KQED LEARN, AN ONLINE PLATFORM TO PROMOTE MEDIA LITERACY AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE, IS AMONG 20 PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT THAT HAVE BEEN SELECTED TO SHARE $1 MILLION THROUGH THE KNIGHT PROTOTYPE FUND.
San Francisco, CA -- KQED will develop a new service to help promote media literacy skills among young people and combat the proliferation of fake news with major funding from the Knight Prototype Fund, an initiative of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation that helps people explore early-stage media and information ideas. KQED Learn, launching in March 2018, is a free online classroom tool that encourages students and teachers to ask and investigate critical questions that deepen learning and improve media literacy.
KQED Learn was among 20 winning projects that will share a $1 million award through the Knight Prototype Fund open call on accurate information. Launched in March, by Knight Foundation, the Democracy Fund and the Rita Allen Foundation the open call asked for ideas to address misinformation and build trust in news.
“This is a tremendous honor for KQED Learn to be recognized with such a promising group of projects,” says Robin Mencher, executive director, KQED Education. “Obviously, media literacy and fake news are particularly critical issues in these times, and it’s important to approach these problems from a number of angles. Public media is particularly well suited to address media literacy, the dissemination of accurate information, and the public interest.”
“To address the rampant spread of misinformation we need to ensure that our educators and our young people, the future builders of strong, informed communities, have the tools they need to question news that might be misleading or incorrect,” said Chris Barr, Knight Foundation director for technology innovation. “Lessons from KQED Learn will advance this goal, helping develop a better understanding of media literacy and how people consume information.”