Michael Caulfield's work is based on research conducted by Dr. Sam Wineburg and his research team from the Stanford History Education Group. Their findings demonstrate that students are unfamiliar with basic fact-checking techniques that would allow them to verify the information they read online.
Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning This report is an executive summary of the Stanford History Education Group's project that researched students' ability to evaluate information they read online (and its disturbing findings).
Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers This short, open source book by author Michael Caulfield provides alternative, web-native approaches to news literacy and fact-checking. It is also available as a PDF.
Recognition Is Futile: Why Checklist Approaches to Information Literacy Fail and What To Do About It An argument for moving away from web evaluation checklists to a lateral searching approach.
This course shows students how to fact-check in five easy lessons, taking about 30 minutes apiece. The entire online curriculum is two and a half to three hours and is suitable homework for the first week of a college-level module on disinformation.
Community of Online Research Assignments (CORA)
Fake news assignments from CORA, an open access resource for librarians and faculty.
Civic Online Reasoning Lessons & Assessments
Create an account for free downloads of the Stanford History Education Group's civic online reasoning lessons and assessments. Includes resources for middle school, high school, and college.
Lesson Plan: Fighting Fake News
From The Lowdown, the content hub for KQED’s News Education project. Although designed for high school students, would also work with first-year undergraduates.
Navigating Digital Information
This playlist breaks down fact-checking skills into eleven short, 13-15 minute videos. A collaborative effort by John Green, MediaWise, The Poynter Institute, and The Stanford History Education Group.
This playlist of 2- to 3-minute videos includes 1. Verifying Images and Videos; 2. Looking up Claims and Website Owners; and 3. Evaluating Social Media Accounts.
University of Michigan Library Fake News Course
Lesson plans and assignments for U of M's seven-week fake news course.