AcceleratED

At the end of 2016, The Oxford Dictionary named “post truth” its word of the year, citing as its definition: “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” In an age in which information is abundant, easy to access and often overwhelming AND in which there’s economic incentive to mislead consumers, discerning fact from fiction has become THE “21st Century skill.” In this session we’ll explore the fake news phenomenon, discuss its impact on our students, teachers and society, put our own source evaluation skills to the test and discover ways that school librarians (along with other colleagues) can lead the charge as defenders of facts in a post truth world.