Fact Checking and Digital Responsibility

Overview

This webpage is a part of the Utah Leading through Effective, Actionable, and Dynamic (ULEAD) Education Clearinghouse. The following resources are intended to help identify and share evidence-based practices to improve the learning outcomes for public school students in Utah. When objective evidence appears to be insufficient, fact checking can be a useful process to support informed decision making. Digital responsibility includes the expectation that shared information, strategies, and resources are honestly and accurately described with known references being provided. The resource links below can help enhance student achievement, expand educator skills, and support continuous school improvement.

Fact Checking (Media Literacy)

Fact-Checking and Debunking

Fact-checking or debunking is a process that tries to verify and clarify factual information. This process is a media literacy skill. The fact-checking resources on this list are “post hoc fact-checking” which analyzes existing media. Publishers and news media also engage in ante hoc fact-checking to find errors before the information is disseminated.

Climate Feedback

FactCheck
A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania

Hoax-Slayer (HS)

Information is Beautiful

MediaWise (MW)
The Poynter Institute

MedlinePlus
United States National Library of Medicine

PolitiFact
The Poynter Institute

Snopes

Truth or Fiction

The World Factbook
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

Media Literacy

The term media literacy describes an approach that teaches the application of critical thinking skills to media. Some of those skills include an ability to analyze, evaluate, and create media in all its forms and contexts. These organizations provide resources, training, and more on media literacy.

AllSides

Center for Media Literacy (CML)

Common Sense Media

KQED Teach Media Academy for Educators

Living Room Conversations

Media Education Lab

National Association of Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) 

News Co/Lab
Arizona State University (ASU) Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication

News Literacy Project

Programs for K-12 Teachers and Students
Pulitzer Center

Digital Responsibility

Digital Citizenship

Digital citizenship is the ethical and responsible use of technology. It is a multidisciplinary and overarching term that includes such subjects as digital health and wellness, digital literacy, digital etiquette, digital communication, digital law, digital commerce, digital access, digital safety, and digital rights and responsibilities. The resources below provide digital citizenship standards, research, and Utah-based resources.

Connected Learning Alliance

Digital Citizenship+ Resource Platform (DCRP)
Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University

Digital Citizenship in Education
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)

Digital Respons-Ability

NetSafe Utah

Digital Literacy

The American Library Association (ALA) describes digital literacy as “the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills.” Digital literacy is necessary for someone to be digitally inclusive and a full, participating digital citizen. These resources cover digital literacy skills and link to help for educators to encourage digital literacy.

Digital Literacy
ALA Literacy Clearinghouse

Digital Learn

Digital Literacy
Microsoft

Take an Assessment
Northstar Digital Literacy

Utah Education Network (UEN) Resources for K-12 Education