The Metaliteracy Learning Collaborative has been awarded a top tier $60,000 Innovative Instruction Technology Grant (IITG) to develop a new metaliteracy MOOC, Empowering Yourself in a Post-Truth World. This new Open EdX MOOC builds on the themes examined in the forthcoming book edited by Tom Mackey and Trudi Jacobson for ALA Publishing entitled Metaliterate Learning for the Post Truth World. This freely available learning environment will provide instructional resources for global educators and learners to explore the complex set of issues related to the post-truth world, including confirmation bias, false and misleading information in textual and visual forms, the changing understanding of expertise, as well as concerns about privacy, security, and safety in online environments. The Open EdX MOOC will be developed from a metaliteracy perspective to advance strategies for success that ultimately empower metaliterate learners to apply metacognitive reflection, promote collaboration, support active participation, and build communities of trust.

As part of this Open EdX MOOC SUNY Empire State College will offer a for-credit version of Empowering Yourself in a Post-Truth World that incorporates the Open EdX MOOC into the learning experience. Tom Mackey’s DIGA-3996-01 Special Topics: Empowering Yourself in a Post-Truth World is a 4-credit fully online course that will also be available as a face-to-face seminar-style group study at the Empire State College location at 21 British American Boulevard in Latham, New York. This special topics course will be offered in January 2019 at SUNY Empire State College and will prepare learners to successfully complete the Open EdX MOOC, which launches in March 2019.

Principal Investigators for this IITG project are Tom Mackey, Professor of Arts and Media at SUNY Empire State College and Trudi Jacobson, Distinguished Librarian and The University at Albany. Co-Principal Investigators include Kelsey O’Brien, information literacy librarian at UAlbany, Christine Paige, director of instructional design at SUNY Empire. The team also includes content developers Nicola Allain, Lisa Stephens, Thomas Palmer, Christine Fena, and Allison Hosier, as well as Videographer David Dickinson, and Instructional Designer Alena Rodick.

The new Open EdX MOOC builds on the three previous metaliteracy MOOCs developed by the Metaliteracy Learning Collaborative, and examined in the Open Praxis essay Metaliteracy as Pedagogical Framework for Learner-Centered Design in Three MOOC Platforms: Connectivist, Coursera and Canvas. Empowering Yourself in a Post-Truth World will feature videos, multimedia, and interactive learning activities that support reflection, collaboration, and participation while applying the metaliteracy learning characteristics and advancing the metaliteracy learner roles to address the challenges of the post-truth society. This project will also expand the metaliteracy digital badging system to apply similar themes.