We are delighted to announce the launch of a brand new, interactive and gamified resource helping young people to decide what they can trust when they are online.
‘Reliability Online’ has been developed in partnership with the Childnet Youth Advisory Board and covers a variety of risks including AI generated imagery, scams, fake news, giveaways, body image, and social media bots.
Co-produced with the Childnet Youth Advisory Board
This interactive resource has been proudly developed over the last year in partnership with members of the Childnet Youth Advisory Board. The advisory board members who are aged 14-18 years old identified the topic of online reliability as an important issue for young people their age, and have helped develop all the scenarios used in the resource.
We’re also especially grateful to those board members who have contributed video clips of themselves sharing key advice, which are included in the resource.
Identifying unreliable information online
‘Reliability Online’ teaches learners strategies for identifying unreliable information online and also tests their understanding of this issue. The resource is split into three parts, each designed to become more challenging. The resource has been created for young people aged 13-16 years old, but could be adapted for use with older or younger learners.
- Reliable or not? Learners look at posts and articles to decide if they can be trusted.
- Can you trust the news? Learners are asked to identify if the news stories they see are examples of bias, exaggeration or alarmism.
- Spot the signs. Learners are challenged to identify and point out the different signs and risks of posts.
To guide learners, there are short videos of our youth board giving key advice and guidance throughout.
To accompany the resource, we have a suggested activities document with activities to run with young people, printable versions of all the posts and explanations of the answers to the tasks.
Advice for educators and other professionals on using the resource
Here are three suggestions on how educators can use the resource:
- Ask learners to try it out independently and then follow-up as a group
Reliability online works well on a phone so is an ideal 30-minute independent learning activity. As a follow-up, you can use some of the suggested activities in class. We would recommend printing or displaying the posts that you think are most relevant to your class and discussing them further.
- Spread it over one or two sessions
Reliability online can also be displayed on a big screen or whiteboard and used by educators with a group of young people. You can go straight to the part you would like to focus on, or you might work through all the examples over one or two sessions. The printable versions of the posts give you the flexibility to use it however you would like.
- To secure learners understanding of this topic
This was a suggestion from the young people we piloted the resource with. Start with a discussion or lesson about unreliable information online and how to spot the signs that something cannot be trusted. You could use real life examples or print out a selection of posts from the suggested activities document. Then use ‘Reliability Online’ as a follow-up task to help secure what they have learnt.
We hope you enjoy using this new resource.
If you have any further ideas, feedback or questions, please email education@childnet.com
