Teens Tackle Misinformation: A Library-School Collaboration

MCPL’s Digital Innovation team recently collaborated with students on digital media literacy. The Digital Innovation department had the opportunity to work with students from the Hickman Mills school district’s Real World Learning Center. Our department has created and presented a Digital Media Literacy program at the library for adults, but we thought getting the same information to teens would require a different approach. So, we took our information to a classroom of juniors and seniors ready to work on real world projects that affect their community for help.

After introducing the students to the concept of Intellectual Freedom—a core value in the library profession—and the basics of media literacy, we tasked them to come up with solutions for how MCPL might educate teens about on the topic of digital media literacy. 

Using design thinking as a framework, four groups of students spent part of their semester researching the topic of digital media literacy, gathering data from their peers, and subsequently using that information to create possible solutions to pitch to MCPL. 

During the course of the project, we were also able to host the students at the Grandview branch for a library tour and to learn more about library careers. Students also had time to explore the branch and reflect on how they might use library space in their projects. 

At the end of the process, each group of students pitched their ideas to a panel of people from both MCPL and Hickman Mills, as well as their teachers, Dr. La Faver and Mr. Smithson. It was amazing to see the ideas they came up with and hear how they used their research and data collection to steer their solutions! The projects below reflect the data collected from their peers. Solutions included programs that could be held at MCPL, programs that could be held at the school library, older students teaching younger students, social media campaigns, and even a virtual game to learn concepts of digital media literacy.  

The students recently had an opportunity to reflect on their projects and created a summary of resources, which can also be found below. We are very proud of the work they put into these projects!

Anna Comiskey
Digital Innovation Specialist