Jacob is a former High School ELA and Social Studies teacher. He is now a doctoral student at UCI School of Education. He is committed, through research and outreach, to helping teachers prepare their students for a complex, challenging, and often misleading information society.

As a member of the Media Literacy Collaborative, Jacob is eager to work with experienced and innovative educators to design and test solutions to the information problems they face. Through this shared work, he hopes to help students become citizens who engage in dialogue around social and political issues with open minds, reason, and an appreciation for diverse perspectives.

Joseph has long worked with preschool and elementary school students both as a teacher and in his research. He is now a doctoral student at UCI’s School of Education. He is interested in mechanisms of misinformation, how it disseminates and how it may disrupt reasoning processes.

With the Media Literacy Collaborative, Joseph is excited to work with educators to attempt to further understand the challenges that misinformation pose in the classroom. By identifying key processes and skills, Joseph is looking to help students and educators become more informed digital consumers and help slow the spread of misinformation.

Nicole Gilbertson creates opportunities for educators to learn and collaborate with one another as both the Director of the UCI Teacher Academy and the Site Director of the UCI History Project. Gilbertson received her Ph.D. in history with an emphasis on modern Europe and world history, while at the same time earning a secondary teaching credential in history-social science. She has led professional development in Southern California for the last 15 years.

At the center of this work is the goal of supporting teachers as they engage their students in the habits of mind and practices that are essential for our participatory democracy. Her dream is for the Media Literacy Collaborative to nurture teachers as they create classrooms where students engage in the skills that allow them to be thoughtful and critical consumers and producers of media so their voices and perspectives can be part of our public sphere.

Daisy Martin, Ph.D., is the Director of The History & Civics Project at UC Santa Cruz and teaches in the UCSC MA/Credential program. She is an Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturer, has worked with K-12 teachers nationwide, and co-founded the Stanford History Education Group.  Her interest in equipping students to be critical consumers of media and responsible and effective media producers reaches back to her initial efforts as a high school teacher in CA public schools. She is excited to continue that work with teachers and librarians through the Media Literacy Collaborative and prepare today’s students to wisely navigate, and participate in, our rapidly changing media landscape.