NewsLiteracyPlaybook - Flipbook - Page 33
Lessons Learned
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with an interactive map to explore the level and
nature of press freedom in countries around the
world (“Press Freedoms Around the World”).
The Checkology virtual classroom offers a series of engaging
interactive lessons.
Checkology virtual classroom
Our classroom and after-school programs, we
found, were both resource-intensive and laborintensive, requiring time and staff as we expanded
from New York City and the Washington, D.C., area to
Chicago and, later, to pilots in Houston, Texas. We
determined that to reach national scale, we needed
to adapt our program for the digital age and create a
digital curriculum.
The pilot of the Checkology virtual classroom was
launched in May 2016, in the closing weeks of the
2015-16 school year. In August 2018, we released
a reimagined version of the platform, with new and
upgraded lessons, superior video quality and the
ability for teachers to build a range of Checkology
experiences for students at different grade levels.
We stuck close to our roots by continuing to involve
journalists in our lessons, along with experts on the
First Amendment and digital media. They serve as
lesson hosts, helping to teach basic concepts and
engaging students to learn by presenting them with
interactive assessments.
We have put considerable resources into developing
story-driven interactive lessons that enable students
to take on the role of an editor and decide what goes
on their news site’s homepage (“Be the Editor”); judge
and decide how they would rule on landmark court
cases involving the First Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech
and freedom of the press (“The First Amendment”);
act as a rookie reporter covering a breaking news
story (“Practicing Quality Journalism”); and engage
The platform incorporates many of the best
practices of e-learning. It features authentic, realworld learning that is flexible (it can be delivered
one-to-many, one-to-few, one-to-one or flipped,
with students doing the lessons outside of class
and discussing them in class) and are built to
encourage — but not rely upon — blending with
classroom instruction.
Basic access, available at no charge, gives an
educator one license to teach four foundational
lessons — “InfoZones,” “Democracy’s Watchdog,”
“Misinformation” and “Practicing Quality Journalism”
— in a one-to-many format, using a projector or an
interactive whiteboard. Premium access to the
platform, available for a modest fee per student,
offers nine more lessons, individual student logins
and a number of advanced features, such as selfpacing, remediation (which allows students to retry
specific assessments), and digital points and badges
that offer rewards and incentives to students.
Patricia Hunt, a social studies teacher at Wakefield High
School in Arlington, Virginia, incorporates Checkology into her
government class.