Online Course
Fake News 101
How to spot it, check it, and stop helping it spread.
Fake News 101 is a practical video based course built around widely available YouTube lessons from trusted media literacy and fact checking educators. No fluff. No jargon. Just a clear system people can use right away.
What Fake News 101 Teaches
Students learn how misinformation works, why it spreads, how to evaluate sources, how to verify images and video, and how to fact check claims before repeating them. The course is designed to turn abstract skepticism into a repeatable habit people can actually use.
Who This Course Is For
Adults, teens, classrooms, community groups, creators, and anybody tired of watching weak claims get repeated like they magically became true overnight. It works for beginners, but it is still useful for people who want sharper media literacy skills.
What Makes It Different
This is not a lecture about being skeptical in the abstract. It gives people a usable process. Slow down. Open new tabs. Check the source. Check the evidence. Check the context.
What students will be able to do
Real world skills, not just theory
- Explain the difference between misinformation and disinformation
- Recognize emotional manipulation and confirmation bias
- Use lateral reading to test unknown sources
- Fact check a viral claim with multiple sources
- Check whether an image or video is old, edited, or out of context
- Understand how algorithms and repetition distort judgment
- Spot common warning signs in AI generated content
- Respond to false claims without making the problem worse
By the end of the course, students should be able to move from instinct and outrage to a calmer method. That matters because most bad information spreads before anyone bothers to test it. This training is built to slow that cycle down.
Course curriculum
Eight modules that build a complete verification habit
What fake news is and why it works
Understand misinformation, disinformation, repetition, and why weak claims can feel true.
Why people believe bad information
Learn how emotion, identity, fear, and social pressure shape what people accept.
Lateral reading and source checking
Use the same source testing habit professional fact checkers rely on.
How real fact checking works
Move from instinct to a step by step process that leads to a clear verdict.
Images and videos can mislead too
Check visual content, reverse search images, and catch missing context.
Social media, algorithms, and sharing traps
See how platforms amplify outrage, certainty, and low quality information.
AI, deepfakes, and newer misinformation tricks
Learn what to watch for when synthetic content looks polished but still fails verification.
How to correct false claims without making it worse
Practice calm, evidence based responses that inform instead of inflame.
Final project
Build your own fact check
Students finish by testing one viral claim, meme, image, video, or article using a guided verification report.
The point is not just to memorize definitions. The point is to practice a repeatable habit that helps people stop repeating weak claims just because they are popular, emotional, or familiar.
- Identify the exact claim
- Check the source behind it
- Review the evidence offered
- Compare outside reporting and primary evidence
- Reach a verdict and explain why
For educators
Use it as a media literacy mini course, workshop series, advisory unit, or discussion guide.
For parents
Give teens a plain spoken framework for checking what they see online before they share it.
For everyday people
Get better at separating evidence from rumor without turning every disagreement into a political cage match.
Helpful resources
Related reading and verification tools
Keep learning
For more claim testing tools, start with How We Verify, 20 Questions, and Evidence vs Rumors. These pages work well alongside the course because they turn the lessons into a repeatable workflow.
Trusted outside guides
For broader media literacy guidance, see the News Literacy Project, MediaWise, and Google’s guide to evaluating information and sources.
Ready to teach it or launch it
Give people a better standard
Fake News 101 exists because fake news spreads fast when most people were never taught a simple way to test what they see. This course helps fix that with a process people can actually use.