Media Literacy for Life

23 lessons · 7 modules
This course equips learners with essential media literacy skills, focusing on Irish contexts. Participants distinguish news from opinion and advertising, explore funding models, and critically analyse story structures and omissions. It addresses misinformation detection via fact-checking and SIFT methods, algorithmic influences, privacy under GDPR, healthy consumption habits, and strategies for responsible sharing and family discussions.

Explore the course

7 modules · 23 lessons

Build confidence in reading the modern media environment. Learners tell apart news, opinion, advertising and social content; understand who funds the news in Ireland; and read a real story critically. The module opens with a small visible win: auditing the front page of a news site they already use.

News, Opinion, Advertising and Content
Who Pays? News Business Models in Ireland
Reading a Story Critically: Structure, Framing and What Is Missing

Once learners can read the media environment, they build practical defences. They learn to recognise types of misinformation, apply a simple fact-checking habit, and identify deepfakes and AI-generated content with reasonable confidence. Examples are drawn from a curated, dated library so the curriculum never amplifies live misinformation.

Misinformation, Disinformation and Why It Spreads
Fact-checking Habits: SIFT, Reverse Image Search and Cross-checking
Deepfakes, Ai-generated Content and Synthetic Media

Why your feed looks the way it does. Learners understand recommender algorithms in plain language, recognise filter bubbles and echo chambers, and take practical control of the platforms they actually use.

How Algorithms Decide What You See
Filter Bubbles, Echo Chambers and Polarisation
Taking Back Control of Your Feeds

What platforms collect about learners, what their GDPR rights are, and how to take practical privacy steps on browsers, devices and accounts. The framing is harm reduction, not perfection or paranoia.

What Platforms Know About You
GDPR Rights: Access, Correct, Delete, Object
Practical Privacy: Browsers, Devices and Accounts

An honest, no-shame look at screen time, news fatigue and mental health. Learners audit their own usage, set realistic limits and think about media across generations in their family.

Screen Time, News Cycles and Doomscrolling
Media and Mental Health: News Avoidance, Anxiety and Wellbeing
Family Media: Children, Grandchildren and Older Relatives

The closing arc moves from defence to action. Learners share online more responsibly, find a sustainable way to support quality journalism in Ireland, and plan one real conversation with a family member or friend who has fallen for misinformation. The course ends with a small commitment, not a test.

Sharing Responsibly: Pause, Verify, Share or Skip
Supporting Quality Journalism in Ireland
Difficult Conversations: When Family Believes Misinformation

Build confidence in reading the modern media environment. Learners tell apart news, opinion, advertising and social content; understand who funds the news in Ireland; and read a real story critically. The module opens with a small visible win: auditing the front page of a news site they already use.

News, Opinion, Advertising and Content
Who Pays? News Business Models in Ireland
Reading a Story Critically: Structure, Framing and What Is Missing

Once learners can read the media environment, they build practical defences. They learn to recognise types of misinformation, apply a simple fact-checking habit, and identify deepfakes and AI-generated content with reasonable confidence. Examples are drawn from a curated, dated library so the curriculum never amplifies live misinformation.

Misinformation, Disinformation and Why It Spreads
Fact-checking Habits: SIFT, Reverse Image Search and Cross-checking
Deepfakes, Ai-generated Content and Synthetic Media

Why your feed looks the way it does. Learners understand recommender algorithms in plain language, recognise filter bubbles and echo chambers, and take practical control of the platforms they actually use.

How Algorithms Decide What You See
Filter Bubbles, Echo Chambers and Polarisation
Taking Back Control of Your Feeds

What platforms collect about learners, what their GDPR rights are, and how to take practical privacy steps on browsers, devices and accounts. The framing is harm reduction, not perfection or paranoia.

What Platforms Know About You
GDPR Rights: Access, Correct, Delete, Object
Practical Privacy: Browsers, Devices and Accounts

An honest, no-shame look at screen time, news fatigue and mental health. Learners audit their own usage, set realistic limits and think about media across generations in their family.

Screen Time, News Cycles and Doomscrolling
Media and Mental Health: News Avoidance, Anxiety and Wellbeing
Family Media: Children, Grandchildren and Older Relatives

The closing arc moves from defence to action. Learners share online more responsibly, find a sustainable way to support quality journalism in Ireland, and plan one real conversation with a family member or friend who has fallen for misinformation. The course ends with a small commitment, not a test.

Sharing Responsibly: Pause, Verify, Share or Skip
Supporting Quality Journalism in Ireland
Difficult Conversations: When Family Believes Misinformation

Bring Media Literacy for Life to your library

Talk to us about adding Media Literacy for Life to your Skills for Life programme — pricing, onboarding, and a launch plan tailored to your library service.

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