Building Resilience through DigitalSmarts

This report shares findings from MediaSmarts’ four-year intervention research project: Moving On: Digital Empowerment and Literacy Skills for Survivors (MODELSS), which developed and evaluated the Resilience through DigitalSmarts program. Delivered in shelters and transitional homes across Canada, the program provides trauma- and violence-informed digital media literacy training to help survivors of technology-facilitated violence and abuse build online safety skills and confidence. The report is structured around the project’s four phases (adaptation, implementation, evaluation and knowledge mobilization), outlining the approaches, methods, outcomes and lessons learned at each stage. It highlights key findings from the evaluation of the Resilience through DigitalSmarts program and concludes with reflections on what works well in trauma-informed digital media literacy interventions, as well as strategic priorities for addressing tech-facilitated violence at individual, interpersonal, community and systems levels.

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. The workshop includes methods for recognizing AI-generated misinformation, including deepfakes, as well as tips on how to use AI for verifying information.

Authenticating Information, Digital Citizenship, Internet & Mobile

DigitalSmarts

Digital literacy is a vital tool for education, employment and economic participation, civic engagement, and even health and wellness. It reinforces existing inequalities based on socioeconomic status, ethnicity, education, immigration status and gender. Given the importance of digital literacy skills to under-represented populations, MediaSmarts and YWCA Canada have partnered to develop and deliver DigitalSmarts, a digital literacy skills program.

Authenticating Information, Cell Phones and Texting, Cyber Security, Internet & Mobile

New findings show digital media literacy training strengthens safety, wellbeing and resilience for survivors of online abuse

OTTAWA — April 7, 2026 — On World Health Day, MediaSmarts is highlighting new results from its Resilience Through DigitalSmarts program, which helps survivors of technology-facilitated violence—also known as online or digital abuse—build the digital media literacy skills needed to safely participate in today’s online world.

Reality Check: The Game

On the internet, it can be hard to tell what’s true and what’s false—but we have to make a lot of decisions based on how reliable we think things are. In Reality Check, you’ll learn how to find clues like finding where a story originally came from and comparing it to other sources, as well as how to use tools like fact-checking sites and reverse image searches.

Authenticating Information, Internet & Mobile, Journalism & News

Data Defenders (Grades 4-6)

Data Defenders is an interactive game that teaches children and pre-teens the concept of personal information and its economic value, and introduces them to ways to manage and protect their personal information on the websites and apps they enjoy

Internet & Mobile, Online Marketing, Privacy

Resilience through DigitalSmarts

Resilience Through DigitalSmarts is a national digital media literacy program designed to support survivors of technology-facilitated violence and abuse and the practitioners who work with them. The program helps participants build the knowledge, confidence and skills they need to safely navigate digital spaces and participate fully in today’s online world.

Outcome Chart - Ontario - Health and Physical Education Grade 5

This outcome chart contains media-related learning outcomes from the Ontario Grade 5 Health and Physical Education 1-8 curriculum with links to supporting resources on the MediaSmarts site.

Tobacco Labels

In this lesson, students debate the effectiveness of health warning labels on tobacco products.

Marketing & Consumerism, Tobacco Marketing