Remediating prebunking in practice: Enhancing teachers’ competencies for digital source evaluation and disinformation detection

This study evaluates a national program for media literacy training designed to enhance Italian teachers' competencies in digital source evaluation and disinformation detection. Using a “remediated prebunking” approach, the program involved 115 primary and secondary school teachers across Italy in a blended learning experience combining online modules with hands-on workshops. The intervention focused on two core areas: digital source verification and visual literacy for detecting manipulated images. A pre-post quasi-experimental design assessed six competency domains through mixed-methods evaluation emphasizing argumentative reasoning over simple classification accuracy. Results demonstrated significant improvements across all domains, with particularly notable gains in visual literacy and collaborative analytical skills. These findings suggest that “remediated prebunking” methodologies can effectively address systematic gaps in teacher preparation for tackling disinformation in digital citizenship education, providing evidence-based guidance for scalable professional development interventions.