Fact-checking as digital media literacy in higher education

Abstract

Information disorder is a growing phenomenon, and fact-checking has long been recognized as an effective practice to evaluate media. Still, knowledge about fact-checking is not coherent in higher education institutions, not even in the field of media education. The paper is based on two case studies exploring the teaching of fact-checking in higher education as a European survey and evaluation of a workshop online in the critical-pragmatic framework with mixed methods. Findings highlight a need for developing fact-checking teaching in higher education as digital media literacy. Digital media literacy shows out as linkages to algorithm-based communication and, hands-on educational practices developing mindsets of master students instead of more traditional teaching as the mainstream in the survey. Even media studies mostly seem to have teaching on fact checking, there is a lack of learning materials, game-based educational approach, and integration fact-checking-related subjects (e.g., propaganda, disinformation) in educational sciences together with broadening the field of media education in higher education in Europe and beyond.