Research
Using a visual media verification tool embedded in lesson plans can lead to attitude change in fact-checking among young people and improve media literacy skills
Youcheck! experimental project consisted in testing the visual verification plug-in InVID-WeVerify (developed for journalists) among a larger population, with two main targets: the adult public and the teaching/student public. In the four European countries considered (France, Romania, Spain and Sweden), self-tutored adult volunteers filled-in an online questionnaire AND students answered a pre- and post-test before and after a 2-hour class intervention with their teachers.
The general results show that:
- All participants stated that disinformation is a great challenge and they found the verification plug-in very useful but also complicated to use.
- Self-tutored adults agreed that the main measures to tackle disinformation should be: development of critical thinking, media regulation, availability of technical tools and improvement of quality of news.
- Students performed better in visual fact-checking after being taught media verification skills and they improved their performance in detecting misleading images and videos after the class intervention.
- Students’ attitudes changed significantly after using the plug-in embedded in the media literacy lesson plan. The most recurrent variables showing attitude change about fact-checking among students were: relying less on “gut feeling” and on “journalist reputation” and relying more on “image design”, “search of source” and “consulting fact-checking websites”.
Findings could help governments and educators better understand how to use media literacy tools and skills for rapid intervention:
- Media literacy can be a rapid response strategy for combatting online disinformation.
- Media literacy is efficient after interventions that sensitize to disinformation risks for democracy and develop self-awareness and critical thinking as to self-bias on credibility of news.
- Visual literacy tools developed in collaboration with media literacy educators can help raise critical thinking, improve fact-checking skills of the population and resilience against online disinformation.
About the project and partners:
Youcheck! is part of the “Media literacy for all” Programme launched by DG-Connect, European Commission (http://project-youcheck.com/)
The partners are Savoir*Devenir (France), Agence France-Presse (France), National University for Political Studies and Public Administration – SNSPA (Romania), National Distance Education University – UNED (Spain) and Uppsala University (Sweden).
Here you can consult and download some of the documents as final result of the research.
- Combatting online disinformation by improving visual literacy: the YouCheck! project
- Divina Frau-Meigs, Sorbonne Nouvelle University, France
- Thomas Nygren, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- Nicoleta Corbu, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania
- Sonia Santoveña-Casal, UNED, Spain
- Developing media literacy competences outside the classrooms for fighting visual disinformation: the YouCheck project
- Sara Osuna-Acedo, National Distance Education University (UNED), Spain
- Divina Frau-Meigs, Savoir*Devenir, France
- Thomas Nygren, Uppsala University, Sweden
- Flavia Durach, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), Romania
- Visual fact checkers? Teachers and general public expectations
- Divina Frau-Meigs, Savoir*Devenir, France
- Denis Teyssou, France-Press Agency (AFP), France
- Nicoleta Corbu, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), Romania
- Thomas Nygren, Uppsala Unviersity, Sweden
- Sara Osuna Acedo, National Distance Education University (UNED), Spain
- What’s in a name: Understanding «fake news» from the audience’s perspective
- Nicoleta Corbu, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), Romania
- Divina Frau-Meigs, Savoir*Devenir, France
- Denis Teyssou, France-Press Agency (AFP), France
- Alina Bârgaoanu, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), Romania