Merrill Ream Speed Reading

This course will teach you how to save time by reading faster and with better comprehension.

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6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs
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Manchester University

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Merrill Ream Speed Reading

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Course code: msr

Are you struggling to keep up with a flood of email, articles, reports, and books? Save yourself hours of time and increase your productivity by learning to read faster and with better comprehension. This course is a complete speed-reading experience. Topics are presented in a logical progression with plenty of time to help you master the skills and techniques you will need for lasting proficiency as a speed-reader.

What you will learn

  • Learn and practice some basic eye movements important to the speed-reading process
  • Learn about Regulated Reading, Timed Reading, and Assignment exercises to gain increased reading rates with good comprehension
  • Examine the retinal image phenomena and how it relates to a speed-reader's eye movements
  • Discover bad reading habits that contribute to slow reading and learn to overcome them
  • Learn 16 good speed reading practices you can apply to any reading you do
  • Learn skills to improve comprehension
  • Learn methods to measure your speed reading rates
  • Discover vocabulary skills that you can work into your personal speed-reading style

How you will benefit

  • Discover what bad habits you have developed that may contribute to slow reading
  • Keep up with the flood of emails, articles, reports, and books that you want and need to read
  • Save yourself hours of time and increase your productivity by learning to read faster and with better comprehension

How the course is taught

  • Instructor-Moderated or Self-Guided online course
  • 6 Weeks or 3 Months access
  • 24 course hours

On this first day of class, you'll read a story to evaluate your present reading rate. You'll learn how many words per minute you read now, and then you'll compare that number to what percent of the reading material you're really comprehending. You'll also get an opportunity to check out some speed reading accomplishments. Then, you'll complete an eye-span exercise to start you on the path toward becoming a speed reader!

In this lesson, you'll practice some basic reading eye movements and learn how they're important to the speed reading process. Then, you'll take a reading rate and comprehension test. Your results will give you a baseline that you can use to chart your speed reading progress in this course, lesson-by-lesson. From there, you can set goals to increase your reading rate while maintaining a good reading comprehension.

By now, you might feel that the activities you're using to master your speed reading skills are becoming routine and repetitive. For that reason, this lesson will talk about how and why you should continue doing the Regulated Reading, Timed Reading, and Assignment exercises to gain increased reading rates with good reading comprehension. Finally, you'll read some stories that are formatted to help you improve your speed.

In this lesson, you'll examine the retinal image phenomena and how it relates to a speed reader's eye movements. Speed reading is a skill that's best achieved by doing repetitive practice, so you'll continue working on those exercises that are helping you to improve your speed.

You'll probably find it helpful to work on lesson activities in the same comfortable and familiar surroundings. This lesson will talk about eight bad reading habits that contribute to slow reading, then you'll explore how to overcome them. Finally, you'll review some terminology that's unique to speed reading.

In this lesson, you'll look at 16 good speed reading practices you can apply to the course exercises and any other reading you do outside of class. You're at the midpoint in the course, so this is also a good time to compare your reading rate and comprehension scores with those of the former students you read about earlier. From there, you'll set goals for you to meet in the remaining lessons.

You'll probably be reading pretty quickly by the time you reach this lesson, but how can you make sure your comprehension scores are keeping up? In this lesson, you'll look at the skills you'll need to work on to improve your comprehension. You'll find out what keys and identified parts are unique to all stories, and knowing those will help you to improve your comprehension. You'll be glad to learn that you already know a few speed reading skills and techniques as you continue to apply them to the course activities.

In this lesson, you'll practice speed reading skills and techniques in real-world reading materials outside of class. You'll learn a method you can use to measure your speed reading rates when you're reading such materials. At this point, you'll be eager to read outside materials, not just for their content, but to further develop your speed reading skills and techniques.

You're now ready to analyze your personal speed reading style. You'll once again compare your speed reading rate and comprehension scores with those of former students to see how you stack up against others. You'll also compare your current scores with the scores you recorded at the beginning of the course to see how far you've come!

In this lesson, you'll look at eight word recognition vocabulary skills that you can work into your personal speed reading style. You'll learn how context clues and literal and inferential meanings in stories influence comprehension. All are part of the English language and fit right in with speed reading.

In this lesson, you'll see if you can figure out which of your behavior patterns are most useful in your own speed reading style. First and foremost, you need flexibility to focus on improving your reading speed, then you need an experimental attitude to get rid of poor reading habits. You'll study how the time you put in and the effort you expend affect your speed reading progress.

In the last lesson, you'll look at your personal speed reading accomplishments, as well as your speed reading future. From here on out, you're in the real world of reading, but you'll go into it with a lifelong speed reading skill. You'll learn how to adjust your personal speed reading style to any materials you read, because now you are a speed reader!

Merrill L. Ream

Merrill L. Ream, Ph.D. (Course Author)

Curt Simmons

Curt Simmons, B.A., M.Ed, is a best-selling author, trainer, and multi-media expert. He holds degrees in English and communication studies and has more than 10 years of experience teaching English and writing in the classroom. Additionally, Simmons has authored numerous books on a wide variety of technology topics and has been a technical editor for numerous other titles.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

  • This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

  • PC: Windows 8 or later.
  • Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
  • Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader.
  • Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

  • Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Instructor-Moderated: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.​

Self-Guided: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.​

Instructor-Moderated: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Guided: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Moderated: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.​

Self-Guided: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Moderated: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.​

Self-Guided: Because this course is self-guided, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

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