What Illinois students will learn in media literacy class

In the summer of 2021, Illinois became the first state to require one unit of media literacy for all high school students. Media literacy can help young people critically examine the information they consume. Researchers in suburban Chicago found that teaching news literacy as part of other classes prompted some students to do lateral reading — or consulting another source — which helped them identify misinformation. The lesson will be framed as discussions, according to Columbia College professor Yonty Friesem, who is co-writing the teaching framework. "We don't want to dictate how it's going to be taught," he tells Axios. "Instead, we want to show the value of asking questions and reflecting on how the media impacts us. This is not about making the teacher the sage on the stage, but about facilitating discussions where people can have different opinions...civil debate and deliberation." Educators and state officials will hammer out the teaching framework in the coming months and are inviting any Illinois educator to offer input by emailing Friesem at YFriesem@colum.edu.