Teach Information Literacy Skills and Concepts
Concentrate on information literacy concepts and skills, rather than teaching students how to use a par- ticular tool. Use those general concepts and skills in concert with exercises that allow students to explore a variety of research tools. Instructors will never have enough time to demonstrate every database for stu- dents. It is more efficient to explain to students how databases work in general and then have them use a variety of databases to experience how they differ from one another. Students have been using computer databases most of their lives—Google, Facebook, Twitter—and they frequently learn how to use them by trial and error rather than by reading a help page or following step-by-step instruction sheets. Have them spend their time applying searching and evalu- ation skills to content rather than learning how to use a particular database.
Make fact-checking sites known and available (see gray box). If students are taught to be skeptical about information, they should have questions about the truth of the news they access. In order to verify news as real or fake, students should be given the tools nec- essary to do so. Rather than relying on their network of friends or the popularity rating of a post, students should be directed to fact-checking sites, and informa- tion about what those sites are should be readily avail- able at multiple locations—websites, social media pages, printable lists, and so on.