ql-align-justify"> Education about the media should be seen as an indispensable prerequisite for education with or through the media. Like-wise, if we want to use the internet or computer games or other digital media to teach, we need to equip students to understand and to critique these media: we cannot regard them simply as neutral means of delivering information, and we should not use them in a merely functional or instrumental way. (Eco, 1979) This is particularly the case if we are seeking to develop more effective connections between student’s experiences or technology outside of the school and their experiences in the classroom. (Buckingham, 2015)

It is important to discuss and to show the importance of media and digital literacy to students. These two concepts are both intertwined and connected, and related to real-life experiences of the students—inside and outside of the classroom. With this pedagogy, I want to let my students explore, do research, and make observations as well as evaluations about several types of media through the internet. In this approach, students will be able to identify the misinformation and how will they use this chance to correct and to sharpen their brain by identifying which is fact and which one is fake from the said media post, articles, or even news!

For example: Students will be allowed to use their own gadgets to explore and search for the media posts, articles, or websites that they think most popular to many these days. Each student will identify which one is fake, which one is reliable and why they think it’s accurate? They can provide an explanation to defend their answer or thoughts—with this, students will practice critical literacy skills where they can even share the information they have gathered. Students will be able to answer the following questions: “Why is the credibility of this post? Of this Article? On this website?”, “What is your justification about why you decided to label this post as ‘fake news’?” Students are not just answering these kinds of questions, but they are also being familiarized with how media literacy works, not just academically, but also in real-life experiences and scenarios.

One of the strengths of this approach is that it develops critical digital literacy skills of the students, which is really important today. Most of the time, students are not reading all the information inside and they are just sharing the posts without knowing the content is all fake and not reliable. It is important to teach them how to avoid misinformation, even a single post. Another thing is that it encourages the students to become independent in learning.

However, for them to be able to identify information and such, it is required to have an internet connection to access different websites and to start searching for information they need to critique. Another thing, some students may struggle to judge the media posts since there are several cases where the posers are trying to copy the identity of the owner of the post and generating statements through an AI and then, trying to convince people that they have already given a statement to believe and confuse people. That’s why nowadays, it is important to know how to stop, critique fake news, and research for reliable sources before sharing it in your social media accounts. One fake news person can speak easily, especially when the post is somehow convincing to other people. If people don't know how to be critical and to judge a single post, it can spread and can destroy thousands of lives.

References:

Buckingham, D. (2015). Defining digital literacy - What do young people need to know about digital media? Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 10(Jubileumsnummer), 21–35. https://doi.org/10.18261/issn1891-943x-2015-jubileumsnummer-03

Functional Pedagogy Practice: Digital Literacy Task