MediaSmarts’ experts are available to facilitate virtual and in-person workshops in school and community settings for parents/guardians, educators, youth, older adults and the general public. Our workshops cover topics such as AI literacy online safety, misinformation, digital well-being, managing tech in the home, diversity and representation in media, digital citizenship, critical thinking, online hate and more.
The Generative AI in Education professional development workshop supports educators in the effective and responsible use of artificial intelligence in the classroom, helping them prepare youth to understand the complexities and implications of AI. The workshop explores critical topics such as what generative AI is and how it works; why (and whether) to use AI in education; and what effective, ethical and student-centered use of AI in the classroom might look like.
CyberSafe Seniors addresses the growing threat of AI-enabled online fraud and scams targeting older Canadians. As AI tools become more accessible, scammers are using tactics such as voice cloning, deepfake videos, and highly convincing techniques to impersonate loved ones and fabricate financial emergencies. Older adults are more likely to be targeted by these scams, often losing large amounts of money as well as feeling shame, anxiety, and social isolation.
In this lesson students answer a brief questionnaire related to self-image, self-esteem, and advertising, and then work as groups to create and act in mock television commercials that parody advertising techniques.
We got rid of our landline phone years ago. This means we all had to have cell phones and ways to contact each other. It’s not a perfect system; when the power goes out we are relying on our cell network for communication, but it has worked well for the most part.
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In this lesson students explore the relationship between athletes and advertising through a number of different activities.
This lesson looks at food photography and the different techniques used by food stylists to make foods look appealing in advertisements.
In this lesson, students discuss their experiences playing free online games and then learn the costs of these “free” games in the form of paying with money, sharing personal information or providing attention to advertising or branded content. Students then learn a variety of techniques for mitigating the risks and drawbacks of online games and communicate their learning by describing one of these techniques in video-game terms.
