SETTING

Spotting Misinformation is a formal, asynchronous course that was created by MediaWise. The topic of this online learning experience is how to spot misinformation and according to the course website (Mahadevan, 2021), the learning outcomes are:

Define different types of misinformation, from memes to deepfakes
Identify and consume online news responsibly
Fact-check social media posts using the tools and techniques professional fact-checkers use

Use strategies to talk to friends or family who share misinformation

This is a stand-alone course and is expected to take one to two hours to complete. While progressing through the course learners do so at their own pace and there is no interaction with other learners or the instructors. In addition, learners cannot see how many other people have completed the course. The first page of this online learning experience includes headshots of the guest speakers, who are famous journalists and news anchors. A headshot of the course designer is also included. The Course Overview page contains the course description, course learning outcomes and a brief description of who the course is for.

Each lesson or module has learning outcomes, an estimated completion time and gives specific, real-world examples of each of the types of misinformation that they discuss. These examples include memes, social media screenshots and videos. Each lesson includes guest videos and an activity related to the topic area.

Colin works from home, and I observed him complete module two, Types of Misinformation, in his home office. To get ready for the class he made sure that he had a notebook and a glass of water nearby. His workstation included a laptop connected to a monitor. Throughout the experience he remained focused and did not move from his desk until the module was completed.

Setting: Text