Facing Ferguson: News Literacy in a Digital Age

Learning List Menu

IOER Information

The Illinois Shared Learning Envrionment (ISLE) hosts the ISLE Open Education Resources (IOER) system with the goal of helping teachers connect with learning resources and each other.

IOER Learning List Help & Information

The IOER Learning List Tool provides quick and easy access to a Learning List. A Learning List is any organized group of resources and/or files, often in a sequential order. It can be as small as a lesson or as large as a curriculum. It can be constructed by a user or team of users, and has several features, including:

  • Allowing users to browse every detail of the Learning List
  • Restricting access to assessments and answer keys
  • Sharing the Learning List directly or as a widget on your website

Understanding the Learning List Tool

Learning List Map

The Learning List Map gives you an overview of the entire Learning List and lets you jump directly to any layer in it.

Timeline & Follow Updates

This section allows you to view and follow updates to this Learning List.

Embed Widget

The Learning List can be displayed as a widget on your site. For more information, click on the "Embed Widget" button above.

Like & Comment

Clicking on the "Like & Comment" button above will allow you to like and comment on the layer you are currently viewing.

Timeline for this Learning List

Please login to follow this Learning List.

No Timeline Events found for this Learning List

Activity for this Learning List (6/18/2025 - 7/18/2025)

Show activity from to

Applicable activity directly below this Layer (6/18/2025 - 7/18/2025)

Embed This

To embed this Learning List as a widget in your page, copy this into your site's HTML:

To embed this layer as a widget in your page, use this instead:

If your site uses jQuery, you can also add the following line to enable a more seamless self-resizing widget:

For more information, check the IOER Widgets page.

Community Opinion

Comments on this Layer

Please login to comment.

No comments found for this Layer

Likes

1 Learning List Likes
0 Layer Likes

Day 6: Social Media and Ferguson

Description

Social media posts by eyewitnesses and community members were the first sources of information shared about the shooting in Ferguson. In fact, the enormous activity on social media helped put Ferguson on the national and international map. This lesson begins with students reflecting on how they use social media and considering how it can hinder or contribute to civil dialogue. Students then explore the challenges journalists experience as they use social media as both a source of information and a channel of communication. By employing the same framework from the previous lesson to analyze social media posts, students will develop a deeper understanding of how these outlets differ from other sources of news and information.


Learning Goals: 

  • Students will be able to describe the role that social media played in the information aftermath of Ferguson.
  • Students will be able to develop strategies for critically viewing and verifying information shared on social media.

Summary

Essential Questions: How does social media shape our relationship to and understanding of breaking news events? What is the relationship between social media and the practice of quality journalism? How do we know if information shared on social media is credible?

Anticipated Timeframe: 2 class periods.

Download this File
Not working? This website may not allow itself to be opened in a frame. Click the link above to visit it in a new window.
The host of this resource may not allow it to display in a frame. If nothing shows below, please visit the resource directly.

(Not working? Try the ) (Not working? Try the ) Resource :