Informed or Influenced? Media and News Literacy Skills for Election Season and Beyond

Presented by Alexa Volland, Senior Manager, Educator Professional Learning, News Literacy Project; Jill Hofmockel, Teacher-Librarian, West High School (IA); Molly June Roquet, Education Librarian, Saint Mary’s College of California; and Shaelynn Farnsworth, Senior Director of Education Partnership Strategy, News Literacy Project

Sponsored by The News Literacy Project

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On a regular basis—and especially around each election season—we’re overwhelmed with organizations, groups, influencers, bad actors, and others bombarding us with information. Much of that information is designed to influence or even manipulate rather than inform us. How can you help your students cut through all the noise and prioritize information from credible sources?

In this edWebinar, join News Literacy Project experts and news literacy educators to learn how you can strengthen your students’ media and news literacy skills and equip them for active, responsible civic life. Learn about best practices for teaching about bias and primary purpose of various sources and types of information, and discover how you can help students identify news and information that is presented in a fair and accurate way.

This recorded edWebinar is of interest to K-12 teachers, librarians, school and district leaders, and education technology leaders.

About the Presenters

Alexa Volland is News Literacy Project’s Senior Manager of Educator Professional Learning. Prior to joining NLP in August 2022, she was the youth programming manager for The Poynter Institute’s digital media literacy initiative, MediaWise. There, she specialized in fact checking, social media mis- and disinformation, and connecting with young audiences. While at MediaWise, Alexa served as the editor of the Teen Fact-Checking Network, a student-led newsroom that produces fact-checking videos for social media. She came to NLP with both newsroom and classroom experience, having worked in local journalism at the Tampa Bay Times and as a journalism teacher in St. Petersburg, Florida. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Florida.

Jill Hofmockel is the teacher-librarian at West High School in Iowa City, Iowa. An educator with more than 20 years of experience in school libraries, Jill holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in library and information science. A longtime member of the Iowa Association of School Librarians, Jill has served as a committee chair, board member, and president, as well as liaison to the American Association of School Librarians’ Affiliate Assembly. Jill is committed to incorporating information literacy skills throughout her school’s curriculum, with a special emphasis on teaching news literacy. After school, you will find Jill coaching her son’s high school esports team or enjoying a cup of tea with her daughter. Jill is one of NLP’s NewsLitNation Ambassadors, educators involved in local community organizing efforts in the fight against misinformation toward a mutual objective of creating a more news-literate generation of news consumers.

Molly June Roquet (she/they) is the education librarian at Saint Mary’s College of California. A former head librarian at an independent K-8 school in Oakland, public librarian, and middle school history teacher, Molly holds a bachelor’s degree in history from San Francisco State University and a master’s degree in library and information science from Wayne State University. They have presented at the American Library Association and California Library Association annual conferences and have written for Computers in Libraries and Information Today magazines. Molly strives to add a critical, anti-racist lens to media and news literacy education and is the News Literacy Project’s San Francisco Bay Area ambassador.

Shaelynn Farnsworth is the News Literacy Project’s Senior Director of Education Partnership Strategy. Shaelynn has over 20 years of experience in education. She spent the first part of her career as a high school English teacher in Conrad, Iowa, where she reimagined teaching and learning in her classroom and became a leader in the convergence between literacy and technology. Shaelynn focused on developing student skills in information consumption, creating innovative ways for students to demonstrate understanding, and inspiring healthy skepticism in the digital age. She was recruited by a regional state education agency in Iowa, where she was a school improvement consultant for seven years. Shaelynn supported districts throughout Iowa in the areas of literacy, technology, AIW, and systemic change. She was a member of the state’s literacy, social studies, and technology leadership teams. Shaelynn holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in English from the University of Northern Iowa.

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The News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan, national education nonprofit, provides programs and resources for educators and the public to teach, learn and share the abilities needed to be smart, active consumers of news and information and equal and engaged participants in a democracy.