As algorithmic social media feeds become increasingly cluttered with noise and polarization, a growing number of educators and citizens are turning to the "newsletter economy" to reclaim their digital attention. Substack has emerged as a powerful tool in this landscape, offering a space where we can move away from being passive consumers and toward becoming intentional curators of our own information environments.
Is Substack merely a news reader, or is it a platform for a new kind of interactive citizenship? We will explore the continuum of engagement—from subscribing to "trusted voices" and using the app as a streamlined news feed, to becoming "media filters" who share and restack content for others, and finally, to launching our own voices through newsletters and podcasts.
Join the MediaEd Club for an interactive "101" session where we will navigate the Substack toolbox. We’ll discuss the ethics of platform choice, demonstrate how to use "Activity" feeds to discover new perspectives, and apply the SIFT methodology—enhanced by AI "superprompts"—to verify the claims we encounter in our new, self-curated feeds.
Date: Monday, February 2, 2026
Time: 12 pm EST | 6 pm CET | 10:30 pm ISTÂ
LOCATION: Register here for the webinar series.
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Recommended Media (please preview before attending)
- Article: The Long Peak of Newsletters (Columbia Journalism Review, 29 May 2025)
- Article: Fact Check Substack with a Superprompt (Wes Fryer's blog, 30 Nov 2025)
Optional Media (enrich your learning)
- Video: Why Smart Creators Are Choosing Substack Now (Sinem Gunel, 28 Dec 2025)
- Article: Teamsters unveil new Substack newsletter to break through traditional media (The Hill, 8 Dec 2025)
- Article: Top Substack writers depart for Patreon (Nieman Lab, 29 Oct 2025)
- Article: Why scientists are flocking to Substack (Nature, 29 Aug 2025) - archive.ph link
- Substack Creator Resources (official)
- Example podcasts launched on Substack by Wes: IndivisibleCLT - Confronting Whiteness
Host: Dr. Wesley FryerÂ
Wesley Fryer, PhD, is a middle school STEM and media literacy middle school teacher at Providence Day School in Charlotte, North Carolina. As an educational technology “early adopter / innovator” since the late 1990s, Wes continues to share regularly on social media. Learn more on wesfryer.com.
Please get in touch with us if you want to suggest future Media Club meeting topics to discuss an article, book, podcast, video or any media related to our interests.
Dr. Wes Fryer, Webinar Series Manager |Â wes.fryer@providenceday.org Â
* AI Image (for this webinar) generated by Wes Fryer using Gemini's Nano Banana Pro.