Getting ready for Media Literacy Week - Oct. 21-25

Check out eMediaVA.org  

Great resource

10 tips to spot fake news

• Be skeptical of headlines
• False news stories often have catchy headlines in all caps with exclamation points.  If shocking claims in the headline sound unbelievable, they probably are.
• Look closely at the URL
• A phony or look-alike URL may be a warning sign of false news.  Many false news sites mimic authentic news sources by making small changes to the URL.  You can go to the site to compare the URL to established sources.
• Investigate the source
• Ensure that the story is written by a source that you trust with a reputation for accuracy.  If the story comes from an unfamiliar organization, check them.
• Watch for unusual formatting
• Many false news sites have misspellings or awkward layouts.  Read carefully if you see these signs.
• Consider the photos
• False news stories often contain manipulated images or videos.  Sometimes the photo may be authentic, but taken out of context.  you can search for the photo or image to verify where it came from.
• Inspect the dates
• False news stories may contain timelines that make no sense, or event dates that have been altered.
• Check the evidence
• Check the author's sources to confirm that they are accurate.  Lack of evidence or reliance on unnamed experts may indicate a false news story.
• Look at other reports
• If no other news source is reporting the same story, it may indicate that the story is false.  If the story is reported by multiple sources you trust, it's more likely to be true.
• Is the story a joke?
• Sometimes false news stories can be hard to distinguish from humor or satire.  Check whether the source is known for parody, and whether the story's details and tone suggest it may be just for fun.
• Some stories are intentionally false
• Think critically about the stories you read, and only share news that you know to be credible.
Taken from Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

Tech Tools to try out for the new year

• Flipgrid - you post a prompt and students create a video response (up to 90 sec).  Once you post your prompt, there is a link to share with the students (most post to google classroom)

• EdPuzzle - choose a video, add some questions or comments, track your students comprehension

• https://gosynth.com/ - create short podcasts with your students

• https://www.kaizena.com/ - add voice comments to google docs, PDFs, and Word docs

• Sworkitkids - exercise and fitness app for students

Ways to handle Fake News

The first and most important way is to teach critical thinking.  This is the job of all teachers and families.  One really helpful source is Stanford History Education Group's Civic Online Reasoning assessments.  You get 21 lessons/assessments that focus on making sense of information from a variety of digital tools.  Half of the lessons download as Google Forms and you can copy and use, the other half as PDFs.  All of them have detailed rubrics and examples that help you and students make sense of the results.  You'll need the free account to access the lessons, but it's totally worth it!

https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-lessons

https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-assessments

Two videos below....

Beyond the Bubble

Stanford History Education Group: Reading Like a Historian

16 Digital Citizenship Scenarios for middle school students

1. Your friends want you to create a profile in a new social media group they’ve started. You have to create a name that is based on your actual name but is incomplete enough to protect your identity. What name would you use, and why?
2. You’ve just received a friendship request from a person you don’t know. Their profile says they are the same age as you and they have an attractive profile picture. Should you accept their request? On what do you base your decision?
3. One of your friends has joined an adult dating site. The site has an age restriction of 18 years old and your friend has lied about their date of birth to join the site. Your friend has received a “date” invitation from a member of the dating site. What advice would you give to your friend, and why?
4. One of your classmates is making jokes about your last holiday. You haven’t ever spoken to them about it, and you think they might have been looking at your social media profile and pictures. You are not friends with them, but your privacy settings are set for “friends of friends”. What does this privacy setting mean and is this the best setting for you to use? Why or why not?
5. One of your friends has posted a very suggestive picture of themselves wearing little clothing. They have had lots of likes and comments, and they are encouraging you to put up similar pictures. What should you do? What advice should give to your friend?
6. An older person has been chatting with you online. They claim to be interested in the same activities, sports, and hobbies as you. They have been casual and respectful in the past, but recently they’ve been asking you if you are alone and in your bedroom. They’ve asked if you want to meet up somewhere. What should you do?
7. One of the people in your friendship group has posted pictures of you and made some funny comments. They didn’t ask if they could publish your picture and some of your other friends are adding replies and likes. The comments are humorous but also quite personal and hurtful. You want this to stop, but you are scared that you might lose friends. What should you do?
8. A student in your class has been annoying everyone around them, and one of your friends has posted on the student's social media profile and said some very nasty things. They want you to like or reply to the post. What should you do—ignore it, post a comment or report it? 
9. A group of your classmates are standing in a circle laughing and looking at pictures on a phone. One of them asks somebody to send the photos to everyone, and the rest of the groups agrees. It turns out the images are partly-undressed selfies of one of the people in your year. What should you do?
10. You are part of an email list which sends around funny jokes, memes, and images. At first, the jokes were quite funny, but recently they have been racist and degrading. Some of the pictures have even been pornographic. You used to send them to your friends and still have all the content in your school email account. What should you do?
11. You like one of the people in your year level, and you know they post lots of pictures and videos on their social media profile. They have not set their privacy settings to allow only friends to see the pictures. In this case, you could send a friendship request, but they might reject it or block you. You could also simply continue to visit their profile. What should you do and why?
12. You are standing by one of the school printers, and in the tray, there are several copies of a poster showing a senior student. The picture of the student is Photoshopped and includes a very unkind and spiteful caption. You would be quite upset if someone made a poster of you like this and made those comments. What should you do?
13. You have a friend come over to your place, and you are both listening to music files. Your friend suddenly asks you for a copy of your digital music collection. Do you give it to him? Why or why not?
14. The latest album by your favourite artist comes out on iTunes. The album is a new release and is at the premium price. You can only buy the complete album, not the individual songs. However, you also know you can find pirated copies of the music online. Do you search for and download the pirated copy? Why or why not?
15. It’s Thursday evening, and you have an assignment due at 8.30 AM the following morning. Since you’ve only just outlined the work, you’re beginning to panic and decide to talk to one of your friends about it. They reveal that you can download a similar assignment from the Web and change a few words, and then send it in as your own. Why shouldn’t you do this?
16. You have the registration key for a popular video game. The game producer is a huge multi-national corporation that makes vast profits each year. The game is free to download but requires this registration key, which you are meant to purchase to play beyond the demo version of the game. Do you use the key? Why or why not?

Courtesy of: https://www.wabisabilearning.com/blog/digital-citizenship-scenarios-middle-students