These are times of rapid technological change that challenge all educators. The children currently in school—often referred to as the “Millennial Generation” —have always been immersed in Information Communication Technology. Millennials bring to school a rich set of literacy skills that allows them instant communication and access to a wealth of information. However, Millennials lack the basic academic skills, as well as the media literacy skills, to cope with the barrage of messages they confront every day. This article provides a description of the defining characteristics of the Millennial Generation and discusses the need for systematic instruction in media literacy, concluding with specific suggestions for instruction. [Note: The print edition of the March 2009 issue of the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy mistakenly titled this article “Teaching and Reading the Millennial Generation Through Media Literacy.” This online version has been adjusted to reflect the correct title. The International Reading Association regrets the error.] إن هذا الوقت من الزمان يشهد تغيرات سريعة للغاية في مجال التقنية تتحدى جميع المعلمين. والطلاب الذين يحضرون الصفوف الآن—غالباً ما يدعوهم ((جيل الألفية))—انغمسوا منذ البدء في تقنية المواصلات المعلوماتية. ويأتي جيل الألفية إلى المدرسة بمجموعة مهارات معرفة القراءة والكتابة الغنية التي تسمح لهم بالاتصال الفوري وبالدخول إلى كمية هائلة من المعلومات. ومع ذلك كله هذا الجيل يعدم المهارات الدراسية الأساسية وكذلك مهارات معرفة القراءة والكتابة في وسائل الإعلام ليتحمل وابلاً من الرسائل يواجهه يومياً. إذ تقدم هذه المقالة وصفة لمواصفات جيل الألفية المتميزة وتناقش الحاجة للتعليم المنظم في معرفة القراءة والكتابة في وسائل الإعلام وتنتهي بطرح اقتراحات خاصة للتعليم. 当今瞬息万变的科技发展，对教育工作者来说是一项挑战。现代的小孩子在学校里(常被称为「千熹一代」)经常沉浸在信息通讯科技之中。他们既有一套丰富的信息读写技巧让他们即时上网通讯和取得大量信息，又能把这套技巧带进学校里。然而，他们却缺乏了基本的学术技巧和媒体文化技巧，以应付每日铺天盖地传来的信息。本文描述「千熹一代」的界定性特色，讨论提供系统性媒体文化技巧教学的需要，并以一些具体教学提议作为总结。 Nous sommes dans un temps de changements technologiques rapides qui constituent un défi pour tous les pédagogues. Les enfants qui sont scolarisés aujourd'hui — que l'on appelle souvent « la génération du millénaire » — a toujours été immergée dans les nouvelles technologies de la communication. Les Millénaires arrivent à l'école avec un vaste ensemble de compétences en littératie qui leur permettent d'établir sur le champ la communication et l'accès au monde de l'information. Toutefois, les Millénaires ne disposent pas des compétences académiques de base et des compétences en littératie des médias pour faire barrage aux messages auxquels ils ont à faire face tous les jours. Cet article apporte une description des traits qui définissent la génération du millénaire et débat du besoin d'un enseignement systématique en littératie des médias, apportant en conclusion des suggestions spécifiques pour l'enseignement. Мы живем в эпоху быстрых технологических перемен, которые бросают вызов всем педагогам. Нынешние школьники, которых часто называют “поколение миллениума”, с самого рождения находились в окружении новейших информационных технологий. В ...

Plagiarism is a complex issue in need of reexamination. A common misconception is there is consensus on what constitute plagiarism, and general agreement that engaging in plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty is a major breech of ethics. There seems to be little concern for differentiating degrees of seriousness; the intentional copying of large amounts of text without acknowledgement is often viewed the same as failing to properly cite sources. Furthermore, instruction that addresses issues related to plagiarism is rare. In this article, the authors explore the issue in relation to the ever‐changing digital environment, and provide one specific example of explicit instruction that engages students in copying information from the Internet, rewriting or paraphrasing, then citing appropriately. Knowing students will utilize technology for writing and research, instruction should aim at demystifying the concept of plagiarism while at the same time improving students’ research and writing skills.

Within the past few years literacy scholars have begun voicing serious doubts on theoretical and practical grounds about the efficacy of the longstanding notion that every teacher is a teacher of reading. In this commentary, we add our voices to the conversation around content area literacy as well as offer our perspectives on the recent calls for alternative practices grounded in disciplinary literacy. We conclude by advocating compromise based on honest, intelligent dialogue between literacy specialists and content area teachers.

The Fifth Dimension is a distributed literacy consortium comprised of after-school programs located in Boys and Girls Clubs, YM & YWCAs, recreation centers, and public schools across America, Mexico, Australia, Sweden, and Russia. The Fifth Dimension is also a mixed activity system designed to continue the projection of a second psychology [1] and to instantiate cultural-historical activity theory [2]. At the macro level the Fifth Dimension is a cultural system containing rules, artifacts, divisions of labor, and outcomes that appropriate local Fifth Dimension cultures. The four overarching goals of the Fifth Dimension are: 1) to create sustainable activity systems in different institutional settings that instantiate cultural-historical activity theory, 2) provide contexts for children to master knowledge and skills and acquire practices mediating cognitive and social development, 3) deepen our understanding of how the social and individual create each other, and 4) to provide a context in which undergraduates from disciplines such as developmental psychology, communications, and teacher education have opportunities to connect theory with practice and at the same time deliver community service to children in the local community.

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