I teach an online introductory undergraduate humanities course titled “Knowledge in the Digital Age” at the University of Virginia. The 22 students in the class are in the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, with ages ranging from 18 to 65. The students’ prior educational experiences ranges from 0-30 previous college credits, and they bring a wealth of life experience to the classroom from their careers in a variety of sectors. In a course that primarily discusses the way knowledge is access, is formed, and has changed over time, the personal and professional experiences that students bring to the classroom is fundamental. Many have personally witnessed the changes in media and news over the past 30-40 years.
The lesson plan I selected from NewseumEd.org is called “Escape Junk News.” Although the plan indicates that it is for middle and high schoolers, it could be adapted to serve a college audience. The lesson begins by asking how students determine whether news is reliable. I would ask students to share this information on a whiteboard in Zoom to make the activity interactive. Then, I would introduce the E.S.C.A.P.E. acronym through a slide that displays the meaning of each letter of the word escape. I would ask the students to share how they might approach each step of the process. How have they used similar methods in the past? Is there anything new or surprising here that we, as a class, did not come up with in our whiteboard activity?
Next, I would break the students into breakout rooms on Zoom and assign each group 1-2 letters of the ESCAPE acronym as a basis for analyzing a news article. After 15 minutes, I would invite the class back to the main room for a debrief about what was discussed in breakouts. As a group, using the ESCAPE acronym, we would decide if this is a trustworthy news source. To move the conversation further, we would consider several questions as a group (the first two are from the lesson plan and the last three are my own contributions):
- From one E.S.C.A.P.E. concept alone, could you make a determination about the reliability of this story? Why or why not?
- Which of these concepts do you think is the most helpful in figuring out whether information is reliable? Why?
- Has the process of determining whether a story is reliable gotten easier or more challenging over the past 20 years?
- How might reliable news (or lack thereof) have an impact on democracy?
- How might identity, socioeconomic status, and/or political affiliation have an impact on what individuals perceive to be reliable news?
Source: https://newseumed.org/tools/lesson-plan/escape-junk-news
I love the first question: "From one E.S.C.A.P.E. concept alone, could you make a determination about the reliability of this story? Why or why not?" It encourages students to think through how the parts of the framework could reinforce each other and serve as checks. Some sources may pass muster under some questions but not others!
I think the three questions that you added at the end are phenomenal. Those are so relevant to media consumption and the state of politics today. It's real life and relevant. I think this would be good to give to high school seniors as well. They're about to go into the real world AND starting to vote. It's great.
Alexa, this is excellent. We have a similar student population and I think you're adjustments to the foundations of the lesson are spot on. I love your additional questions, esp #5 - context is so important.