The Other Side of 2020: Questioning Everything—Doing Something

In February of 2020, everything around the world changed. By mid-March, the majority of the world was locked down. Teachers were called on to create a sense of "normalcy” for their students. And we tried. During that process, though, as a teacher, I started to truly question what I was teaching and—more importantly—HOW I was teaching. This reflective essay offers a critical interrogation of my own pedagogical choices during and because of the COVID-19 pandemic . . . and so many other "moments” that have led up to it. I contend that we need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves, "Are we doing this right?” The following offers my starting point.

Impact, adaptation and digital transformation in higher education as a consequence of Covid-19: the case of the master's degree Comincrea of the University of Alicante

The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic has not only meant a paradigm shift in university teaching processes during the health crisis, but also an opportunity to rethink the challenges and opportunities that this crisis has generated in both edu-communication and media literacy in the context of higher education. The general aim of this research is to analyse the challenge of digital transformation because of the pandemic in the official master's degree in Communication and Creative In-dustries at the University of Alicante (hereinafter Comincrea) during the academic year 2021-2022. To this end, three specific objectives are proposed to analyse the impact that online learning and digital transformation have had on teaching staff, students, and companies that offer external curricular internships. The methodo-logy applied is systematic surveys of closed and open-ended questions. The results indicate that there is a predisposition on the part of teaching staff towards digital transformation, although with a certain rejection of duality (online and face-to-face learning), and evidence that students, despite having the necessary resources and skills, continue to prefer face-to-face teaching as a system, although they emphasize the flexibility of mixing online with face-to-face learning.

Media and digital literacy gamified. Go Viral! against scientific misinformation

Scientific misinformation has grown during the Covid-19 pandemic. To reduce the impact of false information, serious games are emerging that aim to make young people media and digitally literate through gamification. The main objective of this work is to analyse the potential of the Go Viral! edugame in terms of its journa-listic quality and design in order to detect the advantages of its implementation in different social contexts. The methodology used is based on a discursive and content analysis used in the study of other newsgames. The results indicate that this game, based on psychological inoculation, effectively allows the user to know how misinformation is created in networks, how it is increased by echo chambers and what tools are necessary to create a network community from the point of view of from the disinformer's point of view, thanks to the transmission of data, contextualization, awareness, interaction and stimulation to action. Although its journalistic quality is limited;the content, the architecture and the design indicate advantages that favor the reduction of disinformation noise as mechanisms to bury the echo chambers created in social networks. Although it cannot be presented as a single effective vehicle to combat scientific misinformation, it can become a valid instrument alongside others such as awareness campaigns, educational resources launched by institutions and the regulation of digital platforms.

How Do Social Media Literacy, Psychological Capital and Work Engagement Influence the Employee Morale of the Hospitality and Tourism Industry?

This study aims to assess the employee morale (EM) in the hospitality and tourism industry through social media literacy (SML), psychological capital (PsC), and work engagement (WE). The study followed the deductive reasoning approach to examine the hypothesized associations. The structural equation modeling via SmartPLS3 was used to analyse the cross-sectional data which were collected through the convenience sampling method. Results showed that SML and PsC positively influenced WE, and WE predicted EM. WE partially mediates the influence of SML and PsC on EM. The moderating effect of age showed that young adults' social media literacy on WE significantly differs from old adults. However, no significant age difference between young and old is observed between PsC and WE. The study intends to develop a better comprehension of practitioners' insights of SML, PsC that may influence employees' WE and morale who have been working in hospitality and tourism industries. The strengths and limitations of the study are also documented for policymakers, academics, and future researchers. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Fit for purpose? Taking a closer look at the UK's Online Media Literacy Strategy

Now more than ever, media literacy is essential as we navigate our daily lives (Mesquita-Romero et al., 2022). The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how we need to frequently navigate media spaces filled with changing, and not always credible, information (Austin et al., 2021). Media literacy affects our habits as well as our social connections (Hobbs, 2021). This short opinion piece from two educators in the field provides an exploration of the Online Media Literacy Strategy (OMLS) published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, UK, in 2021. The aim of the OMLS was to predict how media literacy may evolve in our society. This paper gives a brief introduction to the OMLS and offers three critiques, which educators may find useful, namely the undersold role of schools, the negative connotations of seeing ‘media literacy' as solely a way of navigating online harms, and the negative perception of social media (SM). The concept of SM as being ‘production-positive' is pitched. © 2023 Author(s).

COVID-19 and Distance Education: Evaluation in the Context of Twenty-First Century Skills

In this study, we aimed to investigate the prospective primary school teachers' opinions about their experiences in distance education within the scope of twenty-first century skills during COVID-19 pandemic. The phenomenological research method was used for the purpose of enlightening this specific context. The study group involved 16 prospective primary school teachers. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The credibility of the data were provided by obtaining the consent of the participants and by comparing the consistency of codes and themes created by experts in accordance with the twenty-first century skills. The key findings were: (1) no opinion is expressed on information and media literacy;also, participants were not aware of the importance of technology literacy. (2) Emergency remote education cannot provide effective learning and teaching. Participants' awareness of collaboration and communication skills was insufficient. (3) There were positive and negative aspects of emergency distance education towards face-to-face one. The educational environment, which has become digitalized with distance education, shows that there are changes in the views of the participants about the technology competence that they should have in their careers. As a result, remote education does not cause a significant difference in 21st century skills of participants. But the importance and need of twenty-first century skills in the distance education process become more apparent.

Fostering mask-wearing with virality metrics and social media literacy: evidence from the U.S. and Korea.

Although social media can pose threats to the public health by spreading misinformation and causing confusion, they can also provide wider access to health information and opportunities for health surveillance. The current study investigates the ways in which preventive health behaviors and norms can be promoted on social media by analyzing data from surveys and experiments conducted in the U.S. and South Korea. Survey results suggest that the pathway from social media use for COVID-19 information to mask-wearing behavior through mask-wearing norms emerges only among individuals with strong perceived social media literacy in the U.S. Experimental findings show that wear-a-mask campaign posts on social media foster mask-wearing norms and behavioral intention when they come with large (vs. small) virality metrics (e.g., Likes, shares) in both the U.S. and South Korea. Additionally, American users are more willing to engage with posts that come with supportive (vs. mixed) comments by Liking, sharing and commenting. The results highlight the need to cultivate social media literacy and opportunities for exploiting social media virality metrics for promoting public health norms and behaviors.

The Impact of Post-Pandemic Learning Loss on Education Development: A Systematic Review

The Covid-19 pandemic constituted a critical issue for education, impacting the teaching-learning processes. Educational institutions, families and teachers faced unique challenges to ensure quality education supported by the Internet and technology. This study aims to review the latest literature on learning loss in different contexts to understand how this phenomenon could potentially impact the educational development due to the lack of technological and digital possibilities for learning. We found that even though the learning loss occurred during periods of physical disconnection between teachers and students, the pandemic resulted in an unexpected shock in which the gap between them was digital. This study underlines the factors contributing to this digital learning loss, on which educational and governmental agencies should focus on media literacy to prevent the absence of technological resources, the limited involvement of the family, and the lack of digital competences of the citizenship.

How Media Literacy, Trust of Experts and Flu Vaccine Behaviors Associated with COVID-19 Vaccine Intentions.

PURPOSE: To assess how previous experiences and new information contributed to COVID-19 vaccine intentions. DESIGN: Online survey (N = 1264) with quality checks. SETTING: Cross-sectional U.S. survey fielded June 22-July 18, 2020. SAMPLE: U.S. residents 18+; quotas reflecting U.S. Census, limited to English speakers participating in internet panels. MEASURES: Media literacy for news content and sources, COVID-19 knowledge; perceived usefulness of health experts; if received flu vaccine in past 12 months; vaccine willingness scale; demographics. ANALYSIS: Structural equation modelling. RESULTS: Perceived usefulness of health experts (b = .422, P < .001) and media literacy (b = .162, P < .003) predicted most variance in vaccine intentions (R-squared=31.5%). A significant interaction (b = .163, P < .001) between knowledge (b = -.132, P = .052) and getting flu shot (b = .185, P < .001) predicted additional 3.5% of the variance in future vaccine intentions. An increase in knowledge of COVID-19 associated with a decrease in vaccine intention among those declining the flu shot. CONCLUSION: The interaction result suggests COVID-19 knowledge had a positive association with vaccine intention for flu shot recipients but a counter-productive association for those declining it. Media literacy and trust in health experts provided strong counterbalancing influences. Survey-based findings are correlational; thus, predictions are based on theory. Future research should study these relationships with panel data or experimental designs.

Percepciones de la ciudadania espanola ante la desinformacion en tiempos de la COVID-19: efectos y mecanismos de lucha contra las noticias falsas

Disinformation has become one of the main problems for society and democracy. Despite the increase in research on this topic, citizen perception of the effects caused by fake news and how to combat it is yet an ongoing issue. Our objective is to analyze these two aspects in the context of COVID-19 in Spain. Also, we seek to identify the sociodemographic and political factors that determine them. We employed a quantitative survey run through an online panel (n= 682). The results indicate that disinformation generates, as the primary effect, an increase in mistrust towards the media and politicians among Spanish citizens. Likewise, the incidence of disinformation in the change of opinion and the decision to vote has dropped. Concerning Coronavirus, falsehoods had a low impact on vaccination, although they promoted conspiracy theories among citizens. Men, young people and far -right sympathizers perceive the consequences of hoaxes more intensely. Finally, fact -checking and legislation are the mechanisms to combat disinformation that citizens consider most reliable. These results have important implications for public institutions and journalism.

A research-development in the pandemic context: creation of animate books to promote the development of reading comprehension in apprentice French-speaking readers in a minority environment

With the pragmatic objective of compensating for the reading delays of students at the start of primary school, delays caused by school closures to contain the global COVID-19 pandemic, this research and development has made it possible to design and validate, by an iterative approach, books animated in a "story time" style. Seven albums published at the Maison Bouton d'or Acadie were publicized after successive trials in fourteen classes from kindergarten to second grade in three French-speaking schools in the Greater Moncton region of New Brunswick, in the context of the pandemic.

Is this the truth? A study of how undergraduates relate to potentially manipulative and misleading online media imagery

This mixed method arts-based study aims to answer the research question: How do undergraduates enrolled in an online course investigating visual culture at a large public Midwestern university relate to possibly manipulative and misleading online media imagery? Before educators can attempt to improve student media literacy, they must first understand how students experience visual media online. A holistic approach where students visualize their relationship with online media, respond to a survey of their attitudes and behaviors concerning online media, and demonstrate their abilities on anassessment of their critical media literacy, provides a rich snapshot of how members of Generation Z or Zoomers relate to online media.My findings reveal that students are extremely susceptible to manipulative or misleading media and that their unwarranted overconfidence may compound that vulnerability. Meanwhile, their art depicted feelings of anxiety, distrust, confusion, and helplessness regarding their relationships with media. With the increasing reliance on online media, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems as though misinformation online will only continue to proliferate with increasingly dangerous consequences in the real world. As a result, educators, especially art educators, are urged to try to help students develop visual and critical media literacy skills. Recommendations and lesson ideas are provided. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Knowledge Gap Hypothesis and Pandemics: Covid‐19 Knowledge, Communication Inequality, and Media Literacy in Lebanon

The study examines the knowledge gap hypothesis during the Covid‐19 pandemic in a country experiencing severe social, political, and economic turmoil and inequality. The research design assesses Covid‐19 knowledge through 13 variables and incorporates income, education, gender, and media literacy among the socioeconomic status variables. It also includes television exposure, social media exposure, and social media posting as media use measures. A cross‐sectional survey of adults living in Lebanon was implemented between March 27 and April 23, 2020. The study aimed for a nationally repre-sentative probability sample of 1,536 participants (95% CI, ±2.5%) and received 792 valid responses (51.6% response rate). The results show a positive relationship between Covid‐19 knowledge and education, media literacy, and social media exposure, but no relationship between Covid‐19 knowledge and income, gender, television exposure, and social media posting behavior. The evidence shows a widening of the knowledge gap for those more likely to post on social media and a narrowing of the knowledge gap for those more exposed to social media news, but the observed narrowing of the knowledge gap for television exposure was not statistically generalizable. Finally, the evidence shows that media literacy maintains the knowledge gap by almost identically increasing the knowledge level for both low and high socioeconomic groups, although the limitations in measuring media literacy merit further exploration. © 2023 by the author(s);.

The width and depth of literacies for tackling the COVID-19 infodemic

PurposeA wide choice of varied information and data-based tools is reviewed in order to determine their ability treating symptoms of the COVID-19 infodemic. Several literacies and derived literacies, presumably having the ability to fulfil these roles are enumerated. There is also a review of the impact of applying deconstruction, understanding, and anticipation as well as of tools for mitigating overload phenomena, and communication overload.Design/methodology/approachThe article reviews literacies deemed to promise reducing the impact of the information crisis, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.FindingsA non-exhaustive review of literature, taken from sources of varied disciplines, resulting from reverse snowballing and forward citation mining confirmed that there is a wide choice of solutions from among literacies, derived literacies and other approaches that have the potential to combat annoyance and anxiety, caused by the infodemic.Originality/valueNo other, published research has looked at such a wide range of literacies and derived literacies, as well as other, related approaches linked them to the COVID-19 infodemic.

Whose future? Whose facts?: A critical case study of news literacy education in the United States

In the wake of the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections and the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing public attention has been paid to the ability of citizens to use and understand news media, information, and digital technology. Conversations about media literacy-the ability to critically engage with media-are ongoing in the press, schools, and state and federal governments. Most media literacy scholars agree that media literacy is an integral part of an informed and healthy democracy. Yet not all media literacy approaches are the same, and some scholars suggest that mainstream approaches may re-create antidemocratic systems and ideologies. What does it mean when the tools intended to support a healthy democracy reinforce systems of oppression?A case study of the News Literacy Project (NLP), a nonpartisan, nonprofit education organization, was used to explore this question by examining how ideologies of racism and neoliberal capitalism are perpetuated or challenged in the resources and curriculum created and disseminated by NLP, which positions itself as a leader in news literacy education. Within a theoretical framework of critical political economy of communication, curriculum theory, and Critical Race Theory, NLP as an organization and its Checkology curriculum were analyzed to understand how ideologies of racism and neoliberal capitalism are replicated or rejected in this curriculum. NLP depends on corporate and philanthropic funding from both media and nonmedia industries and uses the standards of the professional news industry to define its approach to news literacy education. The Checkology 101 curriculum, a default set of news literacy lessons available through an online portal, reflects ideologies of neoliberal capitalism through its atomized and individualistic structure, limited critiques of the news industry's economic structures, and language centered on individualism and consumerism. The curriculum also reflects ideologies of racism, which appear to be the unintentional result of reliance on liberal ideals such as aspirations for neutrality, universality, objectivity, and unbiased truth, that manifest in stereotyping, decontextualized information, and incomplete storytelling. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Media literacy's role in the mitigation of disinformation effects on substance misuse

Objective: Misinformation and substance use both increased substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined potential links between misinformation beliefs and substance use among adults, along with the potential for media literacy to mitigate misinformation's influences on problematic use of widely available substances of misuse. Method(s): Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test a theoretical model of media literacy's effects on substance use, fully mediated by disinformation beliefs, with a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults recruited through a Qualtrics panel of adults using census-based quotas for geographic region, population density, ethnic diversity and gender (N = 1264). The sample was 51.5% male (N = 651);46.7% female (N = 591);1.1% nonbinary (N = 13);and 0.7% (N = 9) not reporting. Result(s): Media literacy for source of news positively associated with media literacy for content of news (b = 0.814, p < 0.001). Media literacy for content of news then positively associated with science media literacy (b = 0.192, p < 0.001). Science media literacy then negatively associated with disinformation beliefs (b = -0.586, p < 0.001), and COVID-19 disinformation beliefs associated with an increase in substance use (b = 0.466, p < 0.001). Disinformation beliefs also associated with alcohol and sleep medication co-use (odds = 1.956, p < 0.05). Conclusion(s): Results demonstrate media literacy's value for substance misuse prevention and effective public health messaging.Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Democratic citizenship, critical literacy and educational policy in England: A conceptual paradox?

This article identifies a conceptual paradox between recent educational policy in England and a social-democratic understanding of critical literacy. Recent political events including Brexit, the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, and the Coronavirus Pandemic reiterate the need for pedagogies that equip students to critique information circulated online. After setting out critical literacy's genealogy as a democratic educational model, the authors situate these theoretical approaches within the context of English secondary education reform. The article then draws on teacher agency research to consider the practical barriers to implementing a critical literacy pedagogy capable of navigating the present political landscape. Addressing gaps within literary education and digital media research, the overall argument is that educational policy in England since 2010 has served the priorities of a neoliberal state system. In this context, enacting the democratic, social-justice orientated critical literacy demanded by the challenges of communicating in the twenty-first-century is both daunting and urgent. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Relationship between misinformation spreading behaviour and true/false judgments and literacy: an empirical analysis of COVID-19 vaccine and political misinformation in Japan

Purpose: In recent years, the social impact of misinformation has intensified. The purpose of this study is to clarify the mechanism by which misinformation spreads in society. Design/methodology/approach: Testing the following two hypotheses by a logit model analysis of survey data using actual fact-checked COVID-19 vaccine and political misinformation: people who believe that some misinformation is true are more likely to spread it than those who do not believe in its truthfulness;people with lower media and information literacy are more likely to spread misinformation than people with higher media and information literacy. Findings: The two hypotheses are supported, and the trend was generally robust regardless of the method, whether the means of diffusion was social media or direct conversation. Social implications: The authors derived the following four implications from the results: governments need to further promote media information literacy education;platform service providers should consider mechanisms to facilitate the spread and display of posts by people who are aware of misinformation;fact-checking should be further promoted;people should acquire information based on the assumption that people who believe in some misinformation tend to spread it more. Originality/value: First, it quantitatively clarifies the relationship between misinformation, true/false judgements and dissemination behaviour. Second, it quantitatively clarifies the relationship between literacy and misinformation dissemination behaviour. Third, it conducts a comprehensive analysis of diffusion behaviours, including those outside of social media. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Reflection on Caring, Truth, Bias, Evidence, and Media Literacy During Current Events: An Invited Editorial for the International Journal for Human Caring

In the abstract for "Editorial Reflection on Caring, Truth, Bias, Evidence, and Media Literacy During Current Events,” the editorial focuses on the current state of divided truth in issues facing today's global citizens, such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination, historical bias, implicit bias, gender identity, and disparity. Recognizing of the challenges faced in addressing truth, bias, and the influence of media literacy raises questions for caring scholars to contemplate advancing of caring science. © 2023 International Association for Human Caring.

Social media literacy among nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic - does year of study matter? A nationwide cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Research to date indicates that student competencies in various dimensions of social media use vary depending on, for example, the field of study or stage of education. The aim of the study was assessment of social media literacy in a group of undergraduate nursing students, based on the year of study. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Respondents: 679 nursing students from 11 Polish medical universities who began or continued their education during the COVID-19 pandemic. First-year students (N = 397, 58.73%) and women (N = 589, 87.13%) constituted the largest group. The Perceived Social Media Literacy Scale was used. Statistical analysis used the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis-of-variance-by-ranks to analyse differences in PSML scores, and Dunn's test to analyse differences in PSML scores between individual years of study (α= 0.05). RESULTS: The level of social media literacy between students differed significantly (p < 0.001). Students rated their technical competency the highest (H = 29.722, p < 0.001), social relationships (H = 20.946, p < 0.001) and informational awareness (H = 21.054, p < 0.001) the lowest. The lowest scores in the self-assessment of social media literacy were noted among first-year students (M = 55.85, Max = 70.0; p < 0.001), and the highest among second-year students (M = 60.99, Max = 70.0; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Nursing students rated their competency lowest in the sphere related to verifying the content of messages appearing on social media, which may have a significant impact on their professional competencies. Differences in the level of social media literacy among students of different years of study should be taken into account when designing training in this field.