Unit 2: How to Read Carefully the General Media

NOTE: Before starting Unit 2: Assignments #1 through #4, look at Assignment #5 so that as you work through Assignments #1 through #4 you can assemble materials for Assignment #5.

Unit 2: Assignment #1 (due before 11:59 pm Central on Monday August 23):

  1. To appreciate why it’s important for you, a 21st century college student, to become more digitally literate, read this excerpt from Ventimiglia and Pullman’s (2016) article, “From Written to Digital: The New Literacy” (Original PDF version; accessible text-only Word version) ” Figure 1 (on the third page of the PDF) would make excellent grist for the “Why am I learning this?” section of your Course Journal for this Unit.
  2. To further appreciate why it’s important for any 21st century citizen to become more digitally literate, read Silverman and Singer-Vine’s (2016) article, “Most Americans Who See Fake News Believe It, New Survey Says” (web version).
  3. Read Wineburg’s (2016) overview of the Stanford Digital Literacy study (web version).
  4. Test yourself on both the first set of example items (PDF version); (Text-Only Word version) and the second set of example items from the Stanford Digital Literacy study. Make sure you read through all the examples of students’ correct and incorrect answers (and why their answers were correct versus incorrect).
  5. Read the following documents, each of which explains several steps for improving digital literacy. Make a list of all the steps. (You should have more than 20 steps on your list.) Although it might feel as though these documents re-mention some of the same steps, overlap and repetition are always helpful for learning, and each document explains some steps that the other articles don’t.
    1. Inskeep’s (2016) article, “A Finder’s Guide to Facts” (web version).
    2. Green’s (2017) article, “The Honest Truth about Fake News … and How Not to Fall for It” (web version).
    3. Davis’s (2016) article, “Fake or Real? How to Self-Check the News and Get the Facts” (web version).
    4. The International Federation of Librarian Associations’ (no date) Infographic (PDF version); (Text Only Word version); (web version).
    5. Facebook’s (no date) list of “Tips to Spot False News” (web version).
  6. Go to the Unit 2: Assignment #1 Discussion Board and make a new post of at least 200 words in which you discuss the following:
    1. Which five steps for improving digital literacy were you the most familiar with before reading the five documents under (e)?
    2. Which five steps were you the least familiar with before reading the five documents under (e)?
    3. Which five errors that students made in the Stanford Digital Literacy study (illustrated in either the first or the second set of example items, or both) surprised you the least – and why did those five errors surprise you the least?

Unit 2: Assignment #2 (due before 11:59 pm Central on Tuesday August 24):

  1. To understand both writers’ financial motivations to produce false digital information and readers’ psychological tendencies to believe and promote false digital information, read
    1. Pogue’s (2017) article, “The Ultimate Cure for the Fake News Epidemic Will Be More Skeptical Readers“ (web version),
    2. Borel’s (2017) article, “Fact-Checking Won’t Save Us from Fake News” (web version),
    3. Engelhaupt (2016) article, “You’ve Probably Been Tricked by Fake News and Don’t Know It” (web version),
    4. BBC Trending’s (2017) article, “The Rise of Left-Wing, Anti-Trump Fake News” (web version), and
    5. the abstract of Bessi and Ferrara’s (2016) empirical study, “Social Bots Distort the 2016 Presidential Election Online Discussion (PDF version)” (Accessible-friendly Word Version); (web version).
  2. Go to the Unit 2: Assignment #2 Discussion Board and make a new post in which you
    1. list, from the articles you read, the five exact quotes (i.e., statements that are already in quotation marks in the articles) that intrigued you the most about WRITERS’ financial motivation to produce false digital information;
    2. list, from the articles you read, the five exact quotes that intrigued you the most about READERS’ psychological tendencies to believe and promote false digital information; and
    3. discuss, in at least 100 words, whether any of the Cognitive Biases you learned in Unit 1 play a role in these psychological tendencies. If so, which ones?

Unit 2: Assignment #3 (due before 11:59 pm Central on Wednesday August 25):

  1. To learn how to debunk Internet rumors, it’s good to get familiar with Snopes.com.
    1. Read Wikipedia’s (no date) entry on Snopes.com (web version).
    2. Read Eddy’s (2014) article, “Meet the Mysterious Creator of Rumor-Debunking Site, Snopes.com” (web version).
    3. Skim-read through FactCheck.org’s (no date) fact-checking of rumors about the creators of Snopes.com (web version).
  2. From Snopes.com, find out the truth about five non-political Internet rumors or urban legends that are interesting to you.
    1. By “non-political” we mean NOT “pertaining to the government or the public affairs of a country,” meaning not about government, government officials, such as Congress members,or candidates (past or present) for political office.
    2. Some examples of non-political Internet rumors or urban legends are the following: If you go swimming less than an hour after you eat, will you get stomach cramps? If you swallow chewing gum, will it take seven years to digest? Does our hair grow back darker or thicker after we shave it? Do we use only ten percent of our brains? Did Coca-Cola used to contain cocaine?
  3. To learn how not to be tricked by satire websites:
    1. Look through this list of satire websites. Focus on the USA sites. Maybe tere are some that you are already familiar with.
    2. Watch CNN’s Anderson Cooper admit to having been tricked by a satire website.
      • You can adjust the speed on this YouTube (or any YouTube) by following these directions.
      • You can access a transcript of this YouTube (or any YouTube) by following these directions.
    3. Find two non-political instances, which are of interest to you, of other persons (besides Anderson Cooper) who have been tricked by a satire website.
  4. Go to the Unit 2: Assignment #3 and #6 Discussion Board and make a new post of at least 200 words in which you do the following:
    1. Describe the five non-political Internet rumors or urban legends that you found out about on Snopes.com.
      • Provide a link for each Internet rumor or urban legend (using the technique you learned from the Course How To so that your link will show up as actual text, rather than just a URL or the word, Link).
      • Explain why these Internet rumors or urban legends were of interest to you.
    2. Describe the two non-political instances of persons (besides Anderson Cooper) who have been tricked by a satire website.
      • Provide a link for each tricked-by-a-satire-website instances (using the technique you learned from the Course How To so that your link will show up as actual text, rather than just a URL or the word, Link).
      • Explain why these tricked-by-a-satire-website instances were of interest to you.

Unit 2: Assignment #4 (due before 11:59 pm Central on Thursday August 26):

  1. To begin thinking about how techniques based on psychological science can override (in readers’ minds) false digital information or even protect against it taking hold:
    1. Read Pasek’s (2017) article, “What Science Tells Us About How to Combat Fake News” (web version).
    2. Read the graphic from Lewandowsky et al.’s (2012) article, “Misinformation and Its Correction: Continued Influence and Successful Debiasing (PDF Version);” (Text Only Word version); (web version).
    3. Read Walton’s (2017) article, “’Psychological Vaccine’ May Protect Against Fake News, Alternative Facts” (web version), which is about a study conducted at Cambridge University.
    4. Read Wood’s (2017) article, “Psychological ‘Vaccine’ Could Help Immunize Against Fake News” (web version), which is about the same study conducted at Cambridge University.
    5. Read Bergland’s (2017) article, “Fake News ‘Vaccine’ Inoculates Against ‘Alternative Facts’” (web version), which is again about that study conducted at Cambridge University; the repetition (with variation) is purposeful (as a mechanism for learning); at this point, you should understand the study well.
  2. Go to the Unit 2: Assignment #4 Discussion Board and make a new post of at least 200 words in which you propose a way to override (in readers’ minds) false digital information.

Unit 2: Assignment #5 (due before 11:59 pm Central on Saturday August 28):

  1. To consolidate all the information about digital literacy you have learned in this Unit (from Assignment #1 through Assignment #4), create a document that could be used to teach this information to other people. (You do not have to teach the information to other people, but you do have to create a teaching document.)
    1. First, choose your audience. Your choices are (1) other college students; (2) middle-school students (age 12 to 14 years); or (3) older adults (over age 60).
    2. Next, choose your medium. Your choices are (1) a PowerPoint; (2) a handout or infographic; or (3) a comic strip (e.g., this comic strip from The Nibs).
    3. Your teaching document should summarize each of the first four Assignments in this Unit and be relevant to your audience.
    4. Save your document as a PDF named YourLastname_DigitalLiteracy.pdf (no .pptx, .ppt, .doc, .docx, or any other file types except for .pdf will be graded).
  2. Go to the Unit 2: Assignment #5 Discussion Board, make a new post, and attach your PDF.
    1. To attach your PDF, follow the instructions in the Course How To for “How to Attach a PDF to a Discussion Board Post.”

    If it’s not obvious who the intended audience of your teaching document is, you should inform us of that in the Discussion Board message box (but we hope your intended audience will be obvious from your teaching document).

Unit 2: Assignment #6 (due before 11:59 pm Central on Monday August 30):

  1. Starting in the next unit (Unit 3), you will begin having synchronous, text-based Group Chats (of two to three students) at the end of each unit. Each Group Chat will last one hour.
    1. Find out which Chat Group you are in by consulting “How to Find Out Which Chat Group You Are In” in the Course How To.
    2. After you’ve found out which Chat Group you’re in, arrange with the other members of your Chat Group a time when all of you can meet online for one hour to hold your small group text-based Chat for the next Unit (Unit 3: Assignment #6).
      • You can contact other members of your Chat Group through their shockers.wichita.edu email addresses, which you can find by consulting “How to Contact Other Members of Your Chat Group” in the Course How To.
      • Or members of your Chat Group may decide to share phone numbers for texting each other to arrange your Chat Group dates/times.
      • It is possible that you might not get a response from one (or more) members of your Chat Group. That could happen for various reasons (e.g., the student enrolled in the course, but is not actually participating and has not withdrawn yet). If, despite all your efforts, you are only able to contact one other member of your Chat Group, then you are still good to go; a Chat Group must consist of at least 2 students. On the other hand, if you are unable to establish contact with any other members of your Chat Group, then email Joel as soon as possible so that he can reassign you.
      • Remember, when you’re emailing (or texting) with your Chat Group to “Reply All.” By remembering to use “Reply All,” you won’t inadvertently leave anyone off your communications for arranging your meeting times.
      • Be sure to look through Unit 3: Assignment #6 before deciding on a date and time to meet for your Unit 3 Group Chat because there are tasks in Unit 3: Assignment #6 that all Chat Group members will need to have completed PRIOR to your Chat Group meeting.
  2. Identify the one member of your Chat Group whose last name comes last alphabetically in your Chat Group. That member is responsible for setting up the the chat room you will use for your Group Chat by following the instructions in the Course How To for “How to Set Up a Group Text Chat Room using Chatzy.com.”
  3. ALL members of the Chat Group need to do the following:
    1. Learn from the Course How To
      • “How to Participate in a Group Text Chat;”
      • “What to Do If…,” which describe what to do if your Chat Group agrees on a date and time for your Chat, but one member of the Chat Group wants to reschedule;
      • what to do if your Chat Group agrees on a date and time for your Chat, but one member hasn’t joined the Chat within 15 minutes after the agreed upon time; and
      • that all Group Chats are required to last ONE FULL HOUR. During that entire hour, the Group Chat should be the ONLY thing you’re doing. If you finish early, then practice the assignment more or discuss further implications.
    2. Go to the Unit 2: Assignment #3 and #6 Discussion Board and
      • Read the posts made by other members of your Chat Group.
      • Then, make a response (a reply) to all the other member(s) of your Chat Group.
        • Each of your response posts should be at least 200 words.
        • If the other members of your Chat Group have not yet posted on Unit 2: Assignment #3, you will need to wait until they do OR until the deadline for Unit 2: Assignment #3 has passed.
        • If the deadline for Unit 2: Assignment #3 has passed, and all other members of your Chat Group have still not posted on Unit 2: Assignment #3, you will not be held responsible for making a response post to a response that doesn’t exist.
      • In addition, make another post in which you tell us
        • the name of your Chat Group (e.g., The Data Sharers), which you can find on the list of Chat Groups;
        • who in your Chat Group is responsible for setting up the ‘chat room’ (please tell us this student’s first and last name); and
        • what date and time your Chat Group will meet for your Unit 3: Assignment #6 chat.
    3. Check the points you’ve earned in the course by following the instructions for “How To Check the Points You’ve Earned in this Course” in the Course How To. If you have any questions about the points you’ve earned, email Joel Suss.
    4. Record a typical Unit entry in your own Course Journal for the current Unit, Unit 2. From now on, you’ll be prompted to keep recording entries in your Course Journal, but you won’t post them to a Discussion Board unit-by-unit. The next time you’ll be asked to post your Course Journal will be in Unit 8: Assignment #6; at that point, you’ll submit your whole Course Journal (i.e., Units 1–8). So for now, just keep recording entries when prompted!

Congratulations; you have finished Unit 2! Onward to Unit 3!

Open-Access Active-Learning Research Methods Course by Morton Ann Gernsbacher, PhD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. The materials have been modified to add various ADA-compliant accessibility features, in some cases including alternative text-only versions.
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