Authority is constructed & contextual (26 Oct. 2017)

Learning outcomes/knowledge practices:

1. Students should be able to define different types of authority such as subject expertise (Scholarship), society position (Public office or Title), or special experience (Participating in an historical event). 
2. Use markers of authority to determine the credibility of sources. 

      3. Recognise that authoritative content may be packaged formally or informally and may include   audio, visual and non-print sources.        


 Materials needed

1.    Movie ticket, notepad and pen or recorder

2.    Laptop/ Tablet + internet connectivity, evaluating information material, notepad and pen

3.     Laptop/Tablet + Internet connectivity

Activities

1        Students must watch the biographical movie Krotoa after which they must also attend and participate in a panel discussion, with representatives of the Filmmakers, Khoisan and Coloured community activists in attendance. They (students) then must get together afterwards and deliberate how one version became the official and authoritative account of events, and how other perspectives became marginalised or discarded. The movie raises a couple of issues; where the information sources comes from, its aims and the context of the information.  The biographical movie represents the dominant (white) and official perspective, with the views of Khoisan activists (Denver Breda) and the broader Khoi/Coloured community totally ignored. The final task (students) would be for them to write a reflective paper about the movie and their experiences.

  2.  My undergraduate cluster of students will be divided into groups of three each. Each group will be given a set of six articles consisting of blog posts, news articles, journal articles and scholarly articles. They (students) may use the internet (laptop) to establish Authority (author, is the information primary or secondary, source of information, publisher), Currency (when was it published) and Purpose (authors motive). Also, if the articles are peer reviewed, after which the students must decide collectively which information is credible or not, based on their assessment of it. 

3. I will ask students to report (essay) on the latest political news in America, for their politics assignment, they must also reference the sources used. They (students) will be instructed to use a variety of formal and informal sources; Reuters, New York Times, Washington Post, Fox News, CNN, YouTube clips, Facebook, Twitter, Sean Hannity Show (radio) and The Daily Show. The students will realise  the diversity of sources of information required to complete the task consists of: Radio Shows, Newspaper articles, Television news, Social media and satirical  shows. These sources can all be credible sources, with the possibility of being authoritative or not.

       Knowledge Practices
      1. Students will  identify that their exist more than one authority.

      2. Students will  gain the knowledge in how to effectively evaluate information.
   
      3. Students will be able to identify that a multiple of formats of information exists, which all can be credible.

Until next time