Type of Presentation
Panel
Conference Strand
Ethics in Information
Target Audience
Higher Education
Second Target Audience
K-12
Location
Session 4 Papers
Relevance
As recent political events across the globe have shed a light on the fragility of democratic values, the role of the University in creating a framework for civic education becomes more urgent. Informed, caring and engaged citizenry must be a goal of higher education. Richard Taylor suggests that the role of universities is to strengthen public reason while protecting private reason. Taylor suggests, “in order to realize a civic function for the university in the 21st century, the university has the challenge of living outside in. It should take its bearings from the wider society.” David Watson, has compiled evidence that the re-energizing of universities is mobilizing educators to design learning objectives, courses and programs to better accomplish this essential task. Finally, in the landmark work Democracy and Education, educational psychologist, John Dewey argues that the full development of an educated mind depends on societal experiences that help younger members to better understand the social norms and effectively participate in society. There has been the fear that teaching these skills will come at the expense of teaching academic content. Jonathan Haber debunks this myth. He argues, “Yet one cannot think critically about a subject one knows nothing about. Since background knowledge, including knowledge of content related to the academic disciplines is a vital part of being a critical thinker.” This presentation will connect these threads of literature and provide one innovation team’s approach to help student develop the essential skills necessary for citizenship in the age of misinformation.
Abstract
As recent political events across the globe have shed a light on the fragility of democratic values, the role of the University in creating a framework for civic education becomes more urgent. Informed, caring and engaged citizenry must be a goal of higher education. Students currently face the emergence of faulty types of information - such as misinformation and disinformation, which undermines the notion of collective or public inquiry, not only within universities, but also within society as a whole. This challenge must be acknowledged and addressed by academic institutions.
Session presenters will provide an overview of their work, “Critical Thinking in the Age of Misinformation,” a project that responds to the need for critical thinking and media literacy intervention in core courses via a customizable interdisciplinary module that can be adopted across the curriculum. Presenters will provide a lively forum for discussion of this contemporary issue, relevant literature, key insights from a team innovation project and module overview for attendee inspiration. Presenters will highlight the core components of this module which include Zombie Logic, Social Mania, Fake News and Conspiracy Theories. The session will also share information about how this project and others were sponsored through the GSU’s Perimeter College Dean’s Summer Grant Program. This initiative funds important faculty projects to enhance teaching and learning across the curriculum during summer term through grant-funded reassigned time to allow faculty the space to innovate and investigate.
Presentation Description
This session will introduce a student interdisciplinary module, “Critical Thinking in the Age of Misinformation,” a project that responds to the need for critical thinking and information literacy. Presenters will provide a lively forum for discussion of this contemporary issue with key insights from a team innovation project. Interactive module components will be shared, which include Zombie Logic, Social Mania, Fake News and Conspiracy Theories.
Keywords
Information Literacy, Critical Thinking, Democracy, Social Media, Misinformation, Fake News, Information Science, Teaching and Learning, Instructional Design
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Ortgies-Young, Tamra; Lobo Meeks, Jennfer; and Robertson, Barbara, "Critical Thinking in the Age of Misinformation: Information Literacy for Citizenship" (2022). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 42.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2022/2022/42
Included in
Adult and Continuing Education Commons, Business and Corporate Communications Commons, Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Technology Commons, Information Literacy Commons, Instructional Media Design Commons, Mass Communication Commons, Philosophy Commons, Political Science Commons, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons, Science and Technology Studies Commons
Critical Thinking in the Age of Misinformation: Information Literacy for Citizenship
Session 4 Papers
As recent political events across the globe have shed a light on the fragility of democratic values, the role of the University in creating a framework for civic education becomes more urgent. Informed, caring and engaged citizenry must be a goal of higher education. Students currently face the emergence of faulty types of information - such as misinformation and disinformation, which undermines the notion of collective or public inquiry, not only within universities, but also within society as a whole. This challenge must be acknowledged and addressed by academic institutions.
Session presenters will provide an overview of their work, “Critical Thinking in the Age of Misinformation,” a project that responds to the need for critical thinking and media literacy intervention in core courses via a customizable interdisciplinary module that can be adopted across the curriculum. Presenters will provide a lively forum for discussion of this contemporary issue, relevant literature, key insights from a team innovation project and module overview for attendee inspiration. Presenters will highlight the core components of this module which include Zombie Logic, Social Mania, Fake News and Conspiracy Theories. The session will also share information about how this project and others were sponsored through the GSU’s Perimeter College Dean’s Summer Grant Program. This initiative funds important faculty projects to enhance teaching and learning across the curriculum during summer term through grant-funded reassigned time to allow faculty the space to innovate and investigate.