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Vancouver Island University lecture examines today’s media climate

Eight TED Talks-style presentations held at Malaspina Theatre in Nanaimo Wednesday (April 12)
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Sonnet L’Abbé, left, and Melissa Stephens are co-organizing an event that brings people together to discuss the “post-truth” media climate and how it affects people as citizens, consumers and educators. Photo Contributed

By Jenn McGarrigle

Oxford Dictionaries has identified “post-truth” as their 2016 word of the year, citing a “general decrease in the influence of objective facts on people’s opinions.”

On Wednesday (April 12) eight Vancouver Island University professors and instructors with a wide range of different backgrounds will come together at VIU’s Malaspina Theatre to assess how the “post-truth” media climate is challenging their teaching and to offer strategies to counter the media onslaught of “alternative facts.”

Teaching in a Post-Truth Era is a series of eight TED Talks-style presentations, followed by discussions and questions. Themes range from exploring the compromised information environment in the digital age, to moving from critical thinking about facts to critical thinking about values. Roy Janisch, VIU’s Fulbright Canada Jarislowsky visiting research chairman in aboriginal studies, will also talk about truth and reconciliation through restorative justice.

“This new era of media mistrust impacts teachers’ classroom efforts to instill knowledge and insist on reliable sources,” says Sonnet L’Abbé, a VIU creative writing and journalism professor and event co-organizer. “This event will explore what this new mistrust of facts means for us as citizens, consumers and educators.”

This panel is the first of an anticipated series of VIU events that will bring together speakers from across disciplines to address the current challenges to values of diversity, environmental responsibility and global citizenship.

“As sensational headlines and emotional arguments increasingly dominate our news media, I feel a pressing need to help students to develop their research skills,” said Luke McLeod, VIU reference and instruction librarian. “My talk will address how I changed my approach to teaching to help students identify fake news and expose its faults.”

Teaching in a Post-Truth Era will take place from 1-3:30 p.m. at Malaspina Theatre, Building 310. A coffee reception in the theatre lobby starts at 12:30 p.m.

Jenn McGarrigle is a writer with Vancouver Island University’s communications department.