32 | FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.TECHLEARNING.COM
the selection? If it’s from Wikipedia, the credibility of the source
may be different than if it’s from another source.
At the Owen J. Roberts School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania,
students follow stories as “journalists” to see how the process works,
and report their findings using hashtags they create. Other students
can use the hashtags to add their perceptions to these news stories.
Our superintendent, Dr. Susan Lloyd @ojrsd_supt, also models
accurate reporting and encourages everyone, including students, to
follow her on Twitter for the real updates on the district. She also
sends out a weekly blog to control rumors and fake news, as well as
to promote positive stories about the district.
Here are a few other ideas your school can use to help students
learn how to better tell fact from fiction online:
n Have students create a social media profile for a historical
figure. What would they be snapping? What hashtags would
they use? What would be on their YouTube channel?
n Host a parent education series on many technology topics,
including fake news and social media. Have students lead the
training.
n Create a private online group chat that includes principals,
directors of technology, and teachers, and have the
participants share their ideas and best practices in using
social media.
Educators are in the unique position to help their students
become more savvy consumers of online information. Through
classroom lessons and conversations, students can learn to
distinguish fact from fiction, to weed through the vast amount of
data on any given subject to find the most accurate truth possible, to
recognize the subjectivity and prejudice that exists in much of this
information, and eventually to arrive at their own opinions on that
subject. This is a life-long skill that is a crucial foundation to any
college or career path they might choose.TEACHING IN A “POST-TRUTH” WORLD
By Steven Baule, Superintendent at Muncie Community Schools, Indiana
As it appears that we still live in a “post-truth world,” according to a
recent Forbes article, we need to learn that expertise and authoritative
sources no longer always hold sway. Educators need to place even more
focus on educating students about how to critically evaluate informa-
tion sources. Some good resources include: Kathy Schlock’s Guide to
Everything, which includes critical evaluation resources; this recent NY
Times guide for evaluating news sources for teachers; this 2015 Fake vs.
Real News post; and this TEDEd lesson. ISTE’s Standards for Students
includes the critical evaluation of materials in several places.
We are often frustrated when others cannot understand our perspec-
tive, but as our world becomes more interconnected, it becomes even
more essential to learn to critically understand the perceptions and
biases of others and try to make decisions based upon facts. Take, for
example, one really simple “fact,” which can be interpreted in multiple
ways: Shortly, we will embark on the year 2018, according to my Google
Calendar. However, many people around the world would argue that 2018
is the wrong date. The Japanese are currently in Heisei 29, based upon
the reign of the current emperor. The Korean calendar is in year 4350,
and the Islamic calendar is in year 1439. The Buddhist calendar currently
shows 2561. That is without even considering the issues surrounding the
use of Anno Domini (AD) vs. Common Era (CE).
As Mrs. Cooper (Sheldon’s mom) on “The Big Bang Theory” once
declared, in response to Sheldon’s statement that evolution was a fact,
“AND THAT IS YOUR OPINION!” As facts are becoming harder to mea-
sure and articulate, let’s do our best as educators to ensure that our
students have all of the critical tools they need.THE KINDNESS ROCK ACTIVITYKindness can often get lost in social media debates. Often,
opinions are planted firmly in black/white terms and the
nuances of in-person debates can be lost. To remind students
that behind every opinion there is a real person with real feel-
ings and varied opinions, students at French Creek Elementary
(PA) launched the “Kindness Rock” project. Students paint
rocks and write kind and inspiring phrases on them. Each
completed rock is then passed along to someone else, left
somewhere for someone to find, or kept for themselves. The
project includes:*^ A mini QR code and/or website link painted on the back
of each rock. The QR code and website will link to an
Instagram account that students create and populate with
new content.*^ An anonymous Instagram account where people can post
photos of Kindness Rocks that people find in and around
the community.French Creek Elementary (PA) students participate in the “Kindness Rock” projectFAKE NEWS