Fake News, Lies, and a For-Credit Class: Lessons Learned from Teaching a 7-Week Fake News Undergraduate Library Course
Jo Angela Oehrli (Learning Librarian) @ University of Michigan
Librarians at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor developed a seven-week, fake news, mini-course in collaboration with the UM College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. This session will describe the course proposal process, course content development, instructional materials, and the internal-to-campus and external response to the course. A companion website will be presented complete with lesson plans and assignments. The presenter will highlight both successful and challenging content. Finally, materials appropriate for integration into one-shot library sessions will be suggested.
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Diane's Notes: 7 weeks, 2 hrs per week, 1 unit, lab based, sophomore or above, 12-15 students Website very complete! Focus on critical thinking and active learning Socratic and constructionist approach -- if a student asks a question, she turns it over to the whole class to try to answer Each student journals their experience -- she creates a Google doc for each student that only she can see. Students comment on each assignment and activity and the instructor responds to each student. Students LIKED this journaling and feedback |
She has students set up rules for successful class discussions. Ask students: what are some examples of bad class discussions? Uses Poynter.org (fact checking site) Was able to get area journalists (newspaper / tv) to come as guests to class. Journalists CARE about this topic, not hard to entice them to come to classroom The course has gained local (and beyond) notoriety. Instructor has worked hard at making connections with local public libraries, Kiwanis club and other organizations to publicize need for this kind of education |
Playing with Information in the Starfleet Academy: Gamifying the For-Credit Class
Stephanie Crowe (Social Sciences and History Librarian) @ University of North Carolina Wilmington
In Fall 2017, two instructional services librarians co-taught a for-credit honors class entitled Pandemic: Playing with Information, Misinformation, and Disinformation.Students in the class were divided into teams to play a semester-long cooperative board game called Pandemic Legacy, in which they worked together to save the world from four deadly epidemics. The game was used as a basis for discussing information concepts such as how research is transmitted from the academy to the public sphere and what makes information believable.
The presentation will explore the concept of gamification and demonstrate how it was applied in this course. It will also cover the development and experience of the class, including the initial concept, preparation and planning, student learning outcomes for the class, student and instructor involvement week-to-week, challenges that were faced before and during the class and how they were overcome, and thoughts and ideas for future semesters.
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Diane's Notes: 1 unit class for honors students student teams played the game outside of class every week Entire class was set up around the concept that the students are part of the CDC and they are on a mission to stem an infectious disease breakout. The Pandemic Legacy board game assigns every player a role , i.e. "information specialist." The game involves a serial story arc and what happens in one game affects what will happen the next time the team plays. Each week they have a mission, and the new mission depends upon what happened in the last mission. The board is a map of the world and cards indicate which major cities are infected with which disease. The course syllabus and assignments were all labeled "Classified" in keeping with the theme. In fact, I think the syllabus was called "The Dossier." In class discussions and activities would relate what's happening in the game to information literacy concepts. |
SLOs:
Students generally liked the class, though some had NO IDEA what they were getting in to. Most common feedback: students wish the class was 3 units so they could play the game during class time. Sometimes it was a stretch to bring game play concepts into the realm of info lit. |