Exploring bias filters as a source evaluation tool

Today's complex, algorithmically-driven information landscape can be difficult to navigate. While media literacy skills are important for negotiating this complexity, a pedagogical focus on misinformation and fact-checking can have the unintended effect of increasing already widespread cynicism, including among young people. In this exploratory study, we introduced college students to a new pedagogical concept: bias filters. Bias filters are aspects of the information creation process that help to reduce bias in the final product. The findings suggest that bias filters have considerable promise as an instructional tool, encouraging students to approach information sources with a more nuanced, less cynical perspective. Future potential considerations and implications for bias filters as an instructional inclusion are discussed.