Abstract: In this article, the author seeks to describe and evaluate the effectiveness of automated instruction by stressing the need for education to take a neu' look at technology. Following a definition of instructional technology, the author discusses the problem of reading and automation as one of perspective. Additional research evidence is presented and definition and utilization problems are discussed as support for consideration of automation as part of our educational program. Automation is certainly not new, but only now seems to be making noticeable inroads into the field of reading and education in general. In the past all machines were relegated to the "supplemental-material" ranks and regarded only as reinforcement tools. Today many producers of automated materials claim to have "teaching" programs. The range of those programs advertised as "instructiona l" has caused the International Reading Association (IRA) to set up a committee charged primarily with defining automated instruction. Thus far the committee seems to have limited most of its definition process to the ruling out of any materials which are not fully independent, student-operable instruction. If there is any requirement for teacher-aid, this committee seems ready to exclude material from the ranks of "automated" instruction, and by inference suggests non-purchase. IRA is not the only organization looking at automation or instructional technology. A Commission on Instructional Technology formed in 1968 reported in March 1970 to the Committee on Education and Labor of the House of Representativ es. Their report, To Improve Learning (McMurrin, et al., 1970) presents two definitions of instructional technology. Instructional technology can be defined in two ways. In its more familiar sense, it means the media born of the communications revolution which can be used for instructional purposes alongside the teacher, textbook, and blackboard. . . . The second and less familiar definition of instructional technology goes beyond any particular medium or device. In this sense instructional technology is more than the sum of its parts. It is a systematic way of designing, carrying out, and evaluating the total process of learning and teaching in terms of specific objectives, based on research in human learning and communication, and employing a combination of human and nonhuman