Abstract

• The aim of this project is to create a five-module KEEP course on critical digital literacy that will be a component of five courses in the English Department and the School of Journalism and Communication: ENGE4650 (Digital Literacy as Social Practice), ENGE5610 (Digital Literacies: Theory, Research, and Practice), COMM2500 (Introduction to Global Communication, COMM1180 (English News Writing) and COMM2180 (News Reporting). This course will be subsequently made available to all CUHK students.
• This course will provide students with strategies that will enable them to address online disinformation. Through interactive activities using uReply and other tools, the five modules will discuss the following topics:
  1. The motivations behind fake news and their social implications
  2. The creation and dissemination of disinformation through technology
  3. Types of disinformation
  4. Strategies for detecting fake news
  5. Verifying information online
• By examining word and image choice, style, and register, students will enhance their language skills in detecting disinformation.
• Learner data from online participation and questionnaire surveys will be collected and analyzed to improve the course and prepare a version 2.0. Interested students will be interviewed to provide more detailed feedback to improve the course, and invited as co-facilitators of workshops.

Brief write-up

Project objectives

• To create a five-module KEEP course on critical digital literacy that will provide students with strategies to address recognize and address online disinformation.

Activities, process and outcomes

• CUHK students from seven sections of “Communications for English Majors II” (ENGE1320) accomplished the online course.
• A live YouTube talk on Fighting Fake News in October 2020 was conducted by the Principal Supervisor (PS).
• A webinar on critical digital literacy was conducted by the PS in October 2021, that was attended by over 200 teachers from different parts of the world.
• A paper on online disinformation and critical digital literacy was presented by the PS at the 2021 Conference of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

Deliverables and evaluation

• The online course: https://moodle.cuhk.keep.edu.hk/course/view.php?id=80. Taken by more than 80 ENGE1320 students
• The YouTube talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZhRBnYukPM. Viewed by more than 170 people, mostly a Hong Kong audience
• The webinar for teachers: https://cercll.arizona.edu/event/darvin/. Attended by over 200 teachers from different parts of the world.
• The international conference presentation: https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/aera/aera21/. American Educational Research Association

Dissemination, diffusion, impact and sharing of good practices

• Insights and good practices shared through the webinar for teachers and the international conference presentation

Impact on teaching and learning

• Enabled a flipped classroom teaching approach where students learned concepts from the online course, which were later discussed in class
• Facilitated the learning of digital literacies necessary to discover legitimate knowledge

Video Report

Please click the following link for viewing the report.
https://cuhk.ap.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=3cc35d10-8b9f-45e6-bcea-b12200b2e083