Type of Presentation
Individual paper/presentation
Conference Strand
Media Literacy
Target Audience
Higher Education
Second Target Audience
Higher Education
Location
Ballroom A
Relevance
As students' exposure to disinformation and misinformation grows, so does the threat these deceptions pose. However, students have a demonstrated lack of proficiency when it comes to detecting and countering disinformation. And yet, few colleges or universities have specific, dedicated disinformation literacy instruction all students. While information literacy education generally falls to academic librarians, students exposure to it is inconsistent at best and absent for many. This presentation argues for including that education in first year writing programs.
Proposal
Students’ exposure to disinformation and misinformation is far greater than it has ever been. As the ability of generative AI to produce image, video, and audio deepfakes grows more sophisticated, disinformation will become even easier to spread and harder to detect. The rapid spread of social, political, scientific, and medical disinformation has been deadly and its potential is disastrous. Security experts now warn that dis/misinformation is the greatest threat to national security. Americans at large and students in particular have a demonstrated lack of information literacy when it comes to detecting false information, and bad actors nationally and globally are intentionally exploiting that lack of literacy. Colleges and universities are uniquely suited to function as a bulwark against this threat, but few have dedicated programs in place to educate students about disinformation. Primary responsibility for teaching information literacy generally lies in academic libraries, and some educators in the disciplines integrate information literacy into their courses. However, student exposure to this important work is at best inconsistent, and, for many students, absent. First year writing programs often teach basic information literacy as it pertains to source evaluation, but rarely have teachings specifically centered on identifying and countering dis-and-misinformation. Nevertheless, these programs are perhaps the sole consistent point of transdisciplinary education which nearly every student experiences. Incorporating comprehensive disinformation literacy education which extends beyond source evaluation to include instruction aimed at identifying, coding, and analyzing emotional and semantic markers and crafting effective responses to disinformation into first year writing courses would pay dividends. In particular, including coursework focusing on algorithmic echo-chambers, self-evaluation, and confirmation bias into students’ use of social media is critical. This presentation reviews the current disinformation landscape as it applies to colleges and universities, including potential obstacles to implementing disinformation literacy education and strategizes how to overcome them. Additionally, it provides sample activities which can be integrated into existing courses. Finally, it contends that specific curricula and evaluative criteria and methodology should be developed collaboratively between first year writing program faculty and librarians, and positioned into first year writing courses.
Short Description
Disinformation and other forms of deception dominate social media with increasingly disastrous potential. Students lack proficiency in detecting false information, and colleges and universities must counter this threat despite politicization of counter-disinformation efforts. However, few have dedicated programs to do so. This presentation reviews the disinformation landscape, argues for the transdisciplinary collaboration on the creation and integration of comprehensive disinformation education into first year writing courses, identifies obstacles to implementation and strategizes on overcoming them, and demonstrates relevant classroom activities.
Keywords
Information literacy, disinformation, misinformation, fake news, libraries, first year writing, college composition, transdisciplinary education, deepfakes
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Jackson, Benjamin F., "The Disinformation Vaccine: A Case for Integrating Comprehensive Disinformation Education into First Year Writing Classes" (2025). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 14.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2025/2025/14
References
Semantic Markers Worksheet (1).pdf (116 kB)
Handout
Included in
American Politics Commons, Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Information Literacy Commons, Medicine and Health Commons, Nonfiction Commons, Other Rhetoric and Composition Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Psychology Commons, Rhetoric Commons
The Disinformation Vaccine: A Case for Integrating Comprehensive Disinformation Education into First Year Writing Classes
Ballroom A
Students’ exposure to disinformation and misinformation is far greater than it has ever been. As the ability of generative AI to produce image, video, and audio deepfakes grows more sophisticated, disinformation will become even easier to spread and harder to detect. The rapid spread of social, political, scientific, and medical disinformation has been deadly and its potential is disastrous. Security experts now warn that dis/misinformation is the greatest threat to national security. Americans at large and students in particular have a demonstrated lack of information literacy when it comes to detecting false information, and bad actors nationally and globally are intentionally exploiting that lack of literacy. Colleges and universities are uniquely suited to function as a bulwark against this threat, but few have dedicated programs in place to educate students about disinformation. Primary responsibility for teaching information literacy generally lies in academic libraries, and some educators in the disciplines integrate information literacy into their courses. However, student exposure to this important work is at best inconsistent, and, for many students, absent. First year writing programs often teach basic information literacy as it pertains to source evaluation, but rarely have teachings specifically centered on identifying and countering dis-and-misinformation. Nevertheless, these programs are perhaps the sole consistent point of transdisciplinary education which nearly every student experiences. Incorporating comprehensive disinformation literacy education which extends beyond source evaluation to include instruction aimed at identifying, coding, and analyzing emotional and semantic markers and crafting effective responses to disinformation into first year writing courses would pay dividends. In particular, including coursework focusing on algorithmic echo-chambers, self-evaluation, and confirmation bias into students’ use of social media is critical. This presentation reviews the current disinformation landscape as it applies to colleges and universities, including potential obstacles to implementing disinformation literacy education and strategizes how to overcome them. Additionally, it provides sample activities which can be integrated into existing courses. Finally, it contends that specific curricula and evaluative criteria and methodology should be developed collaboratively between first year writing program faculty and librarians, and positioned into first year writing courses.
