Origin Story

The Beginning

In July 2018, I attended the Media Education Lab's Summer Institute in Digital Literacy at the University of Rhode Island. Each participant was tasked with finding a partner with whom we would complete a digital project by week's end. Luckily, I met Michael Stöpel, the User Services Librarian for the American University of Paris. Michael and I are both interested in the intersections between different new literacy efforts. So, we agreed to work together on a project that would explore the common concepts from his world (information literacy) and mine (news media literacy), while incorporating the digital literacy pedagogy we learned at the Institute.

Evaluate & Reflect

After walking each other through some of the goals of our teaching and lessons we use, we found overlapping concepts in the Association of College and Research Libraries' Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education that he uses to teach undergrads how to find credible research and the A NICE source analysis method (based on the IM VAIN analysis by the Center for News Literacy) I use to teach undergraduates how to evaluate the sources journalists use in the news. As a result, we designed the structure of the lessons presented here and called the project "Evaluate & Reflect."

Global Collaboration

After the institute, Michael went back to Paris and I went back to Hong Kong. We both teach a large number of international students at an English-language university, although for many students, English is not their native language, although we had very different environments and even access to students. We began working on refining our own lesson plans and materials and gaining support from faculty and staff. Meanwhile, we kept in touch regularly via video chat and text to talk through ideas and provide each other with updates.

Michael's Project

Michael was able to work with three groups of students over the 2018-2019 academic year. While this website focuses on my side of the project, you can read more about how our projects align and our joint assessments here!

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