A new season of SLJ’s webcast series in conjunction with ISTE starts off with a bang this month. “Information Literacy in the Age of Fake News,” an hour-long program on March 16, will feature four experts who will weigh in with their perspective and provide resources and tips to address this critical topic. The program, sponsored by Mackin Educational Resources, Rosen Publishing Group, and Credo, will cover how to vet information, consider point of view and bias, establish best practices for students, and manage the digital fire hose of information. The panelists are:

• Frank Baker, Media Literacy Clearinghouse founder and author of Media Literacy in the K-12 Classroom
• Gary Price, editor and founder, infoDOCKET
• Damaso Reyes, New York City program manager, News Literacy Project
• Mike Ribble, Digital Citizenship founder and author of Digital Citizenship in Schools, Nine Elements All Students Should Know

Joyce Valenza, assistant professor, Rutgers University, School of Communication and Information, and “NeverEnding Search” blogger, will moderate the program, which is sponsored by Mackin Educational Resources and Rosen Publishing Group. Then, get ready for a rapid-fire tool share in the next webcast in the SLJ/ISTE series: “60 Tools in 60 Minutes.” Sponsored by Mackin, Capstone, and littleBits, this April 20 presentation features Monica Cabarcas, librarian, Albemarle High School, Charlottesville, VA; Kristina Holzweiss, 2015 School Librarian of the Year; Heidi Williams, head of school, Jefferson Lighthouse, Racine, WI, and author of No Fear Coding; and Daryl Grabarek, senior editor, School Library Journal. Moderating will be Kathy Ishizuka, executive editor, School Library Journal. This session will cover the best applications and gear for your school or library, including must-have multimedia content, cool coding platforms, and top choices for your maker space. On May 18, it’s “Technology to Aid the Struggling Reader” with Michele Haiken, English teacher, Rye (NY) Middle School and author of Gamify Literacy; and K.C. Boyd, lead librarian, East St. Louis (IL) School District. Panelists will share tips on how to leverage technology to help new and struggling readers. Resources include the best storytelling apps, digital sources of high-interest content for kids and teens, and more. All webcasts are free of charge and run live 3:00-4:00 pm ET/12:00-1:00 pm PT, with an archive available for on-demand viewing. For more information, visit the registration page. ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) is the largest teacher-based, nonprofit organization in the field of educational technology, according to its site.