Rapid changes hinder efforts to teach media literacy, survey finds

Teachers are struggling to keep up with rapidly changing news media technologies and need updated resources to teach their students media literacy skills, a University of Tasmania survey has found.

Almost a quarter of Tasmanian teachers who participated in the six-week survey felt they lacked the training to help students decide whether online news reports could be trusted.

The university worked with Australian Broadcasting Corporation staff in Hobart to recruit around 200 teachers for the study. The survey revealed “a strong generational divide” among participants, with teachers over 35 relying on newspapers and news websites to source information. Teachers under 35 generally used social media, internet search engines or apps.