Teaching Media Literacy

Teaching Media Literacy

Yesterday, I participated in the ISTE EdTechCoaches PLN's monthly Twitter chat. The topic: Teaching Media Literacy in the Era of Fake News. It was moderated by PLN member Allison Thompson, @AllisonTEDU. It was a fantastic discussion and I'm anxious to share resources and ideas. 

Information Overload

How do you teach media literacy in the era of information overload? It takes some time, yet is very important. Students must know how to evaluate online sources and investigate sources. 

• @grahamict teaches students the CRAAP Test (Current, Relevant, Authoritative, Accurate, and Purpose of information). 
• @AllisonTEDU focuses on one thing, like looking at news literacy or evaluating an online source. She discusses ways to "trust but verify" with her students and how to investigate sources.
• @TitiAlvayay uses the RADCAB method to check the reliability of websites. 

Evaluating Bias

How do you teach students to evaluate bias without appearing biased yourself?

• I (@shoemap) suggested starting the exploration under the lens of commercialism. Ask questions such as "Does the site want to make money?" and "Is the site collecting my personal information for later use?" 
• @TitiAlvayay recommends finding out who the author is and thinking about what his/her intention might be to help uncover bias in the information. 

Escaping the Echo Chamber

In the digital age, it's very easy to avoid information we don't like. How can we work to become "un-siloed" and escape the echo chamber?

• @EvanOBrancovic suggests pulling facts from a variety of sourcs as a way to better understand different viewpoints (even those you disagree with) & could begin as an attempt to debate, yet result in getting the whole picture.
• @EvanOBrancovic also recommends a site called Factitious, which is a game to give students an easy way of looking at recent articles and practicing identify if they are real or fake. There are constant updates which makes it more credible in the eyes of students. 
• I shared an idea of students writing articles about sports events from the perspective of the winner/loser. 

Strategies and Resources

• @MrsMHenning shared one of her favorite curated list of resources from Teachers First on the topic of Media Literacy. 
• @EvanOBranovic's curated list of resources created for Media Literacy Week.
• @MrsMHenning recommends NewseumEd resources. You need to sign up for an account and it is free. 
• I (@shoemap) like the resources that can be found on CommonSenseMedia.
• @mrsbogacz reminds us of using Snopes to evaluate articles and memes with various statistics, as these are things that students will see all the time on social media.