Introducing NLP’s May news literacy webinar series

We recently asked educators what they most wanted us to feature in upcoming professional development webinars. Using that feedback, the News Literacy Project is holding a series of four free webinars, addressing essential news literacy topics, every Thursday in May (May 7, 14, 21 and 28) at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT.

We are allotting 60 minutes for each session, plus an optional 30 minutes to ensure we are able to address all questions during the Q&A period. Following each webinar, we will share the recording as well as additional links and resources via email.

What it means to be ‘news-literate’: The skills students need to know – May 7th

We’ll provide an overview of the news literacy skills that students must learn to be reliably informed, such as recognizing the difference between news and opinion, identifying misinformation, evaluating evidence, using fact-checking and digital verification tools, and discerning various types and forms of bias. (Note: this is a repeat of the previous webinar on April 7th)

Here’s the video recording of this session:

Exploring the misinformation landscape – May 14th

Learn how to teach students to stop using the phrase “fake news” and to identify the many types of misleading, inaccurate and false information that they encounter every day. We use examples of misinformation to engage students in news literacy and civic learning, and we introduce digital verification skills and tools for debunking manipulated and false images. We also explain the standards of quality journalism, such as fairness, verification, balance and context.

Here’s the video recording of this session:

Teaching digital verification to spark news literacy learning – May 21st

Dive deep into the tools and skills needed to verify the authenticity of information, and learn to create engaging fact-checking investigations that inspire students to investigate viral content. Topics include using reverse image searches to determine authenticity; researching domain registration to discover a website’s owner; using archivers to explore deleted or changed content; developing keen observation skills to detect false context; and using Google Street View to confirm locations. Access to News Literacy Project resources and classroom-ready examples is included.

Here’s the video recording of this session:

Understanding bias: A nuanced approach to a vital news literacy topic – May 28th

Bias is one of the most controversial and important subjects in news literacy. People frequently perceive and allege bias in news coverage — but what does this really mean? What makes a piece of news biased, and who decides? What role do our own biases play in our perceptions of bias? In this session, we’ll help you teach this vital, complex topic in ways that empower students to meaningfully evaluate the fairness and impartiality of news coverage.

Here’s the video recording of this session: