"Deepfakes": How to teach students about a world in which things are not as they appear to be

Submitted by David Rosen on Fri, 11/22/2019 - 08:53
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Hello Colleagues,

We have all heard about "fake news" and claims that something is "fake news" when the news is accurately portrayed. In a LINCS College and Career Standards microgroup discussion thread that began in 2016, you can find several good pieces of advice for instructors wrestling with this teaching and learning issue.  I wonder if you as a teacher, tutor, or program manager, have developed an approach to help adult learners, including New Americans, quickly sort out what is true from what has been created to appear to be true, but is false. I also wonder if your approach could be adapted now to help adult learners identify "Deepfake" videos or audio files.

This WBUR Public Radio station news article, "President Nixon Never Actually Gave This Apollo 11 Disaster Speech. MIT Brought It To Life To Illustrate Power Of Deepfakes," about an MIT-engineered false video, will help you understand what a "Deepfake" is, and how one of them has been made.

Have you seen other Deepfakes?

How do you help students to sort out compelling, entirely false videos from true film and video? Even in true film and video documentaries, of course, there is likely to be a point of view or bias. How do we help adult learners identify phony media, honest media with a point of view or bias, and authentic, video-factual unbiased and unedited footage?

Are you working on this challenge? If so tell us what you have developed, how it appears to be working for your students, and let's share strategies!

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

Comments

Hello LINCS colleagues,

More on Deepfakes: how to help adult learners -- and everyone -- be skeptical of political videos.

This Boston Globe re-published New York Times article, "Internet companies prepare to fight the ‘deepfake’ future," offers (some) hope on the capacity of Artificial Intelligence to ferret out Deepfake videos on the Internet, but no perfect solution.

  • What do you think we can do to help adult learners be skeptical of political videos?
  • Are there some key questions we all should be asking when we watch political videos before we decide to believe them? If so, what are they?

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management groups