Stop! Don’t Share That Story!: Designing a Pop-Up Undergraduate Workshop on Fake News

ABSTRACT

For the past few years librarians across the country have been leaders in the fight against fake news. This article describes an hour-long drop-in lesson given to undergraduate students on how to avoid falling victim to fake news. Particular emphasis is placed on how social media platforms contribute to the spread of bad information, and how students can alter their habits in order to help combat fake news in their own social circle. The lesson includes four engaged learning activities and can be taught without student access to computers. This low-tech approach is highly adaptable to different settings and class sizes. Students leave the session with the resources and knowledge to see past deceptive practices in the media and to take a more thoughtful approach to news consumption.

KEYWORDS:

• academic libraries
• information literacy
• research instruction
• news literacy