Course description
A focused professional learning journey.
Learners now encounter news, advertising, influencer content, algorithms and AI-generated media in the same continuous information stream. Effective media literacy therefore requires more than spotting “fake news”; it involves investigating claims, tracing evidence, recognising persuasion and knowing when uncertainty remains.
Participants practise professional verification routines with realistic examples and translate them into age-appropriate classroom activities. The course balances healthy scepticism with constructive participation so learners can question information without assuming that all sources are equally unreliable.
Who is this course for?
Teachers, trainers, youth workers, librarians and education professionals across subject areas.
Course objectives
- Explain how attention, emotion and algorithms shape information exposure
- Distinguish a claim, source, evidence and interpretation
- Apply lateral reading and trace information to its origin
- Investigate images, video and synthetic media responsibly
- Teach persuasion, bias and uncertainty without cynicism
- Design preventive media-literacy learning experiences
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Use a repeatable claim-verification workflow
- Conduct a source and evidence investigation
- Apply basic visual-verification techniques
- Identify manipulation in headlines, framing and statistics
- Create an age-appropriate pre-bunking activity
- Develop a media-literacy lesson or school campaign
Detailed 5-day programme
Fifteen connected modules, from understanding to confident application.
Understanding Today’s Media Environment
How the Modern Media Ecosystem Works
Examine how news organisations, social platforms, search engines, influencers and user-generated content shape the information people receive. Distinguish journalism, opinion, advertising and entertainment, and consider how ownership and commercial interests influence visibility.
Algorithms, Personalisation and Information Bubbles
Investigate how recommendation systems rank and personalise content. Explore filter bubbles, echo chambers, engagement incentives, emotional virality, confirmation bias and the consequences of personalised feeds for learners and society.
Building a Media-Literate Mindset
Use a structured questioning framework to distinguish facts, opinions, assumptions, advertising and persuasive messages before deciding whether information deserves trust or sharing.
Practical outcome: Structured analysis of selected news stories and social media posts
Recognising Disinformation and Manipulation
Misinformation, Disinformation and Malinformation
Distinguish inaccurate, deliberately deceptive and contextually harmful information through real cases. Examine satire, misleading headlines, propaganda, coordinated influence, clickbait and the motivations behind false narratives.
Techniques Used to Manipulate Audiences
Identify emotional language, false authority, cherry-picked evidence, conspiracy framing, repetition, misleading statistics and visual distortion. Analyse how fear, anger, urgency and group identity can weaken reflective judgement.
Disinformation Investigation Lab
Investigate a suspicious claim by examining its source, language, evidence, emotional framing, images and distribution pattern, then present a reasoned credibility assessment.
Practical outcome: Completed disinformation analysis checklist and investigation report
Fact-Checking and Source Verification
Evaluating the Reliability of Sources
Assess websites, media organisations, social accounts and authors through expertise, institutional credibility, dates, evidence, transparency, editorial standards, correction practices and warning signs of imitation news sites.
Verification Techniques and Digital Tools
Practise lateral reading, cross-checking, source tracing, reverse-image searching, URL and domain inspection, date and context checks, and responsible use of fact-checking and verification platforms.
Image, Video and Social Post Verification Lab
Verify a collection of visual and social media examples, document the evidence trail and explain what can be concluded, what remains uncertain and why.
Practical outcome: Step-by-step source-verification guide for classroom use
Artificial Intelligence and Synthetic Media
How Generative AI Creates Content
Develop an accessible understanding of how generative systems produce text, images, audio and video. Examine hallucinations, fabricated references, synthetic media and deepfakes, and why realistic output is not evidence of accuracy.
Detecting AI-Generated and Manipulated Content
Investigate visual inconsistencies, cloned speech, face manipulation, suspicious writing and fabricated references while recognising that detection tools cannot provide definitive proof. Prioritise provenance, metadata, context and corroboration.
Responsible AI Classroom Protocol Workshop
Compare human-created, AI-generated and AI-edited materials and develop transparent rules for fact-checking, attribution, privacy, bias and acceptable assistance.
Practical outcome: Responsible classroom protocol for AI-generated and AI-edited content
Teaching Media Literacy and Building Resilience
Media Literacy in the Classroom
Design age-appropriate learning across language, history, science and citizenship. Create a safe environment for controversial material, respectful dialogue, evidence-based reasoning and critical questioning without encouraging cynicism.
Responding to Disinformation in School Communities
Practise correcting misleading claims without confrontation, communicating uncertainty, reducing repeated exposure to falsehoods and supporting learners affected by harmful online narratives through a coordinated school approach.
Classroom Project and Action Planning Studio
Design and peer-review a fact-checking lesson, student investigation, synthetic-media analysis or whole-school awareness initiative ready for implementation.
Practical outcome: Implementation-ready media-literacy lesson or school initiative
The sequence and examples may be fine-tuned after the pre-course needs analysis. The published learning outcomes and 30 teaching hours remain unchanged.
Teaching and learning methods
The course uses active professional learning. Short conceptual inputs are followed by investigation, creation, testing, feedback and reflection connected to each participant’s own educational context.
Your course product
A classroom-ready media-literacy investigation containing a source trail, verification checklist, learner activity and responsible-sharing guidance.
European relevance
The course translates European priorities and competence frameworks into practical educational and institutional action.
Erasmus+ priorities
- Digital transformationDeveloping the critical digital skills needed to investigate online information, platform influence and AI-generated content.
- Participation in democratic lifeStrengthening informed citizenship, evidence-based dialogue and resistance to manipulative or deceptive information.
- Inclusion and diversityHelping learners recognise harmful narratives, stereotyping and information practices that disproportionately affect vulnerable groups.
- Support for education staffPreparing educators to teach verification, source evaluation and responsible media participation across subjects.
EU competence frameworks and reference instruments
- DigComp 3.0Addressing information and data literacy, online communication, digital content creation, safety and critical engagement with AI.
- DigCompEduSupporting educators in developing learners’ digital competence and selecting and evaluating digital information resources.
- Digital Education Action Plan 2021–2027Providing the European policy context for digital literacy, high-quality information and resilient education systems.
- European Democracy Action PlanLinking media literacy and responses to disinformation with resilient democratic participation.
- Code of Conduct on DisinformationA European benchmark under the Digital Services Act concerning platform accountability, deceptive practices and systemic disinformation risks.
Assessment, validation and follow-up
Learning is evidenced through active participation, daily practical outcomes, peer and trainer feedback, the final course product and an individual transfer commitment. Participants receive a Certificate of Attendance. Learning Agreement and Europass Mobility support is available when required.