Title
Battling Fake News: Incorporating Media Literacy into Course Content
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Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
Spring 3-23-2022
Abstract
Misinformation and disinformation are everywhere, which has led to a conversation about the role K-12 or higher education plays in teaching students about evaluating online information. Though college students are aware of the news landscape and question the credibility of what they read online, are we ensuring that students have the knowledge and skills to determine which sources are trustworthy and those that are not? As with so many skills, some students may be introduced to media literacy in high school, but even if they were, repeated exposure to critically consuming information should only help reinforce the concept of media literacy. If you are like me, you may feel like media literacy does not fit into your course content. You need to cover a lot of material over the course of a semester, and if you are having students do research, you may have them focusing on scholarly sources and determining the credibility of scientific or academic research, not news or online information. As an information literacy educator, I do think it is important to address media literacy specifically and so in my presentation I will share some ideas for incorporating media literacy into a classroom activity or a brief assignment while still addressing issues within your discipline so that students are exposed to media literacy and what it takes to think critically about the information they consume. The presentation will also include what media literacy is, why it is important and how college students are already interacting with misinformation, fake news, real news, and social media.
Recommended Citation
Evers, Stephanie, "Battling Fake News: Incorporating Media Literacy into Course Content" (2022). Teaching and Assessment Symposium. 20.
https://digscholarship.unco.edu/posters_2020/20
