time when the vast volume of digital content, together with the spread of mis- and disinformation, poses growing challenges for education and knowledge. “The materials meet high pedagogical quality standards, and their clarity and the availability of multiple language versions further enhance accessibility and facilitate widespread utilisation. The project is especially important at a time when the vast volume of digital content is placing growing demands on learning and expertise,” the awarders says.

The materials also include education resources designed for teachers, which are used both in initial teacher training and teachers’ continuing professional education.

In our interview, Professor Kristian Kiili, Associate Professor Carita Kiili and University Lecturer Pirjo Kulju reflect on the importance of openness in the development of critical reading.

What does it feel like to be acknowledged for open science and education?

The prize feels encouraging, as CRITICAL’s Tampere team has put special emphasis on the open publication of learning materials that support critical reading and are grounded in our research. The learning materials are based on long-term, sustained research. 

The recognition is especially heartening because research incentives tend to focus primarily on academic publications. The visibility brought by the prize will also help to increase the dissemination of the materials. 

According to your findings, what kinds of teaching practices promote critical reading?

In teaching critical reading, it is advisable not to take on too much at once. With children and adolecents, you can focus on one factor influencing the credibility of a text at a time, using materials specifically designed for instruction purposes. Once individual sub-skills have been practised, they can be reinforced in authentic online environments. 

Pupils also benefit from being shown different ways of evaluating credibility. They need opportunities to practise assessing credibility using both trustworthy and untrustworthy online texts. Personalised feedback also supports learning. Above all, it is essential to practise these skills systematically in the longer term in different subjects. 

We have also used storification and gamification to support skills development. In game-based learning environments, adolescents can practise critical reading in safe settings. Using games, pupils can also experience the consequences of uncritical engagement with information.

Why is open science suitable for the CRITICAL project?  

CRITICAL is funded by the Strategic Research Council (SRC) under the Research Council of Finland, whose projects aim to enhance the societal impact of research results. In other words, the cornerstone of our work is ensuring that research outcomes do not just stay within the academic community but are genuinely transferred into practice.

We have also published our research findings as preprints so that our results get to be utilised as quickly as possible. 

What benefits do you see in open practices in education?

Teachers’ everyday work is very demanding, meaning research-based materials and theoretical knowledge that are easy to access provide valuable support for teaching.  
Teachers have appreciated ready-made learning materials they can easily use in the classroom. It has been encouraging to hear from teachers that the materials have also served as models and sources of inspiration for developing their teaching.

Our open learning materials complement textbook contents. For example, critical graph reading is barely addressed in secondary school textbooks. 

What is your own relationship with open science? 

We think open publishing is important so that as many people as possible can benefit from the resources invested in research. Open science enables the rapid uptake of research knowledge, which is highly motivating in academic work.

What kind of support have you yourselves relied on? Do you have any tips for open practices? 

The University Library always provides expert support in matters related to open publishing. From the perspective of teachers, however, the most essential point is that open learning materials should be easy to find. This makes it crucial to carefully consider appropriate publication channels. 

It is important to centralise the development of sharing open learning materials. The Library of Open Educational Resources (AOE) has already improved the findability and accessibility of materials. 

However, a challenge remains in determining the environments where materials can function and the way they should be delivered. Learning materials produced in research projects are often technically diverse. For example, digital games may require server resources, and adaptive or login-based materials do not easily align with the open, low-threshold distribution model.

Alongside a centralised search service, solutions are needed for the storage, distribution and maintenance of materials, as well as for interfaces and authentication, to ensure that diverse learning materials can be used sustainably and integrated eg into the broader AOE ecosystem.

Do you encounter challenges in open science and teaching – and what would help to address them?

Maintaining and updating digital learning materials involves challenges.  When a project comes to an end, promoting the materials also becomes more difficult.
We received additional funding for the development of the materials from the EmiFund Foundation, which enabled us, for example, to produce different language versions.

Photo: Jonne Renvall/Tampere University

The Open Science Promoter Award is a recognition for a person, group or project that has promoted responsible open science in an exemplary manner. The Award is granted by the University of Tampere Foundation and the Industrial Research Fund at Tampere University of Technology based on the University’s proposal. The award was presented by Vice President Tapio Visakorpi.

Responsible science and research

Open science and research