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Quinn: Universities can vaccinate against the virus of fake news

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By Michael Quinn

For all of us who value academically rigorous and peer-reviewed information, we are staring down a rising tide of troubling developments — the scourge described by many people as fake news.

In this case, let’s focus on the deliberate spread of misinformation and the proliferation of academic quackery, and not the Trumpian disdain for the institution of the press.

And we don’t need to look to our neighbours to the south to see examples of junk science being shared on social media. It’s a local and global phenomenon.

Earlier this year, BBC media editor Amol Rajan asserted that fake news “has become a cancer in the body politic, growing from an isolated but malignant tumour into a raging, mortal threat.”

The remedy for this malady can come from our publicly funded post-secondary institutions. As community-minded, evidence-seeking academics, we must address the virus of untruths.

Authors from Cambridge, Yale and George Mason universities published evidence in the journal Global Challenges showing it is possible to inoculate public attitudes against real-world misinformation.

The authors described how communicating scientific consensus regarding human-caused climate change can counterbalance anecdotal evidence and “false media balance.”

Post-secondary institutions, like Mount Royal University, can help close the burgeoning rift between the academy and the community by actively engaging in what is called knowledge mobilization.

By encouraging professors to widely share their expertise through media interviews, social media and public talks, there is a better chance people receive correct information and the critical analysis required of complex issues.

Another critical role for post-secondary educators is to teach and build capacity among today’s university students on how to sort through the daily deluge of information they confront. How might undergraduate education help vaccinate against misinformation?

The majority of students entering Canadian universities are Gen Z — as in students born starting in the mid-1990s. They make up a quarter of the North American population and account for two billion people worldwide. These post-millennials are characterized as educated, collaborative and committed to creating a better world.

Gen Z students embrace technology and seek information from a variety of sources. Post-secondary approaches are shifting to meet the learning styles and needs of this generation. It is a cohort committed to obtaining a practical education — often with an entrepreneurial twist.

One of the most promising approaches to developing independent critical thinking skills is undergraduate research. This is an approach to education that introduces and hones the capacity for evidence-based inquiry. Undergraduate research is part of the vaccine.

For Gen Z students, undergraduate research rooted in contemporary community-based problems, provides fertile ground to meet their desire for learning that results in meaningful social change. 

Understanding and addressing the complex challenges facing our world empowers students to be agents of change. The approach, and our obligation as institutions, meets the Gen Z desire to create a world rather than simply inherit one.

Next week, Mount Royal University will hold its annual celebration of all things scholarly. It’s one small but important part of further developing the cure to what ails us all.

Michael Quinn is associate vice-president of research, scholarship and community engagement at Mount Royal University, which celebrates Research and Scholarships Days from April 3 to 8.

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