The purpose of this research is to find evidence for the assumption that allowing children to create their own news messages is an effective approach to teach them how to distinguish between reliable news and fake news. Three students of the primary teacher training programme of The Hague University of Applied Sciences developed five lessons concerning fake news and five Kahoot! quizzes for each of those lessons. They taught the lessons they developed under the supervision of a primary school teacher and one of their lecturers from the university. A Friedman test on the scores of the Kahoot! quizzes indicate that the children made progress over the course of the study. In addition, it appears that the children appreciated the lessons and that they have learned how news is created and how fake news can be recognised. The outcomes of this study have prompted a larger, international Erasmus+ project. Schools and libraries in three countries will investigate similar innovative blended-learning approaches for pupils between ages 12 to 15.
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The aim of part 3 is the development of basic instruments to measure respondent resilience to disinformation. Cases and examples of disinformation that will be used in the instruments will be taken from a COVID-19 context when applicable. People who are resilient to COVID-19 disinformation are supposed to be ‘media or information literate’. Therefore, the construct that is aimed to be measured with the instruments is Media and Information Literacy, abbreviated as MIL. Instruments that will be developed must be adaptable for different target groups (pupils, library staff and teachers). The basic instruments will therefore contain for instance scales that can be modified to measure the effectiveness of the train-the-trainer workshops as well as that of fake news workshops in secondary education. Final instruments will be used in the IO3 phase to make recommendations for improvement. Analyses of results of those final assessments will be performed for each country separately. Because the basic instruments that will be developed in output 1 are intended to be used as pre- and post-tests in output 2, the focus will be on the impact of the interventions. For evaluating the processes during the interventions and the participant experiences, extra instruments should be developed.
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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to emphasise the importance for libraries to address the issue of media literacy in the internet age. The library must claim its key expert role in the field of literacy. The library can function as a platform and playground for consuming and producing media content.Design/methodology/approachResearch has been carried out on theory, policy and practice in the field of media literacy. The paper provides an overview of ideas on new skills and competences that should be taught to make people media‐literate.FindingsThe paper shows that attention on the issue of media literacy is increasing. Academics and political institutions alike stress the importance of media literacy for participation in society and full citizenship. Libraries must claim their expert position in this field as various organisations outside the library have initiated projects and products on media literacy in recent years.Practical implicationsLibrary management should develop policies on media literacy and personnel should be trained in essential media literacy skills. Collaboration and knowledge sharing in media literacy between libraries and other organisations are essential.Originality/valueThe paper provides a brief overview of theory and policy on media literacy.
DOCUMENT
The growing use of digital media has led to a society with plenty of new opportunities for knowledge exchange, communication and entertainment, but also less desirable effects like fake news or cybercrime. Several studies, however, have shown that children are less digital literate than expected. Digital literacy has consequently become a key part within the new national educational policy plans titled Curriculum.nu and the Dutch research and policy agendas. This research project is focused on the role the game sector can play in the development of digital literacy skills of children. In concrete, we want to understand the value of the use of digital literacy related educational games in the context of primary education. Taking into consideration that the childhood process of learning takes place through playing, several studies claim that the introduction of the use of technology at a young age should be done through play. Digital games seem a good fit but are themselves also part of digital media we want young people to be literate about. Furthermore, it needs to be taken into account that digital literacy of teachers can be limited as well. The interactive, structured nature of digital games offers potential here as they are less dependent on the support and guidance of an adult, but at the same time this puts even more emphasis on sensible game design to ensure the desired outcome. The question is, then, if and how digital games are best designed to foster the development of digital literacy skills. By harnessing the potential of educational games, a consortium of knowledge and practice partners aim to show how creating theoretical and practical insights about digital literacy and game design can aid the serious games industry to contribute to the societal challenges concerning contemporary literacy demands.
