Technology experts, lawmakers, and other public officials have long warned about the dangers of artificial intelligence, especially when it comes to sources of doctored and fake news. So schools have begun promoting media literacy in the classroom, and that push is now spilling over into statehouses and the halls of Congress.
Many of these lessons aim to teach children how to identify disinformation and misinformation generated by AI. While this is considered especially important by educators in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, it is not the only reason media literacy is being pursued. Beyond politics, according to the nonprofit organization Media Literacy Now, “The social media tools we use today can have life-altering or even fatal negative effects on children. ”. This could include “online radicalization through cyberbullying, gaming and sextortion,” in addition to “physiological and neurological effects that we are only beginning to understand.”
With the rise of AI-generated web content, at least 18 states have enacted laws requiring some form of media literacy education for children, Media Literacy Now said. In addition, the two senators have introduced legislation to expand efforts at the federal level.
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Improving literacy skills is already in place
According to Media Literacy Now, the 18 states that already require some form of media literacy class implement it in different ways. Delaware is said to be setting the highest hurdles for schools by passing a law that “requires the state Department of Education to develop media literacy standards for K-12 classrooms that schools must use.” It is said. These standards “help promote strong digital citizenship and ensure that all students receive thoughtful instruction on how best to use media safely.” Similar to requiring media literacy lessons A law was also passed in New Jersey.
These two states were the first to require media literacy for K-12 students, which makes a big difference. “What students don't understand is how content is created. They don't understand aggregator sites, they don't understand algorithms and how they work.” ,” Olga Politz, a former English teacher and New Jersey chapter director of Media Literacy Now, told Governing magazine. The hardware of the media business was completely missing from education, but so was the software part. Because they didn't understand how this information was monetized,” Polites said.
Florida, Ohio, California, Texas and other countries have also passed media literacy laws, but the latter comes with some caveats. Media Literacy Now said school districts in the Lone Star State must “embed digital citizenship instruction.” The Directive is required to apply only to “all forms of 'digital' communication,” which unnecessarily limits the scope of the Directive, although most media today is created via digital tools. Or not so much considering it's being distributed.
Other states have passed some type of media literacy law but are enforcing it in more modest ways. In Illinois, a 2021 law requires “high schools to teach a unit of media literacy instruction as of the 2022-2023 school year,” but not before high school, according to Media Literacy Now. . However, in 2009, a law was passed that teaches comprehensive internet safety techniques to third graders and above.
Many students in these states appear to be taking classes positively. “Media literacy has nothing to do with which side of the debate you're on,” Lisa Manganello, a school librarian in New Jersey, told CNN. Manganello said students “can have opinions on either side, but they need to be able to validate those opinions with factual articles,” adding, “Information literacy is an umbrella for everything taught in the library. There is,” he said. ”
Federal literacy improvements
States are trying to combat AI disinformation, but there are no federal guidelines for teaching media literacy. But some in Congress are trying to change that. The AI Literacy Act, a bipartisan bill, was introduced in 2023 by Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Delaware) and Rep. Larry Bruchon (R-Ind.). The proposed bill would “codify AI literacy as a key component of digital literacy and create opportunities to incorporate it into existing programs.”
In addition, the bill “further emphasizes the importance of AI literacy to national competitiveness” and “emphasizes the importance of supporting AI literacy at all levels of education, and provides annual updates to Congress on the status of this effort.” It requires reporting,” Forbes said. There has been no movement since this bill was introduced.
