Tech is the Talk At NCTE

This School Library Journal article references Commission on Media director William Kist and his new book.

Read About NCTE Media Literacy Award 2009 Recipient

Ohio University professor Guofang Wang has been honored by the NCTE Assembly on Media with its 2009 Media Literacy Award. The award was given at the recently completed NCTE Annual Conference in Philadelphia. You can read about her via her portfolio here.

Mobile Devices In The Classroom

From District Administration magazine: some districts and administrators are realizing the untapped potential of cell phones. It’s part of an “anytime, anywhere” learning movement that leaves laptops and even smaller netbooks behind, proponents say, in favor of more mobile, affordable and reliable handheld devices—from “smartphones,” which can run operating systems such as Windows Mobile and a host of software, to iPods, known more for playing audio and video but adaptable to more interactive applications through new educational platforms.

Research: Comic books can be a valid tool for improving literacy

Critics should stop tugging on Superman's cape -- comic books can be just as sophisticated as other forms of literature, a U.S. researcher says. Carol L. Tilley, a professor of library and information science at the University of Illinois at Champaign says children benefit from reading comics at least as much as they do from reading other types of books. Details from UPI.

Teaching The New Writing

Read excerpts from Teaching The New Writing, this innovative guide, in which teachers share their stories, successful practices, and vivid examples of their students' creative and expository writing from online and multimedia projects such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, electronic poetry, and more.

News & Media Literacy Curriculum

The Newspaper Assn. of America (NAA) Foundation, with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, has developed High Five, a news/media literacy curriculum for middle schools, in an effort to address concerns about student achievement.

Virtual Communities: The WoW Factor (THE Journal)

The online role-playing game WORLD OF WARCRAFT serves many purposes for one daring group of educators, according to this piece in the current issue (November/December 2009) of T.H.E. JOURNAL. The game is part networking, part idea sharing, part academic inquiry--and a total thrill ride.