Teaching Information Literacy in an Age of Misinformation (Spring 2026)

AFTER YOU ATTEND THIS COURSE, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO:

• Understand how emotional awareness and mindfulness support information literacy.
  
  
• Teach students to manage emotional responses related to information.
  
  
• Define and analyze mis-, dis-, and malinformation.
  
  
• Understand information literacy pedagogy and its evolution with AI.
  
  
• Design strategies to teach critical reading and evaluation.
  
  
• Adapt lessons to address the impact of AI on literacy.
  
  
• Help students identify mis-, dis-, and malinformation in visual formats.

THIS COURSE CONSISTS OF 4 ON-DEMAND MODULES:

Module 1: Information Mindfulness: Emotion’s Role in Information Literacy

How is emotional self-awareness and mindfulness related to information literacy? What do we need to teach students about their emotions when it comes to content they engage with online? This opening module will lay the foundations for critical reading and evaluation by first tuning in to how we react to information. Learn how to teach crucial emotional intelligence skills to help students notice when online content is manipulating them into anger, fear, or judgement. Leave with practical ideas for integrating critical emotional awareness into all levels of information literacy instruction.

Module 2: Charting a Course Through Information Literacy and Artificial Intelligence

This module views information literacy as a journey filled with distinct challenges and valuable opportunities. First, we'll identify the main threats: mis-, dis-, and mal-information from several fronts. Then, you will learn how to recognize these and other obstacles that can hinder student learning. Finally, we'll explore solutions, including how to critically approach the modern challenge of AI as both a platform and a tool for inquiry. You will leave with practical strategies and cues to help your students become the heroes of their information quests and ultimately gain the critical skills needed to navigate our complex digital world and help shape a future based on facts.

Module 3: Teaching Evaluation and Critical Reading: Credibility, Perspective, Bias, and Context

What are engaging ways to teach students how to evaluate texts and read and think critically? How should your lessons change in the face of AI? This module will do a deep dive into teaching students how to think critically and evaluate texts based on credibility, perspective, bias, and context. Leave with new ideas for lessons and effective teaching strategies to help support students' information literacy skills.

Module 4: Teaching Evaluation of Digital Media: Videos, Memes, and Deep Fakes

How does critical evaluation change between text and visual mediums? How can you help students identify mis-, dis-, and malinformation in videos and memes? This closing module will cover teaching methods to analyze visual artifacts and help students understand the differences between memes, satire, and deep fakes. Leave prepared to create compelling and effective lessons to help in the fight against misinformation.

COURSE ADVISOR

Jennifer LaGarde (aka "Library Girl")

Jennifer LaGarde is a lifelong teacher and learner with over 20 years in public education. Her educational passions include leveraging technology to help students develop authentic reading lives, meeting the unique needs of students living in poverty and helping learners (of all ages) discern fact from fiction in the information they consume.

Jennifer is the coauthor of the books Fact VS Fiction: Teaching Critical Thinking In the Age of Fake News (ISTE, 2018) and Developing Digital Detectives (ISTE, 2021) with Darren Hudgins. Jennifer is a part-time lecturer with Rutgers University where she teaches in the MLIS program. Courses taught include: Emerging Literacies, Young Adult Literature and Children's Literature. Jennifer is also the Library-Literacy Mentor with Bookelicious.

Jennifer currently lives, works, reads and drinks lots of coffee in Olympia, Washington. Follow her adventures at www.librarygirl.net or on Twitter @jenniferlagarde.

COURSE INSTRUCTORS

Darren Hudgins , Founder, Think Do Thrive

Candice Benjes-Small, MLIS , Head of Research at William & Mary Libraries

Joanna M. Burkhardt , Full Professor/Collection Development Officer, University of Rhode Island

WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE:

This course is for public youth services librarians, school librarians (grades 8-12), and other stakeholders in youth library programs and management.

THIS WILL BE A SELF-PACED, ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE COURSE.

EXPECTED TIME COMMITMENT:

This course includes 4 modules, each designed to take approximately 4 hours to complete. You can move through the content at your own pace and on your own schedule. You'll earn 16 hours of PD credit and a School Library Journal Certificate of completion.

ON-DEMAND ACCESS:

You'll have access to all course materials for six months.

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION:

Complete the course and earn 16 professional development credit hours. We provide a certificate that is emailed to you.

ACCESSIBILITY:

All recordings feature auto captioning and are made available on demand after the initial broadcast. Please email course-support@libraryjournal.com upon registration if you require any special accommodations and we will make our best efforts to facilitate them.

SUPPORT:

For support with online courses, please contact course-support@libraryjournal.com.

DISCOUNTED RATES ARE AVAILABLE FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY.

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GROUP RATES

We offer discounts for groups of 3 or more.

  For larger groups of 15 or more, we offer the option to apply group rates across multiple courses to receive significant discounts. For more information, select “Bulk Course Credits Packages” in the form below.

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