Through the University of Washington Center for an Informed Public’s MisinfoDay @ MyCommunity program, a group of librarians at Des Moines University recently adapted media literacy educational activities first developed at the CIP and tested in classrooms and libraries across Washington state for an educational event in Iowa.
”Our panelists, representing three different university degree programs, wove current events, social media data trends, and rapport building into a best practices toolkit for healthcare providers to address misinformation with patients and clients,” said Julia Salting, a research librarian and assistant professor at Des Moines University, a private medical university in Iowa’s capital city. “Attendees requested more time for questions and discussion next year!”
It’s the second-such MisinfoDay @ MyCommunity educational event, inspired by the annual MisinfoDay media literacy educational event first hosted by the UW Information School in 2019 and co-organized in years since by the UW Center for an Informed Public and Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication through a statewide partnership.
Ongoing media literacy educational efforts fostered by the CIP in the Evergreen State have inspired similar work beyond Washington’s borders and the MisinfoDay @ MyCommunity program is designed to enable local organizers to create and localize their own event.
In May, nearly 100 students from six high schools in Monterey County, California participated in the first MisinfoDay California workshops, organized by a local media literacy coalition of educators, news organizations, community stakeholders and public officials.
Approximately 35 Des Moines University students at the two-day event in October played the Euphorigen Investigation, one of the Loki’s Loop educational “escape room” style games developed at the CIP in collaboration with partners at the Information School and Seattle-based Puzzle Break. Jumpstarted by a CIP Innovation Fund grant in 2020, the Euphorigen Investigation set the stage for additional game development supported by funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which allowed game testing in public libraries across the nation.
“The game sparked the best conversation ever, it was just marvelous. The students were really interested in how the puzzles related to their coursework and also their daily lives,” Salting said.
Liz Crouse, the CIP’s MisinfoDay program manager, said how it’s great to see work first piloted in Washington be adopted and adapted by groups in other states and communities. “Educators around the country want to make sure they’re setting students up to be skilled navigators of our increasingly complex information environments,” Crouse said. “That the librarian team at DMU was able to take our model for high school students and make it meaningful for their medical school students is a testament to how this work spans disciplines and age groups.”
- Watch a video about the Euphorigen Investigation.
- Learn more about misinformation educational gaming work at the UW Information School with partners at the CIP, GAMER Research Group, and Technology & Social Change Group.
- MisinfoDay @ MyCommunity Organizer Guide
- Photos courtesy Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences
