As engaged citizens and consumers, older Americans are often the target of online misinformation. This short online course from MediaWise for Seniors will teach you how to tell what’s true and false online when it comes to information about COVID-19 and vaccines.
You will learn techniques for identifying false information, like reverse image searches, and how to seek out trustworthy sources. You’ll come away with tips for talking to friends and family members who share misinformation, as well.
Christiane Amanpour, Joan Lunden, Lester Holt, Hari Sreenivasan and Dave Jorgenson — MediaWise Ambassadors — will also pop in to share their advice as experienced journalists to help you navigate health information on platforms like Google, Facebook and more.
We will not be telling you how to feel about topics or issues. Instead, we will teach you how to identify misleading, false or dangerous information on the internet. Our goal is to help you make decisions that impact your health and wellbeing based on reliable, credible information.
Whether you’ve received a COVID-19 vaccine or not, there are still a lot of decisions to be made about navigating life in the final stages of the coronavirus pandemic. Improve your digital literacy skills to identify credible health information in your social media feeds, avoid sharing harmful posts with your friends and feel more confident about making health decisions in the future.
Who should enroll
The self-guided course is meant for people 50 years and older who regularly consume news online, often via social platforms like Facebook. The course does not require special internet skills or abilities and is meant for anyone hoping to better detect for themselves what’s true and what’s false online.
Cost
The value of this interactive, one-hour course is $49. Poynter is pleased to offer it at the discounted rate of $0. This course was made available free thanks to support from Facebook and also from AARP.
FAQs
What is MediaWise for Seniors?
MediaWise is a nonprofit, nonpartisan digital media literacy initiative led by The Poynter Institute. Its mission is to teach Americans of all ages how to sort fact from fiction online. MediaWise content has been viewed 44 million times by more than 9 million people since the project launched in 2018.
MediaWise for Seniors was announced in 2020 to bring MediaWise tips to the 50+ population. MediaWise for Seniors has a program funded by AARP to provide resources to their membership and a program funded by Facebook bringing virtual training and a social media awareness campaign to the senior population. The foundation of MediaWise was created with support from Google.org as part of Google News Initiative. Learn more at poynter.org/mediawise.
Do funders have control over the course?
No. We prize our reputation for teaching excellence, developed over more than four decades. To preserve that reputation, we retain independence and control over our teaching whether it is funded by tuition or a donor, such as a foundation or corporation. Read more about our ethics policy here.
Who can I contact for more information?
We’d love to hear from you. Email us at info@poynter.org.
