{"id":57,"date":"2026-04-06T04:53:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T04:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerrydaculiat.com\/?p=57"},"modified":"2026-04-13T05:41:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T05:41:21","slug":"evaluating-misinformation-educational-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerrydaculiat.com\/?p=57","title":{"rendered":"Evaluating Misinformation Educational Tools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

News Literacy project\u2019s RumorGuard<\/em> was created to help teach users how to recognize misinformation. Their goal is to ensure students are skilled in news literacy before graduating high school. Misinformation is everywhere and they highlight the importance of learning how to understand what is real and what is misinformation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Their website landing page talks about the five factors of misinformation: authenticity, source, evidence, context and reasoning. To learn more about each factor, it takes you to the \u201cTechniques\u201d section where it further explains each factor and pairs it with a game. For misinformation, it taught you the five types of misinformation that exist: satire, false context, imposter content, manipulated content and fabricated content. You\u2019re then given a prompt and you have to decide which of the five types of misinformation it is. They give you a description about the prompt that helps you decide the correct answer. In the evidence section, there was a quiz I took that questioned you if you could make sense of misused data. They also taught you the art of lateral reading and how you can use that to see if your source is credible. With just a few open tabs, you are able to verify your sources before quoting the information that you learned from them.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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RumorGuard<\/em> is an effective tool when it comes to learning about misinformation and building the skills necessary to combat these issues. The five credibility factors provide a clear, memorable structure that users can apply immediately (Ward, 2025). Their website layout is user-friendly and does not bombard learners with a ton of information for them to absorb. It\u2019s simple and perfectly explained. The site supports Checkology<\/em>, an e-learning platform that furthers their skills on misinformation, news media bias, reliable sources, etc. The use of real-world viral rumors allows their users to discern how misinformation in the media really looks like.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bad News<\/em> is the second misinformation educational game that I played. It starts off with the objective of getting as many followers as you can with fake news. The learning factors of Bad News<\/em> goes as follows: Impersonation, Emotion, Polarization, Conspiracy, Discredit, and Trolling. The game guides you on how these fake news outlets play into these factors. Bad News<\/em> puts you in the mind of a purveyor of disinformation and allows you to choose options that will further your credibility despite spreading misinformation to your followers. While the examples they use are not from real-world examples, their reaction tweets are very relatable as it is the same exact responses you would see from a Twitter thread today. By the end of the game I amounted to a score of 13,263. The platform Bad News<\/em> is another effective educational tool that users can use to enhance their critical thinking skills. Users can take what they learned about\u00a0 manipulation tactics and apply it to what they see on Twitter threads. While this game shows you how easy it is to start the spread of fake news, these tactics are well-known. Without the political or financial motivation to embark on a rise of fame due to misinformation, users who play this game pose no risk (Roozenbeek, J., van der Linden, 2019). Adopting the mindset of a manipulator, develops your critical thinking skills, media literacy and builds resistance to misinformation content on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Educational games and interactive tools are an effective way to teach the masses about misinformation. These tools are effective in building the critical thinking skills that can combat the issues of misinformation and media literacy. Tools like Bad News<\/em> is a great introduction to the topic of spreading fake news, however, it should not be used as the only tool to educate yourself. Pairing these activities with things like RumorGuard<\/em> will truly prepare you to combat against false narratives that are prevalent in the media space. Learning things like the SIFT method (Tokar, 2025) or how to lateral read your sources are other important skills to enhance and build off of. With the advancement of AI and the frequent spread of AI content, sharpening your skills of media literacy and critical thinking could never be more important than ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roozenbeek, J., van der Linden, S. Fake news game confers psychological resistance against online misinformation.\u00a0Palgrave Commun<\/em>\u00a05<\/strong>, 65 (2019). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1057\/s41599-019-0279-9<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tokar, S. (2025, July 23). How educators can help students navigate misinformation. https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ever-better-educators-students-navigate-misinformation-660942\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ward, B. (2025, September 6). Misinformation \u2014 tools of the trade: | by Bryan Ward | Medium<\/em>. Misinformation \u2014 Tools of the Trade: https:\/\/medium.com\/@traveling4one\/misinformation-tools-of-the-trade-3c7b3ca19254<\/a>

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News Literacy project\u2019s RumorGuard was created to help teach users how to recognize misinformation. Their goal is to ensure students are skilled in news literacy before graduating high school. Misinformation is everywhere and they highlight the importance of learning how to understand what is real and what is misinformation. Their website landing page talks about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-assignments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerrydaculiat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerrydaculiat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerrydaculiat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerrydaculiat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerrydaculiat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kerrydaculiat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74,"href":"https:\/\/kerrydaculiat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions\/74"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerrydaculiat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/62"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerrydaculiat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerrydaculiat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerrydaculiat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}