Proactive and passive scepticism; extending digital literacy to survive

misinformation, myth and conspiracy theory and support

empowered citizenship.Dr Geoff Walton, Senior Lecturer, Northumbria University, UKDr Ali Pickard, Principal Lecturer, Northumbria University, UK

Dr Mark Hepworth, Reader, Loughborough University, UK Ms Lara Dodd, Research Assistant, Northumbria University, UK

Our agenda for today

• Creating a collaborative working environment (10mins)

• What is information discernment? (10mins)

• What is scepticism? (10mins)

• What is the difference between passive and pro-active scepticism? (10mins)

• Using and critiquing the source evaluation tool (15mins)

• Any questions? (5mins)

Creating a collaborative working environment

• In groups of 5 agree on how you are going to work as a group

– What is important?

– Why?

• All other activities will be in your groups

What is information discernment?

• I’m guessing you all have an idea if what information discernment might be.

• Discuss this idea, draw on your own experience and agree on a group definition

Definition of information discernment we used

“The ability to use higher order thinking skills to make sound and complex judgements regarding a range of text-based materials”

(Walton & Hepworth, 2013, p55)

What is scepticism?

• Discuss this term, can you define it?

What is the difference between passive and pro-active scepticism?

• Discuss these ideas Without referring back to the abstract

• Define what these terms might mean

Our working definitions of pro-active and passive scepticism

• Passive scepticism (default position) is defined as a person’s ability to make limited judgements about information which are heavily influenced by their preconceived notions or worldview (Lewandowsky, et al., 2012) or the worldview of others

• Proactive scepticism (special effort) is defined as a person’s ability to make balanced judgements at all times about information independently and regardless of worldview.

Using and critiquing the source evaluation tool

• Using the source evaluation handout discuss whether this tool contains what one might expect in order to be able evaluate information effectively.

• What would you add?

• VOTING TIME - Does the source evaluation tool encourage proactive scepticism YES/NO/DON’T KNOW?

Any questions?

Reference

Walton, G. & Hepworth, M. (2013). Using assignment data to analyse a blended information literacy intervention: a quantitative approach. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 45 (1) pp53-63