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From the Learning Resources Manager

Empowering Our Children: The critical need for Digital Information Literacy in an Age of AI and Misinformation

Accessing accurate, credible and suitable sources of information is much more complex for students than it was when many of us were at school. The challenge is no longer just how to find information, but how to refine and limit your results to useful information, verify the information and credibility of sources and not become overwhelmed by the amount of information or misled by misinformation and disinformation (Garrison & Oddone, 2024). Generative AI has added to this complexity. It is well known that Large Language Models can get the facts wrong (Hudson, 2025). Teaching children the Digital Literacy Skills they need to find, filter, verify and ethically use information and AI tools has become an essential part of learning (Merga & Mat Roni, 2025). Our students need to navigate both the information that is directed at them via social media, especially health related information, and the information they actively seek to support their learning (Merga, 2025).

At Concordia we work to embed Digital Information Literacy skills across year levels and subject areas. This year we have placed an emphasis on teaching 'lateral reading' as defined by Caulfield & Wineburg (2023). Lateral reading refers to reading about the source/author, checking to see what other sources say about that source or author rather than only what they say about themselves. These lateral reading skills are part of the suite of information literacy skills that students require to verify the credibility of sources and consider the expertise of the person creating the content (Oddone & Merga, 2024.) One of my favourite examples to use with older students is Dr Berg’s YouTube Channel. With vertical reading (staying on that page and only considering what the author/source tells you about themselves) students very quickly determine that he is a “Dr” and that he has over 13 Million subscribers on YouTube, impressive right?

Dig a little deeper—do some searching about Dr Berg… what are his qualifications? Are they related to nutrition?

To learn more about lateral reading, you may like to watch these videos:

Hajnalka Molloy
Learning Resources Manager

Reference List

Caulfield M and Wineburg S.S. (2023) Verified: How to think straight, get duped less, and make better decisions about what to believe online, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, USA.

Garrison K and Oddone K (2025) ‘“It is a skill everybody needs to learn”: Australian teacher librarians steering secondary schools through shifting information landscapes’, Journal of Information Literacy, 19(1):48-68.

Hudson E (4 January 2024) AI Skills that Matter, Part 2: Lateral Reading What does it actually mean to “critically evaluate” LLM output?, Learning on Purpose, accessed 10 September 2025. https://erichudson.substack.com/p/ai-skills-that-matter-part-2-lateral

Merga M.K. (2025) ‘TikTok and digital health literacy: A systematic review’, IFLA Journal, 51(2):490-501.

Merga M.K. and Mat Roni S (2025) ‘School Library Perceptions of Students' Digital Information Literacy’, Journal of Library Administration, 65(4):397-411.

Oddone K and Merga M.K. (2024) ‘Evaluation strategies of school students accessing health information in social media videos: A case study investigation’, Journal of Library Administration, 65(2):214-234.

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