Channel 4 News Team

Texting is great for kids Children who often use text messaging have better literacy skills than youngsters who do not use mobile phones, scientists have claimed

Text messaging 'improves children's spelling skills' Mobile phone text messaging can boost children’s spelling skills, according to new research.

Using television for literacy skills

The Impact of Television & Video Entertainment on Student Achievement in Reading and Writing. By Ron Kaufman

Television represents a potent social influence for today's children. Whether it is a positive or negative force, however, continues to be hotly debated. This is the central issue of this second edition. Has television contributed to a decline in literacy skills? Are the charges justified by existing evidence or by the results of current experimentation? Are there certain cultural biases toward television that narrowly define its uses as a learning tool? Can these issues be resolved to take advantage of new opportunities that the television medium presents? Television's influence on literacy and school learning are examined within a framework of four major themes: the displacement hypothesis, whether television influences the way children learn, the public's concern that television affects school-related behaviors, and television's capacity to whet children's academic interests. This book takes a fresh look at these themes, starting with a review and synthesis of major studies to date and moving on to a new series of studies analyzing the relationship between media and literacy.

URLwire for Monday January 13, 2003   PBS TV Series and Web Site Help Literacy Skills . BETWEEN THE LIONS, PBS's award-winning television series, has been proven to contribute to the literacy skills of children ages 4-7, and its companion Web site at http://pbskids.org/lions/ serves as a valuable source of expert-approved curriculum of interactive stories and games to help kids successfully learn to read and write.

What are literacy skills? Literacy skills help students gain knowledge through reading as well as using media and technology. These skills also help students create knowledge through writing as well as developing media and technology.

Integrating Technology in the Classroom

Myths and Opportunities: Technology in the Classroom by Alan November

Technology in the Classroom: Using ScreenChomp to Learn Phonics

Learners have changed as a result of their exposure to technology, says Greenfield, who analyzed more than 50 studies on learning and technology, including research on multi-tasking and the use of computers, the Internet and video games. Her research was published this month in the journal Science. Reading for pleasure, which has declined among young people in recent decades, enhances thinking and engages the imagination in a way that visual media such as video games and television do not, Greenfield said. How much should schools use new media, versus older techniques such as reading and classroom discussion? "No one medium is good for everything," Greenfield said. "If we want to develop a variety of skills, we need a balanced media diet. Each medium has costs and benefits in terms of what skills each develops." Schools should make more effort to test students using visual media, she said, by asking them to prepare PowerPoint presentations, for example. "As students spend more time with visual media and less time with print, evaluation methods that include visual media will give a better picture of what they actually know," said Greenfield, who has been using films in her classes since the 1970s.

Multimedia tech increases literacy speed in kids

Using Technology To Improve Literacy Skills

Educational technology is nudging literacy instruction beyond its oral and print-based learning methods. Computers are creating new opportunities for writing, collaborating, and seeking information. The Internet is allowing students to communicate world-wide, solidifying the need for strong reading and writing skills. By changing the way that information is absorbed, processed, and used, technology is influencing how people read, write, listen, and communicate. The growing influence of technology has caused many educators to acknowledge that they need information on teaching literacy skills in the Digital Age. This training will offer research, best practices and resources that support purposeful integration of new technologies into literacy instruction. Technologies that support students' reading and writing development will be explored. This may include: audiobooks, electronic books and online texts, online collaborative tools such as wikis and discussion boards, interactive websites and podcasting.