In-Person Breakout rooms

Maite Taboada—Linguistics, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

“Do Your Research” and the Dangers of Online Sources

Room HC 2250

One of the key phrases in conspiracy theories has become “do your own research”. Because of the wide availability of misinformation online, doing your own research can easily lead people down rabbit holes. We will discuss how to inoculate citizens against misinformation, fake news, hoaxes, and abusive content online, by looking for linguistic hallmarks of such toxic content.

Michael Maser—Faculty of Education

Levelling Up Your Hoaxing Skills as a Form of "Info-Inoculation"

Room HC2245

Macaroni grows on trees? The moon landing was faked?? Birds aren’t real??? Who knew!

Hoaxes have a long and varied history in human society, sometimes creating hilarious results and other times leading to serious and dire results. In this break-out session we will explore hoaxes and create them, which educators can reproduce as learning activities in their classes to strengthen student's critical thinking skills.

Mark Pickup—Political Science, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

The Characteristics of “Fake News”

Room HC 1510

In this session, participants will look at websites that contain a lot of misinformation and sites that are more reliable. We will discuss the characteristics that make them different from each other. The participants will then work on creating their own “fake news story” using what they have learned.

Saba Ghezili—Faculty of Education

Saba Ghezili, BSc – is a graduate student in Educational Technology and Learning Design, at the Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University. Her previous research includes qualitative analysis of humanitarian workers’ occupational stress, and she has experience working in staff welfare at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Her research interests include data literacy, critical pedagogy, and global citizenship education.

Digital Literacy in Curricula

Room HC 2200

Digital Literacy is considered an undeniably crucial skill at this point in time. Given the scale and impact of events such as the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, the inclusion of Data Literacy in curricula becomes less and less of an option and more of a necessity. In this breakout session, we’ll explore the current state of Digital Literacy in education, discuss the barriers and catalysts to its implementation, and reiterate its value and share relevant best practices.

Endre Begby—Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

A Deep Dive Into Trust

Room HC 1540

Building on the points raised during the keynote presentation, this session explores the complexities of building and maintaining trust in a world full of misinformation in greater depth.

Virtual Breakout Rooms

Reema Faris—Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

(Mis)Reading: The Power of Language in the Information Age

Media consumers and social media users are adrift in a sea of information, disinformation, and misinformation. To navigate these turbulent waters, language skills are essential to discern fake news and distinguish fact from fiction. Specifically, reading skills, from vocabulary development to inference to critical text analysis and more. In this environment, the challenge for educators is to adapt reading skills to help their students anchor themselves. Join me and let’s explore how to identify linguistic red flags — how many exclamation points are there in that post? why are those sources so vague? is the use of those words meant to scare the reader? — to bolster our students’ ability to weather these data storms.

Jennifer Chutter—Interdisciplinary Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

All the answers are in my pocket! Researching with a Smartphone

While it is easy to access information anytime and anywhere, it is also easier to like and share content without thinking about it critically first. This breakout room explores the differences between researching on a smartphone and a computer and offers some strategies to help students to become more aware of what they are believing to be true, and how to use their smartphone to research more effectively.