Fake News Resilience through Online Games? Tentative Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Higher Education
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Author (Corporation)
Publication date
2021
Typ of student thesis
Course of study
Collections
Type
04B - Conference paper
Editors
Demetrios, G. Sampson
Ifenthaler, Dirk
Isaías, Pedro
Editor (Corporation)
International Association for Development of the Information Society
Supervisor
Parent work
Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age 2020
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DOI of the original publication
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Series number
Volume
Issue / Number
Pages / Duration
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Publisher / Publishing institution
IADIS Press
Place of publication / Event location
Lisbon
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Abstract
Learners’ cognitive abilities to assess the credibility of information in digital spaces are a relevant part of 21st century skills. Emerging evidence suggests that gamification could be a suitable approach for learners to develop these skills independently of their educational level. This study examined two popular online fake news games in a higher education setting using a randomized controlled trial. 72 students were randomly assigned to one of two games. Their ability to classify news, i.e. to distinguish fake news from correct news, was tested before and after playing the game. The results from multiple regression analysis suggest that there was only a very modest increase in participants’ news classification abilities in one game and no improvement in the other game. Contrary to some prior literature, these preliminary findings provide no evidence for the use of gamification in developing students’ fake news resilience in higher education contexts and they call for more nuanced education and gamification approaches.
Keywords
fake news, disinformation, false news, gamification, serious games, fake news resilience
Subject (DDC)
070 - Nachrichtenmedien, Journalismus, Verlagswesen
Event
International Conference Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age
Exhibition start date
Exhibition end date
Conference start date
18.11.2020
Conference end date
20.11.2020
Date of the last check
ISBN
978-989-8704-22-1
ISSN
Language
English
Created during FHNW affiliation
Yes
Strategic action fields FHNW
Publication status
Published
Review
Peer review of the complete publication
Open access category
Closed
Citation
EISEMANN, Christoph, Christoph PIMMER und Magdalena MATEESCU, 2021. Fake News Resilience through Online Games? Tentative Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Higher Education. In: G. Sampson DEMETRIOS, Dirk IFENTHALER, Pedro ISAÍAS und International Association for Development of the Information Society (Hrsg.), Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age 2020. Lisbon: IADIS Press. 2021. ISBN 978-989-8704-22-1. Verfügbar unter: https://irf.fhnw.ch/handle/11654/34005