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The DigitalSmarts program is a series of eight hour-long workshops designed to teach important everyday digital skills. The workshops include hands-on activities and videos and cover topics such as: protecting privacy and security online, job searching, shopping and banking online, using social media, searching the internet effectively and managing screen time for kids.
In the High School Block, students learn to “make informed decisions, recognize personal health and growth, develop positive relationships, and be an advocate for inclusivity.” Connections to digital media literacy are found throughout the curriculum.
Most of our research projects involve working with children and youth from diverse communities across Canada. We design projects that create safe spaces for young people to share their thoughts, experiences, concerns, and solutions about digital media literacy issues. We aim to empower young Canadians, providing them with knowledge and skills that they can take with them as they continue to navigate the online world and digital technology.
The Raising Ethical Kids For a Networked World tutorial examines some of the moral dilemmas that kids face in their online activities and shares some strategies to help them build the social and emotional intelligence that’s needed to support ethical decision making – and build resiliency if things go wrong.
The Parenting the Digital Generation workshop looks at the various activities kids love to do online and offers tips and strategies for everything from Facebook privacy settings, online shopping, cyberbullying, to protecting your computer from viruses.
Framed around key concepts of media literacy, the That’s Not Me tutorial 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 tutorial 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.
This report is drawn from a national survey of Canadian youth conducted by MediaSmarts in 2013. The classroom-based survey of 5,436 students in grades 4 through 11, in every province and territory, examined the role of networked technologies in young people’s lives. Sexuality and Romantic Relationships in the Digital Age (the fifth in a series of reports from the survey) examines issues such as sexting, romantic interactions online, and accessing pornography and information about sexuality.
We conduct qualitative and quantitative research projects, design and facilitate program and resource evaluation, and mobilize the findings and recommendations from our research in collaboration with various community and academic partners.