The Question of Curriculum in (and for) a World of Disinformation

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

In this symposium, four literacy researchers consider the contemporary problem of disinformation as it relates to media literacy curriculum. Drawing on content analysis and ethnographic case study as methodologies, these four presentations examine the contemporary media literacy curriculum landscape in relation to a central question: How are curriculum designers, nonprofit organizations, practicing teachers, and media literacy vigilantes addressing the epistemological crises and technological challenges of the “post-truth” information environment via curriculum? In addressing this question, the researchers examine current approaches to critical media literacy proffered by nonprofit organizations, official curriculum documents in Ontario, Canada, a collaboratively designed media literacy curriculum intended to specifically address disinformation, and grassroots approaches to media literacy emerging on the internet.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Media, Culture, and Learning

Chair

• Brady L. Nash, Miami University (OH)

Papers

• Media Literacy Nonprofits: Curricular Combatants in the War on Dismisinfo - Bradley Robinson, Texas State University

• The New Information Environment: What's Missing From the Curriculum? - Lana Parker, University of Windsor

• Sociocritical Inquiry: A Digital Reading Curriculum for Examining Systems of Disinformation - Brady L. Nash, Miami University (OH)

• Birds Aren't Real: The Rise of Media Literacy Vigilantism - William J. Fassbender, Montana State University

Discussant

• Robert Jean LeBlanc, University of Lethbridge