STU draws praise for course teaching critical thinking skills in digital age
CBC
A course being piloted by St. Thomas University is teaching students how to sift through online misinformation, and the province's education minister is suggesting the same be taught to elementary school children.
The Fredericton university tweeted Tuesday that it's offering a new course from its English department called Digital Literacy, saying it will "provide students with the skills they need to be critical thinkers in the age of social media and fake news."
David Shipley, CEO of Beauceron Security, a Fredericton cybersecurity firm, retweeted it, adding "Love this, but we need it in high school," and tagged Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Dominic Cardy in the post.
"Or primary school …" Cardy responded.
The new course, and the Twitter exchange about how young the recipients of such teaching should be, comes after years of experts sounding alarms about the impact misinformation is having on public trust in institutions and democracy in general.
This week, Canada's chief electoral officer issued a report on the last two federal elections. Among other things, it called on online platforms to publish policies explaining how they will address the spread of disinformation "that inaccurately depicts election-related procedures during the election period."
In March, the Canadian Election Misinformation Project, run by McGill University and the University of Toronto, said it found messages that claimed Canadians who were not fully vaccinated would be unable to vote were widely circulated on social media during the last election.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on its own wave of misinformation around vaccines and the seriousness of the disease.
"I think it's wonderful. I think it's desperately needed," Shipley said of the course being offered by St. Thomas University.
"I think it's something that we should probably see in earlier in the school system, at least at the secondary high school level, but maybe even a starting point at the primary level.
"Teaching people how to think critically is an absolute asset to us in the world we now live in," said Shipley.
Andrew Klein, an assistant professor at St. Thomas University, put the course together along with his colleague Katherine Thorsteinson.
He said the course was born out of a recognition that university students are relying more on online material for not only getting their homework done, but also shaping their views on the world.
One of the concepts included in the course is that of vertical versus lateral reading.
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