Pathways to Democratic Information Resilience

Civic Media and Information Literacy in the Curriculum and in Society

A University of Canberra Faculty of Education, News and Media Research Centre (Faculty of Arts and Design) and Centre for Deliberative Democracy (Faculty of Business, Government and Law) Symposium

18-19 November 2026

Ann Harding Centre, University of Canberra

Convenors

Prof. Mathieu O'Neil, News and Media Research Centre, Faculty of Arts and Design, UC
Assoc Prof. Andrew Ross, News and Media Research Centre, Faculty of Education, UC

Scientific Committee

Dr Rys Farthing, Reset.Tech & News and Media Research Centre, Faculty of Arts and Design, UC
Prof. Jutta Haider, Swedish School of Library and Information Science
Ms Saffron Howden, News and Media Research Centre, Faculty of Arts and Design, UC
Prof. Ron Levy, College of Law, Governance and Policy, ANU
Dr Jordan McSwiney, Centre for Deliberative Democracy, Faculty of Business, Government and Law, UC
Dr Kay Oddone, Linking Learning Advisory & School of Information and Communication Studies, CSU

Keynote Speakers

Prof. Jutta Haider, Swedish School of Library and Information Science: Infrastructural meaning-making, resilience, and the crisis of information
Dr Kay Oddone, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Charles Sturt University, Director, Linking Learning Advisory: The Information Resilience Imperative. What research tells us about critical literacies, algorithmic cultures, and the professionals who can make a difference

Format, schedule and panels

Format

The Pathways to Democratic Information Resilience: Civic MIL in the Curriculum and in Society symposium will bring together civil servants, educators, members of civil society, policymakers and researchers.

Identifying credible information is key to democratic decision-making. Participants will engage in dialogue and collaboratively devise tools and strategies which best equip Australian students and citizens with the necessary skills to deal with epistemic pollution in the contemporary information environment.

Panels will follow the following format:

Panellists make prepared opening statements [15 minutes]
Panellists address one or two audience questions and debate key questions and solutions [15-20 minutes]
Audience work in small groups to discuss and rank key questions and solutions using the Polis [https://pol.is/home] online deliberation tool [15-20 minutes]
Panellists and audience review Polis results and draw conclusions [15 minutes]

Schedule

DAY 1 Wednesday 18 November

Time	Details
08:30 - 09:00	Registration and Coffee
09:00 - 09:15	Welcome, Day 1 Aims
09:45 - 10:00	Keynote Presentation: Jutta Haider, Swedish School of Library and Information Science
10:00 - 10:15	Coffee break
10:15 - 11:30	Panel 1: Developing a civic media and information literacy toolkit
11:30 - 12:45	Panel 2: Teacher-librarians and civic media and information literacy
12:45 - 13:30	Lunch
13:30 - 14:45	Panel 3: Civic media and information skills in the Australian Curriculum
14:45 - 16:00	Panel 4: Diverse perspectives on civic media and information literacy
16:00 - 16:15	Day 1 wrap-up
16:15 - 16:30	End / Afternoon Tea
19:00 - 21:00	Event dinner

DAY 2 Thursday 19 November

Time	Details
08:30 - 09:00	Coffee
09:00 - 09:15	Welcome, Day 2 Aims
09:15 - 10:00	Keynote Presentation: Kay Oddone, Charles Sturt University
10:00 - 10:15	Coffee break
10:15 - 11:30	Panel 5: Next steps for school education policy and practice
11:30 - 12:45	Panel 6: Communicating civic values
12:45 - 13:30	Lunch
13:30 - 14:45	Panel 7: Next steps for continuing/adult education policy and practice
14:45 - 16:00	Panel 8: Symposium conclusions and outputs
16:00 – 16:15	End / Afternoon Tea

Panel 1: Developing a civic media and information literacy toolkit

Chair: Mathieu O’Neil, News and Media Research Centre, University of Canberra

Panel questions:

What indispensable civic media and information literacy skills ought to be taught?
What useful resources should be developed?
What educational reforms are necessary?

Panellists:

Jennifer Allan, Abbotsleigh School, NSW
Megan Carrigy, National Film and Sound Archive
Saffron Howden, News and Media Research Centre, University of Canberra
Ron Levy, Ryan Goss & Dominique Dalla-Pozza, ANU Law School
Tabitha Noble, Walford Anglican School for Girls, SA

Panel 2: Teacher-librarians and civic media and information literacy

Chair: Kay Oddone, Charles Sturt University

Panel questions:

Realities and perceptions of teacher-librarian role within educational institutions?
Insights regarding State and Territory differences?
Advocacy and education regarding the democratic role of teacher-librarians?
How to educate ‘the education world’ about the teacher-librarian role and their potential contribution to the curriculum?

Panellists:

Suzi Foley, Kingsford Smith School, ACT
Holly Godfree, Lake Tuggeranong College, ACT
Jessica Raeside, School of Education, University of Notre Dame
Andrew Ross, Faculty of Education, University of Canberra
Kathy Talbot, Catholic Education, Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn

Panel 3: Civic media and information skills in the Australian Curriculum

Chair: Saffron Howden, News and Media Research Centre, University of Canberra

Panel questions:

How the Australian Curriculum came to be: does understanding the past help shape the future?
Does the Australian Curriculum need to change to include effective information resilience?
Does teacher training in universities need to change, and how?

Panellists:

Melissa Clifton, Electoral Education Unit, Australian Electoral Commission
Emily Hughes, Defending Democracy Unit, Australian Electoral Commission
Hajnaka Molloy, Pres., School Library Association of South Australia & Co-coordinator, Students Need School Libraries
Mathieu O’Neil, News and Media Research Centre, University of Canberra
Jane Polley, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority
June Wall, Charles Sturt University

Panel 4: Diverse perspectives on civic media and information literacy

Chair: Ron Levy, ANU Law School

Panel questions:

Historical perspectives on civic education?
First Nations experiences and racial literacy?
How can diverse cultural and linguistic awareness be incorporated in MIL?

Panellists:

Xiaolan Cai & Shengnan Yao, News and Media Research Centre, University of Canberra
Anna Clark, Australian Centre for Public History, University of Technology Sydney
Holly Randell-Moon, School of Indigenous Australian Studies, Charles Sturt University
Helen Weston, Convenor ALIA Schools

Panel 5: Next steps for school education policy and practice

Chair: June Wall, Charles Sturt University

Panel themes:

The Australian Curriculum is designed at the federal level, but its implementation varies between States and Territories and the public and private sectors. Is a mandated National Certificate comprising key civic and civic MIL competencies desirable?
Is a mandated National Certificate achievable?
What other policies would help reduce differences in student education?

Panellists:

Adam Brodie-McKenzie, School of Education, La Trobe University & Pres., Social and Citizenship Education Association of Australia
Beth Chapman, Faculty of Education, University of Canberra
Emily Hills, Faculty of Education, University of Canberra
Martha Itzcovitz, Pres., Australian School Library Association
Karen Seeneevassen, Abbotsleigh School, NSW & Pres., School Library Association of NSW

Panel 6: Communicating civic values

Chair: Jordan McSwiney, Centre for Deliberative Democracy, University of Canberra

Panel questions:

Defining Australian democratic values, e.g., free and fair elections, open/accountable government, civil/political rights, respect for/in democratic society, multiculturalism?
How can these values be effectively communicated in the classroom and outside?
What role do civil society organisations play? Should they coordinate more?

Panellists:

Shane Compton, Social Research Centre
Piers Howe, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne
Emanuela Savini, Centre for Deliberative Democracy, University of Canberra
Natasha van Antwerpen, School of Psychology, Adelaide University

Panel 7: Next steps for continuing/adult education policy and practice

Chair: Mathieu O’Neil, News and Media Research Centre, University of Canberra

Panel questions:

How can civic education address contested issues such as democratic rights, inequality and government power in a non-partisan fashion?
Finding the right spokespersons: who can best promote common standards of evidence and civility, demonstrating how to safely disagree with others, thus strengthening the conditions in which free speech and democratic debate can thrive?
Civic MIL and the life journey: ends and beginnings?
Rather than being delivered as top-down information, how can civic MIL be made practical and participatory?

Panellists:

Jutta Haider, Swedish School of Library and Information Science
Saffron Howden, News and Media Research Centre, University of Canberra
The Hon Bill Shorten, Vice-Chancellor, University of Canberra
Rhiân Williams, ABC Canberra & Canberra Writer’s Festival
Rachel Stephen-Smith, ACT Education Minister [TBC]

Panel 8: Symposium conclusions and outputs

Panel questions:

Based on panel 1–7 deliberations & outcomes

Panellists:

3 or 4 panel 1–7 Chairs
3 or 4 panel 1–7 Panellists

Background

Identifying credible information is key to democratic decision-making, which is why in Finland, a recognised leader in this field, media and information literacy (MIL) are part of civics education.^[1] In Australia, knowledge about civic institutions and values is in steep decline.^[2] Misinformed opinions circulate widely, and truth is increasingly harder to discern from fiction. Australian students and citizens need to be equipped with the necessary skills for informed democratic participation. Such skills should be cognitively viable, but popular checklist methods such as 'C.R.A.A.P.' (e.g., 'Is it Current, Relevant, Authoritative, Accurate? What is its Purpose?') are ineffective in an online environment where information is super-abundant, and attention is finite. They take too much time, and are likely to cause cognitive overload.

Since 2021, thanks to the ACT Education Directorate – UC Affiliated Schools Research Program, UC researchers have co-designed with teachers and teacher-librarians in ACT schools new conceptual frameworks and educational methods for the attention economy. Three key information resilience principles – speed, non-partisanship and transparency – were established; adhering to these principles ensures methods effectively manage information super-abundance, increasing polarisation, and the rising influence of AI. The UC civic MIL program aims to improve resilience to misinformation by augmenting students' discernment (their ability to identify clues that content may be misleading) as well as their verification and sourcing skills - their knowledge of methods to determine whether a claim is factual, or a source credible.

Students are taught to be alert to the presence of emotional manipulation in media content and to fact-check information by 'reading laterally' (e.g., do not investigate inside the source: look to the side, open another tab, and search) in traditional encyclopedias, Wikipedia, and other sources known to be reliable. Between 2022 and 2025, the program was run once in four ACT primary and secondary schools, twice in an ACT Senior Secondary College, and once at the University of Canberra in the leadup to the 2025 federal election. Lessons from the program informed a report commissioned by the National Science and Technology Council, Office of the Australian Chief Scientist.^[3] In 2026, a micro-credential based on the program has been created at UC and two new programs for stage 3 (Years 5 and 6) and stage 5 (Years 9 and 10) students are being co-developed and implemented with members of the School Library Association of New South Wales.

The Final Report of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters' Inquiry into civics education, engagement, and participation in Australia was tabled in Parliament in January 2025.^[4] The report's Foreword by Senator Carole Brown called for a coordinated 'long-term national media and digital literacy strategy' and declared that 'Australia needs a strengthened and standardised approach to formal civics education. The Committee recommends nationally aligned and mandated civics and citizenship content for high-school students, with greater accountability and consistency in how this is implemented, by working more closely with state and territory governments'.^[5] What would a strengthened and standardised approach to formal civics education look like? And how could nationally aligned and mandated civics and citizenship content for high-school students be consistently implemented by states and territories?

https://okm.fi/en/media-literacy/ See also: Webber M., McNaughton S., Gerrard J., Meade S. & Verdonk C. (2023) He Uru Kahikatea: building young people's resilience through media and information literacy and digital citizenship skills, Office of the Prime Minister's Science Advisor, New Zealand.
Duffy, C. (2025) Australian students record worst ever civics result with 72 per cent not understanding the basics of democracy. ABC News.
Newman, E., Ecker, U., O'Neil, M. & Tay, L. (2026) Information Resilience: A framework for misinformation interventions. Australian Government Office of the Chief Scientist.
Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (2025) From classroom to community: Civics education and political participation in Australia.
Ibid, p.iii-iv.

Additional resources

O'Neil, M., Ross, A., Campbell, K. & Jenkins, M. (2026) Co-designing civic media and information literacy skills with Australian teacher-librarians to boost students' resilience to misinformation and democratic participation. Policy Futures in Education, under review. Available on request.

O'Neil, M., Cunneen, R. & Deas, M. (2025) A remedy for epistemic pollution? Public and professional reactions to fact-checking with Wikipedia in Australian classrooms. In C.Y. Song, D. Thussu & D. Margolin (Eds.), Checking the Factcheckers: A Global Perspective. Advances in Internationalizing Media Studies, Routledge.

O'Neil M., Cunneen R. & Ross A. (2023) Reclaiming resilience: Fact-checking in the classroom with Wikipedia, Synergy, October, School Library Association of Victoria.

O'Neil, M. & Jensen, M. (2022) Three reasons why disinformation is so pervasive and what we can do about it. The Conversation, 12 August.

Pathways to Democratic Information Resilience