Civic Preparation for the Digital Age: How College Students Evaluate Online Sources about Social and Political Issues
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The ability to find credible information online is necessary for informed civic engagement in the 21st century. This need is particularly acute for young people, who often turn to the Internet to learn about social and political issues. Preparing students to evaluate online content, particularly as it concerns social and political issues, aligns with broader efforts to reinvigorate the civic mission of colleges and universities. We analyzed how college students (n = 263) evaluated online sources about public policy issues. Results showed that a majority employed ineffective strategies for evaluating digital information. Many of the strategies students used mirrored advice found on college and university websites. These findings suggest a need to reconsider post-secondary approaches to teaching online evaluation strategies.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | June 2022 |
| Publication date | September 27, 2022 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Breakstone, Joel | |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Smith, Mark | |
| Author | Ziv, Nadav | |
| Author | Wineburg, Sam |
Subjects
| Subject | civics |
|---|---|
| Subject | digital literacy |
| Subject | media literacy |
| Subject | assessment |
| Subject | misinformation |
| Subject | Stanford Graduate School of Education |
| Subject | Stanford History Education Group |
| Genre | Text |
| Genre | Article |
Bibliographic information
| Related item | |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.25740/vd569yy3146 |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/vd569yy3146 |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND).
Preferred citation
- Preferred citation
- Breakstone, J., Smith, M., Ziv, N., and Wineburg, S. (2022). Civic Preparation for the Digital Age: How College Students Evaluate Online Sources about Social and Political Issues. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at https://purl.stanford.edu/vd569yy3146.
Collection
Graduate School of Education Open Archive
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- Contact
- sheg@gse.stanford.edu
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