{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,25]],"date-time":"2025-10-25T04:43:10Z","timestamp":1761367390687,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,23]],"date-time":"2025-10-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1761177600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Department of Universities of the Government of Cantabria","award":["Media and Digital Literacy in Young People and Adolescents: Diagnosis and Educational Innovation Strategies to Prevent Risks and Promote Good Practices on the Internet"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Media and Digital Literacy in Young People and Adolescents: Diagnosis and Educational Innovation Strategies to Prevent Risks and Promote Good Practices on the Internet"]}]},{"name":"European Union. Erasmus+ Program","award":["Key Action 2: KA220 Cooperation Partnerships for higher education (2023-1- 565 IT02- KA220-HED-0001621181)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Key Action 2: KA220 Cooperation Partnerships for higher education (2023-1- 565 IT02- KA220-HED-0001621181)"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Information"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study develops machine learning models to assess Media and Information Literacy (MIL) skills specifically in the context of disinformation among students, particularly future educators and communicators. While the digital revolution has expanded access to information, it has also amplified the spread of false and misleading content, making MIL essential for fostering critical thinking and responsible media engagement. Despite its relevance, predictive modeling of MIL in relation to disinformation remains underexplored. To address this gap, a quantitative study was conducted with 723 students in education and communication programs using a validated survey. Classification and regression algorithms were applied to predict MIL competencies and identify key influencing factors. Results show that complex models outperform simpler approaches, with variables such as academic year and prior training significantly improving prediction accuracy. These findings can inform the design of targeted educational interventions and personalized strategies to enhance students\u2019 ability to critically navigate and respond to disinformation in digital environments.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/info16110929","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,24]],"date-time":"2025-10-24T02:34:45Z","timestamp":1761273285000},"page":"929","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Leveraging Machine Learning Techniques to Investigate Media and Information Literacy Competence in Tackling Disinformation"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3607-260X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jos\u00e9 Manuel","family":"Alcalde-Llergo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, University of C\u00f3rdoba, 14071 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Economics, Engineering, Society and Business Organization, University of Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3242-5332","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mariana Buenestado","family":"Fern\u00e1ndez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Education, University of C\u00f3rdoba, 14071 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2529-9155","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carlos Enrique","family":"George-Reyes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Direcci\u00f3n de Investigaci\u00f3n, Vicerrector\u00eda de Investigaci\u00f3n y Vinculaci\u00f3n, Universidad Bolivariana del Ecuador, Dur\u00e1n 170507, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0478-8937","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrea","family":"Zingoni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Economics, Engineering, Society and Business Organization, University of Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8153-5052","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Enrique","family":"Yeguas-Bol\u00edvar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, University of C\u00f3rdoba, 14071 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101474","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tsc.2024.101474","article-title":"Effectiveness of training actions aimed at improving critical thinking in the face of disinformation: A systematic review protocol","volume":"51","year":"2024","journal-title":"Think. Skills Creat."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"UNESCO (2025, September 23). Ciudadan\u00eda Alfabetizada en Medios e Informaci\u00f3n: Pensar Cr\u00edticamente, Hacer Clic Sabiamente. Available online: https:\/\/unesdoc.unesco.org\/ark:\/48223\/pf0000385119."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"235","DOI":"10.1080\/1475939X.2024.2309950","article-title":"Educommunication and ICT: From a corpus to a model of educational intervention for critical attitude","volume":"33","author":"Jabba","year":"2024","journal-title":"Technol. Pedagog. Educ."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"326","DOI":"10.1080\/11356405.2019.1597564","article-title":"Media competencies of university professors and students. Comparison of levels in Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Venezuela","volume":"31","year":"2019","journal-title":"Cult. Educ."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103","DOI":"10.3916\/C62-2020-09","article-title":"UNESCO\u2019s Media and Information Literacy curriculum for teachers from the perspective of Structural Considerations of Information","volume":"28","author":"Reig","year":"2020","journal-title":"Comunicar"},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"UNESCO (2025, September 23). Beijing Consensus on Artificial Intelligence and Education. Available online: https:\/\/unesdoc.unesco.org\/ark:\/48223\/pf0000368303."},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"OECD (2021). Pushing the Frontiers with Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and Robots, OECD. OECD Digital Education Outlook."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"139","DOI":"10.1007\/s10956-021-09901-8","article-title":"Practices and Theories: How Can Machine Learning Assist in Innovative Assessment Practices in Science Education","volume":"30","author":"Zhai","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Sci. Educ. Technol."},{"key":"ref_9","first-page":"39","article-title":"Fake news, disinformation and misinformation in social media: A review","volume":"13","author":"Amri","year":"2023","journal-title":"Soc. Netw. Anal. Min."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"94","DOI":"10.1007\/s13278-022-00921-9","article-title":"Applications of machine learning for COVID-19 misinformation: A systematic review","volume":"12","author":"Sanaullah","year":"2022","journal-title":"Soc. Netw. Anal. Min."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"250","DOI":"10.1080\/09523987.2019.1669875","article-title":"A review of research on machine learning in educational technology","volume":"56","author":"Korkmaz","year":"2019","journal-title":"Educ. Media Int."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fastrez, P., and Landry, N. (2023). Media Literacy and Media Education Research Methods: A Handbook, Routledge.","DOI":"10.4324\/9781003045366"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6","DOI":"10.23860\/JMLE-2020-12-3-2","article-title":"Technology criticism and data literacy: The case for an augmented understanding of media literacy","volume":"12","author":"Knaus","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Media Lit. Educ."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.17645\/mac.9109","article-title":"The Effectiveness of an Educational Intervention on Countering Disinformation Moderated by Intellectual Humility","volume":"13","author":"Gross","year":"2025","journal-title":"Media Commun."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Huang, G., Jia, W., and Yu, W. (2024). Media Literacy Interventions Improve Resilience to Misinformation: A Meta-Analytic Investigation of Overall Effect and Moderating Factors, Sage. Communication Research.","DOI":"10.1177\/00936502241288103"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"444","DOI":"10.1080\/13562517.2019.1566220","article-title":"Calling out \u2018alternative facts\u2019: Curriculum to develop students\u2019 capacity to engage critically with contradictory sources","volume":"24","author":"Cooper","year":"2019","journal-title":"Teach. High. Educ."},{"key":"ref_17","first-page":"275","article-title":"Media literacy between primary and secondary students in Andalusia (Spain)","volume":"18","author":"Aguaded","year":"2015","journal-title":"Ried-Rev. Iberoam. Educ. Distancia"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"189","DOI":"10.1080\/09523987.2022.2136083","article-title":"Measuring the implementation of media literacy statewide: A validation study","volume":"59","author":"Hobbs","year":"2022","journal-title":"Educ. Media Int."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Frau-Meigs, D., Kotilainen, S., Pathak-Shelat, M., Hoechsmann, M., and Poyntz, S.R. (2020). Defining media education policies: Building blocks, scope, and characteristics. The Handbook of Media Education Research, Wiley Online Library.","DOI":"10.1002\/9781119166900"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Aguaded, I., and Delgado-Ponce, A. (2019). Educommunication. The International Encyclopedia of Media Literacy, Wiley.","DOI":"10.1002\/9781118978238.ieml0061"},{"key":"ref_21","first-page":"29","article-title":"Educaci\u00f3n medi\u00e1tica y formaci\u00f3n del profesorado. Educomunicaci\u00f3n m\u00e1s all\u00e1 de la alfabetizaci\u00f3n digital","volume":"32","year":"2018","journal-title":"Rev. Interuniv. Form. Profr."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"107","DOI":"10.3916\/C66-2021-09","article-title":"Meta-reflexivity for resilience against disinformation","volume":"29","author":"Golob","year":"2021","journal-title":"Comunicar"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"407","DOI":"10.1080\/11356405.2019.1601937","article-title":"The credibility of online news: An evaluation of the information by university students\/La credibilidad de las noticias en Internet: Una evaluaci\u00f3n de la informaci\u00f3n por estudiantes universitarios","volume":"31","year":"2019","journal-title":"Cult. Educ."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"229","DOI":"10.17645\/mac.v9i1.3523","article-title":"Gender Differences in Tackling Fake News: Different Degrees of Concern, but Same Problems","volume":"9","author":"Almenar","year":"2021","journal-title":"Media Commun."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e19425","DOI":"10.1016\/j.heliyon.2023.e19425","article-title":"Gender as a moderating variable in online misinformation acceptance during COVID-19","volume":"9","author":"Mansoori","year":"2023","journal-title":"Heliyon"},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Bouleimen, A., Luceri, L., Cardoso, F., Botturi, L., Hermida, M., Addimando, L., Beretta, C., Galloni, M., and Giordano, S. (2023). Online search is more likely to lead youth to validate true news than to refute false ones. arXiv."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"185","DOI":"10.1111\/jopy.12476","article-title":"Who falls for fake news? The roles of bullshit receptivity, overclaiming, familiarity, and analytic thinking","volume":"88","author":"Pennycook","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Personal."},{"key":"ref_28","first-page":"1359","article-title":"Algunos mitos m\u00e1s difundidos sobre las TUC en la educaci\u00f3n","volume":"19","year":"2021","journal-title":"Rev. Mendive"},{"key":"ref_29","first-page":"1","article-title":"Impacto de las fake news en estudiantes de periodismo y comunicaci\u00f3n audiovisual de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Vivat Academia","volume":"155","year":"2022","journal-title":"Rev. Comun."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.23860\/JMLE-2019-11-1-1","article-title":"Preparing Pre-Service Teachers to Teach Media Literacy: A Response to \u201cFake News\u201d","volume":"11","author":"Cherner","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Media Lit. Educ."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.3102\/0002831216679817","article-title":"Education for democracy in a partisan age: Confronting the challenges of motivated reasoning and misinformation","volume":"54","author":"Kahne","year":"2017","journal-title":"Am. Educ. Res. J."},{"key":"ref_32","first-page":"89","article-title":"Are really digital natives so good? Relationship between digital skills and digital reading","volume":"32","author":"Fajardo","year":"2015","journal-title":"Ann. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2037229","DOI":"10.1080\/23311983.2022.2037229","article-title":"Combating fake news, disinformation, and misinformation: Experimental evidence for media literacy education","volume":"9","year":"2022","journal-title":"Cogent Arts Humanit."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100002","DOI":"10.1016\/j.caeai.2020.100002","article-title":"Application and theory gaps during the rise of Artificial Intelligence in Education","volume":"1","author":"Chen","year":"2020","journal-title":"Comput. Educ. Artif. Intell."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e3310","DOI":"10.1002\/rev3.3310","article-title":"Machine learning for the educational sciences","volume":"9","author":"Hilbert","year":"2021","journal-title":"Rev. Educ."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"22125","DOI":"10.1007\/s10639-024-12704-0","article-title":"A review of machine learning methods used for educational data","volume":"29","author":"Ersozlu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Educ. Inf. Technol."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Daniel, B.K. (2017). Preparing the next generation of education researchers for big data in higher education. Big Data and Learning Analytics in Higher Education, Springer.","DOI":"10.1201\/9781315161501-5"},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Munir, H., Vogel, B., and Jacobsson, A. (2022). Artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches in digital education: A systematic revision. Information, 13.","DOI":"10.3390\/info13040203"},{"key":"ref_39","first-page":"250","article-title":"A review of using machine learning approaches for precision education","volume":"24","author":"Luan","year":"2021","journal-title":"Educ. Technol. Soc."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"193","DOI":"10.1080\/08993408.2023.2245687","article-title":"The applications of machine learning in computational thinking assessments: A scoping review","volume":"34","author":"Tan","year":"2023","journal-title":"Comput. Sci. Educ."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2721","DOI":"10.1007\/s10639-023-11831-4","article-title":"Gender prediction based on university students\u2019 complex thinking competency: An analysis from machine learning approaches","volume":"29","author":"Terashima","year":"2024","journal-title":"Educ. Inf. Technol."},{"key":"ref_42","first-page":"370","article-title":"The Use of Deep Learning in Open Learning: A Systematic Review (2019 to 2023)","volume":"25","author":"Mena","year":"2024","journal-title":"Int. Rev. Res. Open Distrib. Learn."},{"key":"ref_43","first-page":"18","article-title":"Dise\u00f1o y simulaci\u00f3n de un modelo de predicci\u00f3n para la evaluaci\u00f3n de la competencia digital docente usando t\u00e9cnicas de Machine Learning","volume":"89","year":"2024","journal-title":"Edutec. Rev. Electr\u00f3n. Tecnol. Educ."},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bernardo, A.B.I., Cordel, M.O.I.I., Ricardo, J.G.E., Galanza, M.A.M.C., and Almonte-Acosta, S. (2022). Global Citizenship Competencies of Filipino Students: Using Machine Learning to Explore the Structure of Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Competencies in the 2019 Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics. Educ. Sci., 12.","DOI":"10.3390\/educsci12080547"},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"675","DOI":"10.1007\/s11159-023-10026-w","article-title":"Machine learning evidence from PISA 2018 data to integrate global competence intervention in UAE K\u201312 public schools","volume":"69","author":"Miao","year":"2023","journal-title":"Int. Rev. Educ."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Reddy, P., Chaudhary, K., and Sharma, B. (2019, January 9\u201311). Predicting Media Literacy Level of Secondary School Students in Fiji. Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE Asia-Pacific Conference on Computer Science and Data Engineering (CSDE), Melbourne, Australia.","DOI":"10.1109\/CSDE48274.2019.9162411"},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"72","DOI":"10.1080\/15391523.2023.2266518","article-title":"Using machine learning techniques to investigate learner engagement with TikTok media literacy campaigns","volume":"56","author":"Wusylko","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Res. Technol. Educ."},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"118","DOI":"10.37134\/jictie.vol10.1.10.2023","article-title":"A digital literacy predictive model in the context of distance education","volume":"10","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. ICT Educ."},{"key":"ref_49","unstructured":"OECD (2005). La Definici\u00f3n y Selecci\u00f3n de Competencias Clave, OECD. Resumen Ejecutivo."},{"key":"ref_50","first-page":"123","article-title":"Consumo de noticias y percepci\u00f3n de fake news entre estudiantes de Comunicaci\u00f3n de Brasil, Espa\u00f1a y Portugal","volume":"18","author":"Sousa","year":"2019","journal-title":"Rev. Comun."},{"key":"ref_51","first-page":"e280315","article-title":"Percepci\u00f3n de las noticias falsas en universitarios de Portugal: An\u00e1lisis de su consumo y actitudes","volume":"28","author":"Figueira","year":"2019","journal-title":"Prof. Inf."},{"key":"ref_52","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"301","DOI":"10.6018\/educatio.408581","article-title":"La elecci\u00f3n de los grados de Maestro\/a: An\u00e1lisis de tendencias e incidencia del g\u00e9nero y la titulaci\u00f3n","volume":"39","year":"2021","journal-title":"Educ. Siglo XXI"},{"key":"ref_53","first-page":"2825","article-title":"Scikit-learn: Machine Learning in Python","volume":"12","author":"Pedregosa","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Mach. Learn. Res."},{"key":"ref_54","unstructured":"Shi, Y., Ke, G., Soukhavong, D., Lamb, J., Meng, Q., Finley, T., Wang, T., Chen, W., Ma, W., and Ye, Q. (LightGBM: Light Gradient Boosting Machine, 2025). LightGBM: Light Gradient Boosting Machine, R Package Version 4.6.0.99."}],"container-title":["Information"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2078-2489\/16\/11\/929\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,25]],"date-time":"2025-10-25T04:40:23Z","timestamp":1761367223000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2078-2489\/16\/11\/929"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,23]]},"references-count":54,"journal-issue":{"issue":"11","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11]]}},"alternative-id":["info16110929"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/info16110929","relation":{},"ISSN":["2078-2489"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2078-2489"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,23]]}}}