post-truth

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: 
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Lesson Plan displayed 4350 times612.04 KB
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Activity #1displayed 3819 times143.59 KB
PowerPointdisplayed 2543 times496.98 KB
Handout / Activity #2displayed 2901 times185.37 KB
Handout / Activity #2displayed 3015 times126.82 KB
Activity #2 Answer Key / Additional Instructions displayed 3629 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.
Submitted by Candice Benjes-Small on November 17th, 2016
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Short Description: 

As people rely more and more on social media to get their news, the filter bubble becomes increasingly problematic. In this workshop, students learn how to evaluate whether a news site is reliable. This group activity takes about 30 minutes and can be used for many different audiences by adjusting the examples used.

Attachments: 
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Evaluating news worksheet.docxdisplayed 12733 times16.96 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

• Students will be able to identify characteristics of credible news sources.
• Students will critically examine news sources to determine credibility.

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

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

The workshop opened with an ice breaker, having students brainstorm three things they look for when deciding whether a news Website is believable. They did a quick pair-and-share, and then I recorded what they said on the white board. Next, I broke them into teams of two and asked each to look at two Websites and complete a worksheet. In our lesson, Source A was a Reuters news article and Source B was a Bipartisan Report article. Both are on the same story, although Source A correctly identifies it as happening in January 2016 while B plays it as if it just happened (October 2016). The worksheet included questions which showed similarities as well as differences. It took about 15-20 minutes for the students to complete the worksheets; then we discussed the answers. Talking points: Source A is a Reuters news report, while Source B is from a muckraking site. Both are on the same story, although Source A correctly identifies it as happening in January 2016 while B plays it as if it just happened (published Oct 2016).
Discuss which criteria made a difference in judging the credibility- and which weren’t important- notably, the domain name, the advertising presence,a nd the date were not significant.
Note that it’s best when the reporter has done the reporting themselves, not just repeating other media outlets’ reports.
Would people on the left be more willing to believe the bipartisan report because it fits into their worldview? We need to be careful to avoid confirmation bias: believing a source is legit because we want to believe what it says.
Opinion journalism is a good and valuable resource but it’s different from NEWS. With opinion journalism, you need to verify the facts in the story. In opinion pieces, they are making an argument and you need to analyze it.

After the discussion, I had students brainstorm three criteria they would now use to evaluate a news source. They shared out, and then I collected them for a quick assessment later.

Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

Teaching Tips: After pairing up the students, have one look at Source A, while the other looks at Source B, and then compare the two to answer the worksheet questions. To find other sample articles, check out http://mediabiasfactcheck.com and Melissa Zimdars's list of unreliable news sites: http://tinyurl.com/j9tldck
Potential Pitfalls: When selecting an article, choose one that is controversial but not inflammatory to your audience

Collaborators: 
Suggested Citation: 
Benjes-Small, Candice. "Evaluating news sites: Credible or Clickbait?." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2016. https://projectcora.org/assignment/evaluating-news-sites-credible-or-clickbait.