Weeks 6-9: Finishing Up

Weeks 6-8

• Work on Group Presentations

Assignment:

News Evaluation Presentation

For this assignment, you will work together as a group. Each group should have approximately five students. You will use Twitter, a social media tool and follow news organizations. You will find news stories to evaluate and you will use the knowledge that you have gained related to source evaluation and deconstructing a source to evaluate ten news stories. You will then choose four news stories from this bunch to discuss and deconstruct via a PowerPoint presentation. Your presentation will make use of evaluation criteria outlined in the book Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers. You will provide two examples of “fake news” and two examples of stories that you have deemed “authoritative” and provide a rationale.

• Each presentation must include:
• Fifteen to twenty minutes of presentation time
• Visual aids such as Google Slides or PowerPoint material uploaded to D2L
• Participation in roughly equal measure by each group member (Please fill out group participation survey)
• Well-supported argument providing a rationale for the group judgments of their chosen articles as either authoritative or “fake news”
• Additional context to support your decision, including evidence of additional research via your annotations and snapshots included with your presentation

Week 9

• Upload presentations for grading

Week 5: Verifying Twitter Identity

Week 5 

• Students will view the Power Point “Annotating Your Articles”

Open Here

• Read Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers: Section V: “Field Guide,” beginning with: Verifying Twitter Identity
• Annotate, fact check and deconstruct ten articles with your group members

Week 4: Reading Laterally

Week 4 Tasks:

• Students will complete the Discussion Post 2 and respond to two peer comments.
• Read Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers: Section IV: “Read Laterally,” beginning with What “Reading Laterally” Means

Discussion Prompt 2: Filter Bubbles

Watch the video Beware Online "filter bubbles". 

In 3-4 paragraphs discuss:

1. What is a "filter bubble"?

2. What problems do you think the filter bubble may pose?

3. Look at The Wall Street Journal's Blue Feed, Red Feed Side by Side comparison of liberal and conservative Facebook. What do you notice? 

4. Look at your Social Media feed. What websites and suggestions do you see? What is being advertised to you? 

5. Think of a subject that is important to you. If you were to perform a search to find more information about this topic, what would you use, and where would you search?

6. Respond to two of your peers’ comments. 

When composing your response, title your response: LastNameFirstInitial_FilterBubble

Start a new thread in D2L.

TED. (2011). Beware online “filter bubbles” |Eli Pariser. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8ofWFx525s

Week 3: Go Upstream

Tasks for Week 3:           

Students will view the Sway: Fake News Tools & Tutorials

Go To This Sway

Download the necessary tools and install them

• View the document: Media Bias Chart
• Decide which news organizations to follow on Twitter. Choose to follow at least six from various sections of the Media Bias Chart.
• Read Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers: Section III “Go Upstream,” starting with Go Upstream to Find the Source
• Sign in to Hypothesis and Click the link that matches their group:

1. Fake News 1:https://hypothes.is/groups/x3y3jjQn/fakenews1
2. Fake News 2:https://hypothes.is/groups/dEgdWLjp/fakenews2
3. Fake News 3:https://hypothes.is/groups/ziVmDN4W/fakenews3
4. Fake News 4:https://hypothes.is/groups/D1ZWekmz/fakenews4

• Otero, V. (2018). Media Bias Chart: Version 4.0. Retrieved May 4, 2019, from ad fontes media website: https://www.adfontesmedia.com/

Week 2: Exploring Confirmation Bias

Exploring Confirmation Bias

Tasks for this week:

• Students will complete the Discussion Post 1 and respond to two peer comments. 
• Sign up for Group Project Slot
• Read Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers: Section II “Look for Previous Work,” starting with Look for Previous Work

Discussion Prompt 1: Confirmation Bias

Watch the video "Why Do Our Brains Love Fake News?"  


In 2-3 paragraphs address the following:

1. Define "cognitive bias."

2. What are the five types of cognitive bias?  

3. What do people do when they experience confirmation bias?  

4. What are the steps that you can use to recognize cognitive bias in yourself?

5. Respond to two of your peers’ comments.  

• When composing your response, title your response: LastNameFirstInitial_FilterBubble
• Start a new thread in D2L

Why Do Our Brains Love Fake News? (2017). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNmwvntMF5A&feature=youtu.be

Week 1: Strategies for Evaluating the News

Week 1:

• Students will be required to watch the video Strategies for Evaluating the News

• Read Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers: Section I “Four Moves and a Habit,” starting with Four Moves

• View the Guide created for you at: https://guides.mga.edu/FakeNews

Video above by Dana Casper, based on:

Caulfield, M. (2017). Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers. In Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers. Retrieved from https://webliteracy.pressbooks.com/front-matter/web-strategies-for-student-fact-checkers/