Abstract
Never has it been more urgent for educators to be aware of the perils of research in education using digital searches in today’s world of disinformation, misinformation, artificial intelligence and censorship. As a result, we are more reliant on strong researchers than ever before. In the discipline of Education, students are often asked to research issues pertaining to curricula, pedagogy, educational information and theories. Pupils are using Internet and digital library searches to gain knowledge within public and private K-12 schools and within higher education. In this article, an Educational Librarian and an Education Professor outline their approach to educating all Faculty of Education students about using digital platforms in relation to unmasking fake news, artificial intelligence (AI) usage, and increasing Internet censorship. Using case study research, we examined 34 Bachelor of Education students in training at the high school level who created environmental digital art projects. Information/media literacy was taught in order to provide students with the necessary tools to identify credible, diverse, well-informed, strong, and robust research. In addition, they needed to be able to discern when artificial intelligence was utilized. Outlined are students’ projects. Our findings include “top ten” practical suggestions for educators at all levels when teaching students about effective researching in our current digital era.
Highlights
In the last three decades, especially in the last five years, misinformation/disinformation, artificial intelligence (AI), and suppression have been alarmingly increasing and intensifying and we feel an impelling need to address this in our professional practice
An Educational Librarian and an Education Professor outline their approach to educating all Faculty of Education students about using digital platforms in relation to unmasking fake news, artificial intelligence (AI) usage, and increasing Internet censorship
It makes common sense that librarians are moving towards purchasing digital texts and buying these selectively so that some current publications are currently sitting empty in our contemporary digital library shelves (Ahsan, 2018)
Summary
As an Education Professor and Educational Librarian within higher education, we have found that because of our changing society-pre, during, and we conceive, post COVID19— we have to be increasingly careful to guide our students well in gathering digital information In this complex binary world, we believe it is imperative to address what is occurring in our digital platforms relating to the proliferation of fake news, the expansion of artificial intelligence, and escalating censorship (Association for Media Literacy, 2020; Center for Media Literacy, 2020; Journell, 2019) for all levels of teaching and learning from kindergarten to grade twelve and within higher education
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