Misinformation Curriculum
General Info
This short curriculum has been created to help students understand and engage with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-generated information online. In our heavily digital age, there is a preponderance of AI-generated information, and misinformation, that comes from myriad sources.
This curriculum is intended to take about 45 minutes - 1 hour to get through, suitable for a standard class time.
When students are conducting research and interacting with content online, it can be difficult to parse out real information from fake. With the advancement of AI, images and videos can be very convincing too. Our aim is to help post-secondary students protect themselves and their communities from the threat of online misinformation, and to equip students with the skills they need to combat the influence of misinformation, and to protect themselves and their larger community.
The creation of this curriculum was made possible thanks to generous funding and support from the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) and their Community Investment Program. CIRA’s grants fund community-led internet projects to build a trusted internet for all Canadians.
The “Curriculum Handout” is a more in-depth version of the presentation, and includes a brief section dedicated specifically to an AI model’s interaction with coding, as well as a repository of further sources that may be of interest to students and educators.
The PowerPoints below are intended to be paired with the “Curriculum Articles” that are built to test the students’ understanding of the presentation and the strategies presented therein.
Powerpoints
All three PowerPoint presentations cover largely the same topics. They are differentiated by subject area based on the example presented at the beginning.
The “Natural Sciences” presentation is designed for students studying in those areas, such as biology, chemistry, physics, and computer science.
The “Humanities” presentation is designed for students studying in those areas, such as art history, creative writing, and cultural studies.
The “Social Sciences” presentation is designed for students studying in those areas, such as political science, economics, sociology, and criminology.