Digital media literacy workshop delivery
Currently, MediaSmarts’ digital media literacy experts are available to conduct sessions locally in Ottawa and Montreal and virtually across Canada.
Please see below for the current workshop offerings and contact info@mediasmarts.ca to inquire about fees and how to book a facilitator.
Parent/guardian workshops
For parents/guardians of kids of all ages:
Building Better Tech Habits
Screen time is one of parents’ top tech-related concerns and kids are worried about their screen use too: almost half say they spend too much time on their phones. Kids and adults all use technology in our daily lives, so how can we find ways to use it as a family in healthy ways? In this workshop, parents and guardians will learn how to create better habits around tech that will empower youth to be in control rather than their apps and devices.
60 minutes including time for Q&A
Raising Digitally Resilient Kids
Self-guided version available
Join us for an engaging workshop designed to help parents and guardians support their children's digital well-being. Learn how to balance the risks and benefits of digital media, based on insights from MediaSmarts’ research with youth. We'll cover the main online risks and provide practical strategies to keep your kids safe, including hands-on activities to practice these key skills.
60 minutes including time for Q&A
For parents/guardians of youth 10+
The Parent Network: Social Media and Your Kids
This workshop is designed to help parents better understand how their kids are using social networking and to provide them with tips and tools they can use to help them minimize negative experiences and maximize the positive opportunities that social media has to offer.
75 minutes including time for Q&A
Educator workshops
Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum
The Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum workshop provides teachers with a comprehensive approach to fostering critical thinking skills at all grade levels, with particular attention to addressing online misinformation and online hate through teaching critical thinking. The workshop looks at exactly what critical thinking is and why we need to teach it; explores how we can teach students how to think critically, including looking at different ways of approaching it for different parts of the curriculum; and finally, looks at how we can get students – and ourselves – to switch to using better shortcuts to critical thinking.
90 minutes including time for Q&A
Versions available:
- Grades K-8
- Grades 9-12
- Grades K-12
Digital Media Literacy 101 for Educators
This professional development workshop will prepare teachers to deliver systematic digital media literacy instruction by introducing key concepts, knowledge and skills at developmentally appropriate levels and building upon them in a logical sequence. Based on MediaSmarts’ digital media literacy framework, it shows how to implement the core competencies (Access, Use, Understand, Engage) and key concepts of digital media literacy along with information about best practices and pitfalls to avoid. The workshop also includes “Try this” activities that allow teachers to explore and practice the skills and topics covered and “Misconception alerts” that counter or prebunk common misunderstandings around media and digital media literacy.
60 minutes including time for Q&A
Facing Online Hate
The Facing Online Hate workshop examines how the internet is used to spread and incite hate, how radicalization occurs, and how youth encounter hate online both through traditional hate sites and “cultures of hatred”. The tutorial also provides strategies for building critical thinking skills in young people to help them understand the nature of online hate, how they may be targets and how to respond appropriately when bias, stereotyping and hatred are encountered online.
90 minutes with time for Q&A
That's Not Me: Diversity and Media
Framed around key concepts of media literacy, That’s Not Me: Diversity and Media examines how entertainment and news media represent diversity and the impact these media portrayals can have on the value we place on individuals and groups in society. The workshop explores how the media industry is changing to better reflect Canadian society and provides strategies for challenging negative representations and engaging young people in advocating for more realistic and positive media portrayals.
60 mins with time for Q&A
Youth workshops
Break the Fake: What's Real Online?
Grades 1 to 4
In this activity, students are introduced to the challenges of identifying what is real and what is fake online, featuring the iconic house hippo!
30-40 minutes
Wacky Media Songs: Introducing digital media literacy
Grades 1 to 4
In this workshop, students will engage with topics related to Ethics & Empathy, Media Health and Privacy & Security through fun and engaging videos followed by activities related to each video led by a MediaSmarts expert. This workshop is based on the videos and lesson plans created in partnership with TVOKids.
Break the Fake: How to tell what’s true online
Grades 6 and up
The Break the Fake: How to tell what’s true online workshop will teach audiences four quick, easy steps they can take to spot misinformation and find out if something online is true or not. Designed for audiences aged 11 and up.
60 minutes
Respecting Yourself and Others Online Workshop
Grades 6 to 9
The Respecting Yourself and Others Online workshop was created to provide tweens and young teens with strategies and knowledge that will help them respect themselves, respect others and respect the space when using social media.
60 minutes
Designed for smaller groups/individual classrooms
Where’s the Line - Online safety workshop
Grades 6 to 8
The session helps promote safe and informed online behaviour through encouraging youth to make safe, ethical and knowledge-based decisions online. Youth will also learn strategies and supports that are available to assist them with issues they encounter online. Covering topics such as sending intimate images, online harassment and cyberbullying.
60 minutes
Designed to be conducted in either a larger group assembly or classroom setting
Put Your Best Face Forward - Selfie culture
Grades 7 to 9
In this workshop, students start by discussing the phenomenon of “selfies” and serve as experts in advising the teacher on the standards by which the “best” selfies are judged. They then discuss a number of statements taken from interviews with youth that highlight issues of self-representation, body image and gender standards, and learn about “photoshopping” images. Finally, students apply what they have learned by modifying an image that is at least 50 years old to meet “selfie” standards.
60 minutes
My Voice is Louder Than Hate
Grades 9 to 12
In this session, participants will explore the benefits and drawbacks of being “full citizens” online. They will learn reasons why Canadian youth sometimes do not push back when they witness hate or casual prejudice online and then use the My Voice is Louder Than Hate multimedia tool to practice different ways of responding.
60 - 90 minutes
General public workshops
Break the Fake: How to tell what’s true online
The Break the Fake: How to tell what’s true online workshop will teach audiences four quick, easy steps they can take to spot misinformation and find out if something online is true or not.
Designed for youth and adults aged 11 and up.
60 minutes including time for Q&A
DigitalSmarts
The DigitalSmarts program is a series of nine hour-long workshops designed to teach important everyday digital skills to under-represented populations. They were designed to be inclusive by being accessible to diverse and/or marginalized groups including new Canadians and those with English as a second language.