You may remember Vanessa Otero, creator of the Media Bias Chart and owner of Ad Fontes Media, from the insightful and timely live webinar she did with us earlier this year. (As a member of the InfoLit Learning Community, you can catch the recording of the session here.)

We caught up with Vanessa this week to discuss what bias is, whether it’s always bad, and how to make students care about finding reliable information. Here's what she had to say:

Last weekend, Nancy Speisser, Assistant Vice Chancellor for University Libraries, South University and Etta Verma of Credo presented together at the Virginia Library Association conference in Williamsburg, VA. The presentation, “Beyond Fake News,” concentrated on how to teach students about what journalists do—what happens when they get it right, and, conversely, the consequences when they get it wrong. The talk aimed to show students that while journalism, journalists, and “the mainstream media” have recently come under fire for bias, serious journalists are expected to adhere to strict standards and their work is fact-checked.

At Credo, we continue to hear from librarians who are teaching students to discern factual material from disinformation. Various methods of doing so abound, but which one is right for your students? The welcome news is that there’s no need to use one particular resource—a wealth of materials exists online, some created by librarians for their students, others created for more general audiences.

On Thursday, September 27, at the Virginia Library Association Conference, Nancy Speisser (Assistant Vice Chancellor for University Libraries, South University) and Henrietta Verma (Customer Success Manager, Credo) will present Beyond Fake News: Strategies For Evaluating Information in an Era of “Alternative Facts".

Promotion of your IL instructional work to faculty can take many forms, from formal presentations at committee meetings right down to chats in the hallway. Don’t discount the chat approach as ineffective, as it can have many benefits. Not least is that faculty who may find the library intimidating (there are some!) might be more open to hearing what you can do for them in a casual chat than in a committee meeting.

This review, by Credo’s Henrietta Verma, appeared in the August 20, 2018 edition of Booklist Online. For more on fighting disinformation, see Verma’s review of Michelle Luhtala and Jacquelyn Whiting’s News Literacy: The Keys to Combating Fake News and the Know News report mentioned below.

This starred review, by Credo’s Henrietta Verma, appeared in the August 13, 2018 edition of Booklist Online. The book is a valuable tool for librarians who teach news literacy, but also for those who want to inform themselves for their wider library work and as news consumers.

Last week on the blog, we discussed the advantages of getting peer input on your planned IL assignments and offered resources related to assignment development. One idea we shared as a quickfire way to improve your lesson plans was to host an assignment charrette, an event in which educators present their assignments and get feedback on them from peers.

Looking for new assignments to give your students this fall? Try your colleagues and virtual network for inspiration and tips if you’re creating something from scratch. And if you need a good dose of inspiration first? There’s plenty of support to be found online, from content-creation tools to ready-made resources.