news literacy

Submitted by Alexandria Chisholm on October 14th, 2021
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Short Description: 

This algorithmic literacy workshop puts a new spin on media literacy by moving beyond fake news to examine the algorithms that shape our online experiences and how we encounter information in our everyday lives.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
#ForYouWorkshopLessonPlan_Chisholm.pdfdisplayed 1763 times163.64 KB
AttentionAutonomyPlan_#ForYouWorkshop.pdfdisplayed 1152 times83.03 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

By the end of the #ForYou: Algorithms & the Attention Economy workshop, students will be able to:

  1. describe recommender system algorithms in order to examine how they shape individuals' online experiences through personalization
  2. analyze their online behaviors and subsequent ad profiles in order to reflect on how they influence how individuals encounter, perceive, & evaluate information, leading to echo chambers & political polarization
  3. assess how their data is used to personalize their online experience in order to build algorithmic awareness & make informed, intentional choices about their information consumption
Discipline: 
Multidisciplinary

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

Suggested Citation: 
Chisholm, Alexandria. "#ForYou: Algorithms & the Attention Economy." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2021. https://projectcora.org/assignment/foryou-algorithms-attention-economy.
Submitted by Carolyn Caffrey on June 9th, 2021
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Short Description: 

A toolkit with various instructional materials to teach media and news literacy. Includes an online activity "Fairness and Blanace" where students watch a short video on journalistic standards and answer discussion questions. Then, students can take one or both interactive tutorials on "Lateral Reading" with a focus on fact-checking and/or "Evaluating Information" based on an information need. Also includes a video on the "Anatomy of a News Website" with reflective questions and in-class assignment ideas for librarians or instructors.

Created by Tessa Withorn, Carolyn Caffrey Gardner, Aric Haas, and Amalia Casteneda.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Teaching_Media___News_Literacy_at_CSUDH.pdfdisplayed 1381 times195.79 KB
Learning Outcomes: 
  • Identify characteristics of news sources (genre, balance, fairness, sources, etc.) in order to effectively interpret news information.
  • Evaluate evidence presented in news sources for verification, independence and accountability.
  • Identify capabilities and constraints of news and emerging media information sources.
  • Recognize the role cognitive bias plays in interpreting and evaluating information in news and emerging media sources.
  • Describe skepticism of news sources as a healthy part of the journalism ecosystem.

Individual or Group:

Collaborators: 
Suggested Citation: 
Caffrey, Carolyn . "Media & News Literacy Toolkit." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2021. https://projectcora.org/assignment/media-news-literacy-toolkit.
Submitted by Evelyn Hudson on May 5th, 2021
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Short Description: 

In this hands on activity, students will find and compare/contrast news stories on a single current event/topical discussion to learn the importance of lateral reading and understand how bias can influence information production. 

Learning Outcomes: 
  • Students will be able to find a variety of resources relating to a topic
  • Students will learn to evaluate credibility of information and information creators
  • Students will learn to read laterally relating to current events

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 
Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 
Suggested Citation: 
Hudson, Evelyn. "OMG, Laterally!: Objective media gathering and lateral reading Activity." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2021. https://projectcora.org/assignment/omg-laterally-objective-media-gathering-and-lateral-reading-activity.
Submitted by Lydia Bello on March 31st, 2021
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Short Description: 

During this activity, students work with their lab partners to apply Mike Caulfield’s “Four Moves and a Habit” to a piece of science information they have found on the open web.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Lesson Plan displayed 1265 times229.33 KB
Pre-lab Canvas Quiz questions developed by Andrea Verdan, Seattle University Chemistry displayed 1379 times99.7 KB
In Class Activity Templatedisplayed 1250 times55.69 KB
Learning Outcomes: 
  • Upon completing this activity, students will
    • Identify strategies to evaluate scientific information or media on the web in an efficient manner
    • Understand the characteristics that differentiate scholarly versus popular literature

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

I use this activity every year in the lab section of General chemistry. At this level of chemistry students are rarely doing research work that involves chemistry literature, and don’t necessarily have chemistry research questions or a need for understanding the library research databases for for the class. However, students at this level are engaging with science information in the classroom and outside the classroom, and this is a great opportunity to build skills needed to engage with information in online spaces. 

Since I developed this assignment, Mike Caulfield has developed a new framework based on the Four Moves, called SIFT. At this point I’ve stayed with Four Moves and a Habit because it comes with an open textbook that I can assign pre-class reading from, and because the named concept of lateral reading has been useful for students.

Many thanks to Andrea Verdan, Seattle University Chemistry, for her work on developing this lesson plan and developing the pre-lab quiz questions.

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 

I’ve included a lesson plan, word document of the in-class activity, and copy of quiz questions used in Canvas as a pre-lab quiz. The lesson plan does not include much of the language I use to describe the concepts. If you want to know how I frame my explanations, please don’t hesitate to ask! 

Assessment or Criteria for Success
Assessment Short Description: 
There is no assessment criteria for this assignment, other than completion.
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

THe most successful way to teach these moves is to demonstrate them live, with all the risks that may entail. It is useful to identify one or two examples that you can use to practice the different moves. During the activity it is useful to keep an eye on the collaborative document (Google Doc) students are working on, and use it to check in with individual groups. 

Suggested Citation: 
Bello, Lydia. "“Four Moves and a Habit” in General Chemistry Lab ." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2021. https://projectcora.org/assignment/%E2%80%9Cfour-moves-and-habit%E2%80%9D-general-chemistry-lab-0.
Submitted by Lydia Bello on March 31st, 2021
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Short Description: 

During this activity, students work with their lab partners to apply Mike Caulfield’s “Four Moves and a Habit” to a piece of science information they have found on the open web.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Lesson Plan displayed 1265 times229.33 KB
Pre-lab Canvas Quiz questions developed by Andrea Verdan, Seattle University Chemistry displayed 1379 times99.7 KB
In Class Activity Templatedisplayed 1250 times55.69 KB
Learning Outcomes: 
  • Upon completing this activity, students will
    • Identify strategies to evaluate scientific information or media on the web in an efficient manner
    • Understand the characteristics that differentiate scholarly versus popular literature

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

I use this activity every year in the lab section of General chemistry. At this level of chemistry students are rarely doing research work that involves chemistry literature, and don’t necessarily have chemistry research questions or a need for understanding the library research databases for for the class. However, students at this level are engaging with science information in the classroom and outside the classroom, and this is a great opportunity to build skills needed to engage with information in online spaces. 

Since I developed this assignment, Mike Caulfield has developed a new framework based on the Four Moves, called SIFT. At this point I’ve stayed with Four Moves and a Habit because it comes with an open textbook that I can assign pre-class reading from, and because the named concept of lateral reading has been useful for students.

Many thanks to Andrea Verdan, Seattle University Chemistry, for her work on developing this lesson plan and developing the pre-lab quiz questions.

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 

I’ve included a lesson plan, word document of the in-class activity, and copy of quiz questions used in Canvas as a pre-lab quiz. The lesson plan does not include much of the language I use to describe the concepts. If you want to know how I frame my explanations, please don’t hesitate to ask! 

Assessment or Criteria for Success
Assessment Short Description: 
There is no assessment criteria for this assignment, other than completion.
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

THe most successful way to teach these moves is to demonstrate them live, with all the risks that may entail. It is useful to identify one or two examples that you can use to practice the different moves. During the activity it is useful to keep an eye on the collaborative document (Google Doc) students are working on, and use it to check in with individual groups. 

Suggested Citation: 
Bello, Lydia. "“Four Moves and a Habit” in General Chemistry Lab ." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2021. https://projectcora.org/assignment/%E2%80%9Cfour-moves-and-habit%E2%80%9D-general-chemistry-lab.
Submitted by Justin de la Cruz on October 22nd, 2020
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Short Description: 

Background information, assignment, and reflection on analyzing information received from the news.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Verifying Information in the News.pdfdisplayed 1047 times78.14 KB
Learning Outcomes: 
Students will learn how to analyze the information they receive from the news.
Students will reflect on how they receive and share information.

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 
Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 
Suggested Citation: 
de la Cruz, Justin. "Verifying Information in the News." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2020. https://projectcora.org/assignment/verifying-information-news.

Teaching Resource

The Four Moves blog is maintained by Mike Caulfield, who has been helping teachers integrate digital citizenship skills into the classroom for over 10 years.

Submitted by Emilia Marcyk on October 25th, 2019
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Short Description: 

This class outline is based on the Four Moves and a Habit from Mike Caufield's Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers.
It was designed for a first year writing class for students in an interdisciplinary STEM major. For their main class assignment, they were investigating a "fact" within their chosen scientific field, and tracing it to its origin. In addition to our in-class work they were also assigned to read:

Rekdal, O. B. (2014). Academic urban legends. Social Studies of Science, 44(4), 638–654. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312714535679

The class was designed to take 70 minutes, with approximately 72 students attending. The attached PDF gives an outline for the lesson, with notes for further context.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
factchecking-presentation-and-outline.pdfdisplayed 1072 times1.34 MB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will use the Four Moves and a Habit to trace the source of a claim, in order to:

  • understand where a claim originated
    make an informed choice about whether to believe a claim
  • incorporate similar strategies into future academic work
Discipline: 
Multidisciplinary

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 
Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 
Suggested Citation: 
Marcyk, Emilia. "Introduction to Fact Checking ." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2019. https://projectcora.org/assignment/introduction-fact-checking.
Submitted by Kim Pittman on April 4th, 2017
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Short Description: 

In this workshop, students learn about the driving forces behind fake news, reflect on how our opinions impact the way we evaluate information, and discuss and practice using criteria for evaluating news. The workshop includes a brief presentation on fake news and cognitive biases, reflection prompts for students to respond to, and an activity in which students work in groups to evaluate different news articles on a common topic.

Learning Outcomes: 

Students will be able to evaluate sources based on information need and the context in which the information will be used. Students will be able to recognize cognitive biases in order to reflect on how those biases influence their thinking about source credibility.

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

We offered this as a standalone workshop, and invited instructors in our writing program to offer extra credit to students who attended. We’ve also adapted the workshop for public library and community settings. The workshop generally takes about an hour and could easily be used in one-shot library instruction.

Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

The closing activity works best with a topic that students find relatable and interesting, but one that they may not already have especially strong opinions about. We’ve used the topic of affordable housing in our region. We choose articles that represent a variety of news source types (in-depth articles, editorials, short blog posts or overview articles) that illustrate different viewpoints and levels of depth and analysis. If working with a smaller group or a longer time period, we recommend assigning each group two articles in order to allow them to compare the two.

If offering this workshop as a standalone workshop (rather than course-integrated), we recommend including an opportunity for students to introduce themselves to each other in the opening think/pair/share. After they’ve had a chance to talk to each other, ask each pair to share their response to one of the reflection questions with the larger group. This serves as an icebreaker and increases student participation throughout the workshop.

Collaborators: 
Suggested Citation: 
Pittman, Kim. "What's Happening? Evaluating News in a Time of Information Overload." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/whats-happening-evaluating-news-time-information-overload.
Submitted by Elisa Acosta on January 25th, 2017
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Short Description: 

In an effort to provide students with an open space to learn about and discuss recent national concerns over “fake news,” the library offered four sessions of the workshop “Keepin’ It Real: Tips & Strategies for Evaluating Fake News” during a campus-wide Inauguration Teach-In on Friday, January 20, 2017. During this session, students had the opportunity to talk about how misleading news sources (encompassing misinformation, disinformation, click-bait, propaganda, etc.) have affected their views on civil discourse, specifically relating to the recent U.S. presidential election. By the end of the session, we hope students became more confident in their ability to use critical thinking skills to judge the reliability of news reports, whether they come via print, television or the internet.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Lesson Plan displayed 4347 times612.04 KB
AttachmentSize
Activity #1displayed 3814 times143.59 KB
PowerPointdisplayed 2538 times496.98 KB
Handout / Activity #2displayed 2897 times185.37 KB
Handout / Activity #2displayed 3012 times126.82 KB
Activity #2 Answer Key / Additional Instructions displayed 3626 times15.7 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

• Students will practice techniques for evaluating the credibility of news stories.
• Students will reflect upon their reactions to stories and practice identifying and distinguishing between their emotional responses and logical analyses of the items.
• Students will learn the value of information and sources from multiple perspectives.
• Students will become credible, trustworthy publishers in the digital age (sharing news).

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

The campus-wide breakout sessions were from 11:00-12:30pm (1.5 hours). Faculty were encouraged to cancel classes 8am-12:30pm so that students could watch the Inauguration together and attend one breakout session.

• Inauguration Day Teach-in website:  https://web.archive.org/web/20180117195647/http://academics.lmu.edu/teachin/breakoutsessions/

The library decided to offer four 45-minute break out sessions. Approximately 90 students attended. Several staff members and faculty attended also.

• Library Breakout Session Description: 

https://web.archive.org/web/20170113072807/https://librarynews.lmu.edu/2017/01/keepin-real-tips-strategies-evaluating-fake-news/

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 

Activity #2 could be spun off into a reflective assignment for students to critically examine their own news media consumption and information behaviors.

Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

We had too much material for a 45-minute workshop. Perhaps 60-90 minutes is more realistic. Set aside more time for student discussion. As time marches on, choose a more timely "Fake News" story for Activity #1.

Suggested Citation: 
Acosta, Elisa. "Keepin It Real: Tips and Strategies for Evaluating Fake News." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/keepin-it-real-tips-and-strategies-evaluating-fake-news.