Fake News

Ladies and Gentlemen! Today's post is brought you from a presentation by Alec Couros. A little bit about him first. Alec is a professor from Regina Saskatchewan. He specializes in connective education. His job has him traveling around the world to advise and consult on online course related topics.

The BEST part of the internet is that it gives everyone a voice, but how ironic is it that that is also the Internets worst trait too. Which leads to a buzzword in 2019 society, Fake News. 
Alec talked on five big topics that I agree are important when assess and teaching about fake news.

Attention Literacy:
How do you spend your time online? There is no such thing as multitasking. What? I know. I am a firm believer on multitasking. But it actually can result in time wasted due to all the changing in between tasks. This can cause more errors, forgetfulness and a lack of attention. Because you are not focusing on only one thing your attention is divided. Due to the multitasking mindset we are creating bad habits and actually harming ourselves in the mean time. We need to focus on what we are tying to pay attention to.

Filter Bubbles:
Beware of filter bubbles. These are situations where internet users find themselves trapped in a bubble that relays information and sites that confirm the users opinion. so if you are a left winger you may receive only left wing related stuff and vise versa. So as a internet user your search results may look very different from your neighbor. People can get trapped in these views and never see conflicting views.

Cognitive Bias:


These are bias that a person can trap themselves in. The charts describes eight different biases.

Fake News:
According to the Merriam dictionary fake news is "quite simply fake news." There are two reasons for fake news. MONEY and POWER. Teens in Macedonia were found to be creating fake news article pro Trump because there was a sensation for them and they could make money off of the stories. Fake news stories often have a sensational nature.

Propaganda:
Essentially is sensational media with an agenda. Think about Garry Kasparov's Tweet. Is this true or false?


"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes"- Mark Twain

Resources to check facts:

It is important to fact check your information, especially when it pulls on strong emotions. Most often with fake news is spread if pulls on people beliefs and opinion drawing on strong emotions. Fact check fact check anything you have doubts about. Use the resource above as well as reverse search images to find original copies.

When thinking of your class allow your students to be curious and don't just google the answer. Allow them to develop their critical thinking skills and think of


Until next time,


Comments

  1. KelseyEMarch 3, 2019 at 7:33 PM

    really enjoyed your post! I was also surprised that multitasking 'doesn't exist'. I thought I was a pretty good multi taker, but you're right. It does just lead to wasted time!

    ReplyDelete

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