Before listening to this webinar I was expecting to learn about real news and fake news in the way as what websites have real information and which are just without proof. I figured we would learn about ways to teach out students how to tell which news it real and which is fake but this webinar did not really talk about that. It mostly focused on the fact that any fake news can become real news if the students are exposed to it enough. For example, the webinar mentioned that repetition makes it more likely for the student to agree with it: whether its real or fake. If the student hears it or reads it enough times the news WILL become real!
Another thing that I found super interesting from the webinar was that when we search for information online we are not really given back what we are looking for. Instead, we are given back information based on a algorithm which means we are given information based on computational propaganda, manipulation of search results, and highly automated accounts. It blew my mind to learn this!
According to the the webinar, this delivery of fake information will cause students harm. It may cause an increase of hate and hate crimes, cycles of disengagement, information inequality, and a increase vulnerability to conspiracy theories. Which was another topic covered in the webinar. It was mentioned that people who are not educated properly on how to look for information on the internet are more likely to fall into conspiracy theories because our brains are automatically wired to find connections where there really aren't any.
According to the webinar, the best way to teach our students about internet information is to give them the tools to recognize and decode bias, make thinking transparent, and teaching our students to recognize opinion laundering as a base skill. I really enjoyed this webinar it was very informative and now I know that alongside teaching my students how to find real and fake news I also have to teach them how to fins bias and decode it.
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