Abstract:
Information and communication technology has developed, rapidly with the advancement of information and communication technology, people in the modern society tend towards online media instead of print media. The development of this information and communication technology has also brought about a great change in the field of study. Accordingly, the university students in sri lanka are getting information through online access instead of physically using the library. But with the development of information and communication technology, due to the proliferation of online sources, online reading should be done more carefully. Through this study, the main objective was to study the effect of online reading to develop the effectiveness of the learning process of university students and to make necessary suggestions to develop the effectiveness of online reading of university students. For this study, the third-year students of the faculty of social sciences of the University of Kelaniya were used for the sample and thirty students were randomly selected from each field of study and the necessary primary data was collected through online questionnaires, interviews and via telephone lines. For Secondary data were used books, journals, theses and e – resources. The collected data is analyzed by quantitative data analysis method. Although online reading can contribute to a high level of learning process for university students, it was found through the analysis of research data that the effective use of online reading for students’ academic activities is at a moderate level. There are several reasons for this. This is due to insufficient understanding of information literacy and information search among students, problems with language and facing various difficulties in reading online. Accordingly, as suggestions of this research, it is possible to educate students about choosing the right online reading source, develop language skills, provide students with practical knowledge about the use of electronic resources through the university library, and implement motivational programs to increase online productivity.
