Using NotebookLM to Boost College Reading Comprehension

This semester, we are using NotebookLM to help our students comprehend and engage with scholarly texts

One of the biggest problems in teaching English is the inability of many of our students to thoroughly comprehend scholarly papers. This inhibits their ability to do deep research and successfully integrate those sources into their own writing.

When we searched for help in teaching our students how to read better, we discovered that information about reading competency is focused, primarily, on the elementary and middle school level, and that this information was mostly useless for our need to understand reading competency on the college level. One of the most helpful articles we read, “Use of Bloom’s Taxonomy in Developing Reading Comprehension Specifications.” by Stephen Luebke and James Lorié suggested that we could use the same Bloom’s Taxonomy we used to understand critical thinking in our students to understand the competency of our students' reading skills (Luebke and Lorié). In order to do this, we need to ask ourselves, as we build our courses and design our assignments, “What level of reading am I asking my students to perform?”

When students are asked only to remember, understand, and apply what they have read, they have not moved past foundational reading skills. An example of a typical assignment in our courses before GenAI involved assigning our students a passage to read, then asking them to take a quiz that requires them to answer simple content questions (remembering), asking what meaning they derived from the assignment (understanding), and then asking them to use that information in a long answer question or essay (application).

Seldom did we challenge our students to move beyond foundational literacy skills to attain critical literacy skills—even in courses dedicated to literature. Often, we were so pleased that our students have actually read something that we tended to leave them at the foundational level without challenging them to critically engage with the texts. So, we may have been complicit in our student’s disasterous reading skill levels. Imagine spending hours reading through a text only to take a shallow quiz or write a shallow essay that never goes deeper than surface application of meaning. Would that experience make you prioritize the importance of reading?

The summer-before-last, when we were planning out our courses for the academic year, we decided to dedicate a lot of our class time to learning how to read challenging texts. In our courses, we tackled the problems associated with poor reading comprehension in the same way we tackled problems associated with poor critical writing skills: by leveraging AI tools in strategic ways. Last academic year, we used SciSpace, Perplexity, and Explainpaper, which are all great tools—but many of these tools have, unfortunately, put such limitations on the free tier of their platforms that they have priced out our Community College students.

We were looking hard for a new tool when Google released NotebookLM. Not only does Google allow unfettered use of this amazing tool, it is also a much better tool for the work we require in our courses. So, this semester, we have scrapped our “old” tools and added NotebookLM as the primary tool for our English Composition II courses (and we hope, fervently, that Google won’t decide to severely limit its free tier before this semester ends!)

If you know next-to-nothing about NotebookLM, that’s OK. What follows is the specific lesson we present to our students. We hope this will help you understand all you need to know about NotebookLM, and how to successfully integrate the tool into your own teaching this semester.

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Understanding, Evaluating, and Analyzing Sources with AI

Let's face it—some academic language is very difficult to get through. You can occasionally get in the mood for a thick & juicy academic journal article full of SAT vocabulary that takes ten reads to get through—but not often.

Sometimes you have to read those journal articles, though, no matter the pain. You might have an assignment that requires you to read and understand a specific idea or theory, or sometimes you may need to access information so that you can research or write about it.

Whatever the occasion, when you are facing the daunting task of getting through some challenging reading, AI is an excellent companion. This content page will teach you some best practices for using AI when your reading assignment is somewhat incomprehensible.

Introducing NotebookLM: Understand One Text or a Whole Subject

NotebookLM is a Google Tool that has become very popular for its podcast-like "Audio Overview" feature. In NotebookLM, you create a "notebook" where you can upload articles, PDFs, personal notes, websites, etc. Then NotebookLM will focus the power of its AI ONLY on what is in the notebook. You can make overviews, practice tests, and—yes—a podcast that will cover what is in your notebook.

In this class, we will be using NotebookLM to keep track of all your research materials for the research project you will be completing in this course. Any time you identify a source for this project, please upload that source into Notebook LM.

Here is a helpful video for using NotebookLM. Please watch it to make sure you know how to take advantage of all its capabilities:

(Click picture to link to YouTube Video in a new window.)

Using AI to Boost Your Reading Comprehension

As a student, you may sometimes struggle with understanding complex academic texts. Fortunately, AI tools can help you tackle challenging readings more effectively. Here's how you can use AI to improve your comprehension:

Start with a Pre-Reading Summary

Before you begin reading a difficult text, it is helpful to start with "pre-reading." That is a technique that helps you prepare for reading the entire paper. Before we had AI to assist in the comprehension of texts, we told our students to begin by skimming the text: reading, the title, the abstract, all the subheadings, and the conclusion of the work. This would give a general idea of what was in the paper and help get set for reading the work more deeply.

Now that we have AI, we suggest using a summary for pre-reading. Just as skimming an article was no substitute for actually reading and engaging with an article, an AI summary is no substitute for reading the article, but it does give you a quick overview of the main points in a way that is similar to skimming a text yourself. It's a great way to get the "lay of the land" before reading the article.

Use a NotebookLM as a Co-Pilot

One of the best ways to understand a text is to use a "copilot." This feature is especially helpful when you're dealing with unfamiliar concepts or challenging viewpoints. An AI copilot uses a conversational interface to help a user complete tasks and make decisions. Many AI tools offer a "copilot" feature that can guide you through thick text. In this class, we will begin by using the copilot in NotebookLM.

Techniques for Using a Copilot

1. Incremental Understanding: Start by asking the AI to explain the text as if you were in sixth grade. Then, gradually increase the complexity level until you feel comfortable with the material.

2. Clarify Specific Points: Ask the Copilot to explain difficult terms, concepts, or sections of the text you don't understand.

3. Analyze Tables and Formulas: If your text includes tables or formulas, ask the AI to explain what they mean in the context of the reading.

4. Make Reading Interactive: Use the copilot as a study partner. As you read, highlight passages you find confusing or interesting, and ask the AI questions about them. This keeps you engaged with the text and helps maintain your focus.

5. Find similarities and comparisons among all of your sources: You can choose to ask about one specific source, or you can check more than one source to understand all of them together or compare, contrast, or identify specific things within the notebook as a whole.

Using GenAI as a Reading Companion

Here are some ideas you can use in any GenAI tool to improve your comprehension:

• Test Your Understanding: Ask the NotebookLM AI to act as a reading tutor:

  It's important that I understand this material. Please act as a tutor and ask me one question at a time about the text, pausing after each question to let me respond. Ask a total of five questions and evaluate my answers before moving to the next question.

  This helps you apply what you've learned and identify any gaps in your understanding.

• Simplify Complex Language: If you're struggling with technical terms or jargon, ask the GenAI to rephrase complex ideas in simpler language or define terms and concepts more clearly. This can help you grasp difficult concepts more easily.

• Deepen Your Analysis: As you become more comfortable with the material, use the AI to help you think more critically about the text. Ask questions like:

• Compare: How does this information relate to other things within my notebook?

  • What are the potential implications of these ideas?

  • Who are the different voices here, and how do they differ? Why do they disagree?

Remember, the goal is to use AI as a tool to enhance your own understanding, not to replace your own critical thinking. Always strive to form your own opinions and insights based on what you've learned. Use the notes option to keep track of your thoughts as you work.

By using these AI-assisted techniques, you can transform challenging reading assignments into engaging, interactive learning experiences. This approach not only helps you understand the material better but also develops your critical thinking skills—a crucial ability for success in your academic and professional life.

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Works Cited

Luebke, Stephen, and James Lorie. ERIC - EJ1013203 - Use of Bloom’s Taxonomy in Developing Reading Comprehension Specifications, Journal of Applied Testing Technology, 2013-Ap. Accessed 2 Jan. 2025.