In his recently published Next Vista for Learning newsletter Rushton Hurley mentioned a cool lesson plan from PBS Learning Media. That lesson plan is titled How to Spot Fake Screenshots on Social Media. It’s an important skill for all middle school and high school students who use social media to have and this lesson plan provides a great way to teach that skill. 

In How to Spot Fake Screenshots students learn why people or organizations post fake screenshots. The lesson also teaches students four clues to look for to determine the validity of a screenshot. Finally, students learn how to use tools like FotoForensics and the Wayback Machine to determine whether a screenshot is real or fake. 

Speaking of the Wayback Machine, it’s one of the tools that I used to expose a DMCA email scam last spring. You can read more about that scam and how I unraveled it here. 

Video – A Short Overview of the Internet Archive Wayback Machine