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Technology is changing literacy, claim Web 2.0 advocates, university researchers, edgy librarians, pundits of the blogosphere, and the media. The visual is ascendant, text is secondary—and linearity? Forget about it. Web surfers flip from one information wave to another, gathering and synthesizing. Beginning, middle, and end are up for grabs.

In the classroom, some educators are attempting to harness the power of technology to increase literacy rates for struggling students, but does using technology really make a difference? An initial assessment of the research on the current generation of technology used to aid literacy yields interesting, if somewhat lackluster, results.

According to Kamil, however, that's not necessarily a bad thing: "The important aspect, from my perspective, is that these were classroom programs that replaced about 10 percent of instructional time. What that means is that since there was no difference, the software programs were as good as the teacher." Such findings, Kamil explains, could signify a shift from teachers using technology as merely a supplement to using it as the means of instruction.

One of the additional things he discussed in this talk was that we often say, “These kids do not read,” but he quickly dismisses this as a fallacy.  In fact, Crystal goes further to say that kids that text read more than what we did as children because they have more access to writing.  Simply put, they do not read and write the same things that we did.  Looking at my own situation, I have actually read more “books” in the last little while than I ever have, as I carry around a huge book collection all the time on my iPhone and/or iPad.  The ease of access makes it a lot easier for me to read whether it is blogs, books, or yes, text messages and tweets.

distinctly remember reading that Osama bin Laden was assassinated before the announcement was made by Barack Obama.  Leaks of the information came so quickly and although it was chalked up to be rumour, it obviously was confirmed after.  More people are turning to the Twitter search function to find out about events in real time from people who are willing to share.  It is rare now that any reporter would not have a Twitter account so they can be the first to share the story, which is much easier from a phone in 140 characters, as opposed to a long article written even on a website.

Huge numbers of non-literate or marginally literate individuals, for whom formal education has little practical applicability, will live out their lives in print-scarce environments with few or no reading materials in their homes, but with regular access to television. TV and radio, for as far as we can see into the 21st century, will be their most important outside source of lifelong and lifewide learning. Viewed in this light, the real costs in terms of human survival, quality of life, and productivity in countries that fail to develop educational television more fully must be reckoned with as an important policy consideration.

Television for Learning: Our Foremost Tool in the 21st Century Ed Palmer

Many different program genres have been used to address diverse audiences for a variety of formal and non-formal learning purposes, with scientifically measured results. The record of accomplishments is impressive, yet TV is drastically underutilized as a teaching tool in countries that have the highest prevalence of urgent and otherwise unmet education needs.

For instance, in her classroom, Sullivan uses photos licensed under creative commons, an alternative to copyright that allows varying degrees of sharing, as a jumping-off point to start a conversation with her students. “It gives them a mental image to connect to,” she says, “a familiar, relatable scene so we can discuss what we see in the photo as a class and build the vocabulary.” Then the students can transition into a writing exercise, says Sullivan. Sullivan also uses audio recorders to have student-teachers read sets of vocabulary words, then she creates matching PowerPoint presentations with the words and burns them onto DVDs for the students to take home and listen to

Evelyn Ode, 21/11/2012) This year, for the first time, European commercial broadcasters and television sales houses from public and private sectors take the opportunity of World Television Day, declared by the United Nations in 1996, to reflect on the values of television as a medium, including its multiple social roles.advertisementegta and ACT highlight the role of TV in communicating on key transnational issues, its relevance to the world economy and its contribution to social and cultural development through testimonials and first-hand accounts on a website set up especially for this occasion. Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission, invited to comment on this occasion, said: “Television is still the way to reach the most citizens and talk to them – and with them – about how the EU affects their lives.”

There are always synonyms or near-synonyms in our languages, including English. For this course that teaching digital literacy, Selfe's technological literacy is a synonyms to digital literacy.

 Here, Selfe gives a definition about technological literacy: "Technological literacy---meaning computer skills and the ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning , productivity, and performance." 

 In additional to this definition, Selfe states that "technological literacy has become as fundamental to person's ability to navigate through society as traditional skills like reading, writing, and arithmetic..."