Technological innovations are advancing faster than ever and people are increasingly engaging with online open access to information and social connectivity, more so now than ever before (Knowles et al., 2023). In today’s world, social networks have become powerful tools for communication and the sharing of information. We can share news stories, videos, and opinions on all manner of subjects with just a few clicks. However, the growing use of social media has led to the proliferation of misinformation to the extent that it has been observed by the scientific community that “evidence-based reasoning seems under assault” (Zucker, 2019). For almost every issue facing society people can obtain current information online. Unfortunately, for almost every issue, people can also find misleading and deceitful information. For every reliable source, it seems there is also a fraudulent one. These days sorting fact from fiction is not as easy as it seems, so in order address this we must first understand exactly what misinformation is.

Misinformation is information that can cause harm because it is false, misleading, or deceptive, although the spread of misinformation may not always be deliberate (Australian Communications and Media Authority, 2023). This includes phenomena such as fake news, conspiracy theories, and other biased information that can lead to misconception and confusion and have great impact on individuals and groups within society.

This is particularly concerning to information organisations such as school libraries and the Teacher Librarians who are tasked with not only providing access to quality information but also ensuring school library patrons are equipped to evaluate and use information ethically and appropriately. Social media use among young people is widespread. 81% of teenagers use it and over a third of this number are engaging with it multiple times an hour (Minocha, et al., 2022). Further, a 2020 Australian survey concluded that 43% of teens aged 13-16 are receiving their news information from social media (Dezuanni & Notley, 2020). The potential that students will come across misinformation in their day-to-day activities, let alone in their research and inquiry is high, which is worrying as evidence also indicates that 60% of students fail to verify the accuracy and reliability of their research (Softlink, 2017, p. 4). If students are exposed to misinformation without the tools to be able to critically evaluate the veracity of information, then they are more likely to become spreaders of misinformation themselves.

As the information professionals within a school, Teacher Librarians are uniquely placed to promote and teach information and digital literacy skills and provide guidance on how to best navigate what Damasceno refers to as “information disorder” (2021). Indeed, educators, policy makers, and professional information organisations are committed to teaching students how to sort fact from fiction, promoting twenty-first century literacies, and encouraging students to practice caution when engaging with and using information online and on social networks. They recognise that to navigate and operate successfully in the modern world, students are required to possess evaluative, critical thinking skills. From an information organisational perspective, the Teacher Librarian can refer to the joint statement by the Australian Library and Information Association and the Australian School Library Association which states that digital and information literacy is a key part of the learning and teaching role of a Teacher Librarian (2016). Additionally, from an educational policy perspective these skills have been addressed within the Australian Curriculum’s General Capabilities with the intention that students develop twenty-first century knowledge, skills, behaviours, and dispositions (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2018). There are certain capabilities here that align themselves to the acquisition of digital and information literacy, allowing for students to develop an understanding of the complexity of using social networks and the ability to identify misinformation online. These include the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability (ACARA, 2018b), Critical and Creative Thinking capability, Personal and Social capability, and the Ethical Understanding capabilities (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2018).

When it comes to applying the teaching of these capabilities there are a number of frameworks that Teacher Librarians can use to assist the critical evaluation of information. Damasceno proposes a multiliteracy framework that allows students to become effective users and questioners of technology, and reflective media producers (2021), but there are many others. The CRAAP test is a popular, albeit problematic example. This is because it uses what Valenza calls “binary heuristics” to assess resources (2020). The CRAAP test focuses on evaluating the resource itself, in other words, you are evaluating the information that is presented to you at face value rather than confirming what other sources might have to say about it. This can be deceptive because online sources can often be biased toward a particular set of beliefs, objectives, and agendas while at the same time appear professional and trustworthy. Just because a source seems to have all the ethos in the world, doesn’t make it so. For online sources there are frameworks that are better suited to the identification of digital misinformation, such as Mike Caulfield’s SIFT method (Valenza, 2020), or the Stanford History Education Group’s Civic Online Reasoning (COR) curriculum (Stanford University, n.d.). These frameworks for teaching the evaluation of digital sources apply a method similar to that used by professional fact checkers. COR lessons teach students that when they come across information online, they should question Who’s behind the information? What’s the evidence?, and What do other sources say? to corroborate and verify information among a range of sources (Kendall, 2023). This, in addition to employing a lateral reading strategy which encourages students to look beyond the page, open new tabs and confirm information to decipher the trustworthiness of an online source, offers an invaluable framework for combating misinformation online.

The information landscape continues to grow and be shaped by new technologies and social networks and as such, the challenge of combating misinformation in digital environments becomes increasingly important. Library professionals in schools can play a vital role in providing students with the necessary tools they need to critically evaluate information by drawing on their role as information experts. For Teacher Librarians, this is explicitly stated within the teaching and learning component of their role, according to professional library organisations, and is supported by the policy and curriculum of the institutions in which they work. Further, information and digital literacy can then be developed using current research-based strategies that address the complexity of digital information and guard against misinformation.

 

References

Australian Communications and Media Authority. (2023, March 29). Online misinformation. https://www.acma.gov.au/online-misinformation

 

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2018). General capabilities (version 8.4). Retrieved May 17, 2023 from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/

 

Australian Library and Information Association., & Australian School Library Association. (2016). Joint statement on teacher librarians in Australia. ASLA Policies. https://asla.org.au/resources/Documents/Website%20Documents/Policies/policy_tls_in_australia.pdf

 

Damasceno, C. S. (2021). Multiliteracies for Combating Information Disorder and Fostering Civic Dialogue. Social Media + Society, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120984444

 

Dezuanni, M., & Notley, T. (2020, July 6). We live in an age of “fake news”. But Australian children are not learning enough about media literacy. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/we-live-in-an-age-of-fake-news-but-australian-children-are-not-learning-enough-about-media-literacy-141371

 

Kendall, K. (2023). Teaching Democratic Humility to Improve Classroom Discussion. Research in Social Sciences and Technology, 8(2), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.46303/ressat.2023.8

 

Knowles, R. T., Camicia, S., & Nelson, L. (2023). Education for Democracy in the Social Media Century. Research in Social Sciences and Technology, 8(2), 21–36. https://doi.org/10.46303/ressat.2023.9

 

Minocha, L., Jain, P., Singh, A., & Pandey, P. (2022). Social media’s impact on business and society: A study. 2022 8th International Conference on Advanced Computing and Communication Systems (ICACCS), Coimbatore, India, 2078-2081.  https://doi.org/10.1109/ICACCS54159.2022.9784959

 

Softlink. (2017, August 17). The ongoing importance of school libraries. Retrieved May 17, 2023 from https://www.softlinkint.com/downloads/The_Ongoing_Importance_of_School_Libraries.pdf

 

Stanford University. (n.d.). About. Civic Online Reasoning. Retrieved May 21, 2023 from https://cor.stanford.edu/about/

 

Valenza, J. (2020, November 1). Enough with the CRAAP: We’re just not doing it right. Neverending Search. https://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2020/11/01/enough-with-the-craap-were-just-not-doing-it-right/

 

Zucker, A. (2019). Using critical thinking to counter misinformation. Science Scope (Washington, D.C.), 42(8), 6–9.