Social media permeates the daily lives of millennials, as they use it constantly for a variety of reasons. A significant contributing factor is the availability of social media through smartphones and mobile apps. This kind of immersive and complex media environment calls for a literacy pedagogy that prepares students to understand, engage with,…

This article argues that both traditional literacy (reading and writing print) and new digital literacies (for example, playing video games) come in two grades or forms, one of which can lead to success in the modern world and one of which is less likely to do so. In both cases, the role of "academic" or "specialist" language is crucial in…

Like it or not, knowing how to make use of online tools without being overloaded with too much information is an essential ingredient to personal success in the twenty-first century. But how can we use digital media so that they make us empowered participants rather than passive receivers, grounded, well-rounded people rather than multitasking…

21st Century students need a complex set of skills to be successful in a digital environment. Digital literacy, similar to traditional definitions of literacy, is a set of skills students use to locate, organize, understand, evaluate and create information. The difference is that it occurs in an environment where a growing set of digital tools…

While recognizing that digital access is not evenly distributed in the United States, which is to say nothing of the global distribution, one can safely say that this transformation is already here; people are already at the moment in which the ability to use social media, and particularly social media as amplified through the power of the mobile…

This article defines Twitter[TM]; outlines the features, affordances, and common uses; and conceptualizes "tweeting" as a literacy practice, comprising both traditional and new literacies, and impacting both informal and formal learning settings. Also provided is an overview of traditional and new literacies, and insights from a scan of the…

There have been many attempts to define the generation of students who emerged with the Web and new digital technologies in the early 1990s. The term "digital native" refers to the generation born after 1980, which has grown up in a world where digital technologies and the internet are a normal part of everyday life. Young people…

The volume addresses the ways that the field of adult basic education has already been impacted by changes in technology and what needs to happen for learners and teachers to take full advantage of newly developing resources. The analysis is organized around three main themes: Learning, Teaching, and Organizing. Each section reviews relevant…