MULTIMEDIA MISINFORMATION
Video Introduction
INTRODUCTION
I chose Colin as the learner for this case study because in many ways he reflects the adult learners that I work with. Like him, my learners are taking courses to fill knowledge gaps, to upskill and to stay relevant in the marketplace, and like him, most of my learners are working full time. I also chose this case because Colin was interested in taking an online course on media literacy. All my learners take online courses, and I was curious to see how a course on media literacy used multimedia to engage learners.
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I observed Colin complete a module of the online Poynter course Spotting Misinformation and then interviewed him about his learning experience. Through this process I found that the fact that he is an adaptive expert plays an important role in which learning experiences he chooses, and well as what he takes away from them. I also discovered that a course may include professional-looking multimedia, and yet not be effective if it doesn’t incorporate multimedia principles, include observation and reflection and have built in assessments.
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT OF INTRODUCTION VIDEO
Fake news, misinformation and disinformation make online platforms dangerous places for learners. Colin V. is the content moderator for an online platform and as an expert in his field he is constantly analyzing his knowledge gaps and searching for learning experiences that will help him to fill those gaps. Learning experiences specifically on content moderation are rare, and so Colin searches for learning resources on related topics or fields, such as fact checking and fake news.
Colin’s ability to stay up to date on industry trends and concerns affects not only his career prospects, but also the safety of his learners. He decided to take the online course Spotting Misinformation, by Poynter, because while he is not a fact checker, he thought the course would help him build skills related to the identification of fake news or fake content and better interact with those that are not as media savvy as he is.
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I was particularly interested in his learning experience because he is much like the learners that I manage courses for, he works full-time, and he looks for online learning experiences that help him to continue building his skills and remain relevant in the workplace. I was also curious to see how an online course on media literacy would incorporate multimedia principles.
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This case study delves into how being an adaptive expert plays a large role in the learning experiences Colin chooses and how he progresses through them. It also reveals the importance of curated multimedia, and the need for observation, reflection and built-in assessments, even for expert learners such as Colin. Important theories and principles such as adaptive expertise, conditionalized knowledge, multimedia theory and experiential learning all offer insight into why this learning experience, while not a perfect fit for Colin, was still successful, and how some changes to the learning design of the course would make it even more effective.