Resources for Teachers - Authenticating Information

Sexting: Shifting the Focus from Victim-Blaming to Respect and Consent

Few issues capture our anxiety about young people and digital media so perfectly as sexting. As with technologies at least as far back as the telegraph, much of this anxiety has focused specifically on girls and women.

Help! Someone shared a photo of me without my consent! – Tip Sheet

1. You can start by asking the person who shared it to take it down or stop sharing it. Kids report that this works more often than not!
2. Ask the service or platform where it was shared to take it down. If you’re under 18, they may be required by law to take it down, and most also have a policy of taking down any photos that were shared without the subject’s permission.
   Cell Phones and Texting, Cyberbullying, Digital Citizenship, Gender Representation, Sexting, Sexual Exploitation, Social Networking

Teens Losing Sleep to Tech

As a kid, did you ever hide a flashlight under your pillow? Then pull it out after you were supposed to be asleep, so you could sneak in another half-hour of reading?

I did that. A lot.

Verifying Political Information - Introduction

There are four reasons why it’s especially important to engage critically with election news – and political news in general.

The Spotify Problem

We have a few smartphone rules in our house: no phones after 9:30 p.m., no phones at the dinner table or other family events, and no phones in bedrooms.

Authentication and citizenship

Being well-informed – and being careful to only share good information – are essential parts of being an active citizen in a democracy. It’s important to think before you share political information with family and friends – especially during an election.

How Do Canadians Get Their News?

If a news consumer reads a headline from The Globe and Mail while searching Google News, is the story from Google or The Globe? What about if a friend posts the story on Facebook; is the story from the friend, Facebook or The Globe? How can the complexities of what is meant by “source” in a converged news environment be accounted for?

Sorting Fact from Fiction

The changes in how news is consumed (and produced) described above have also made it harder to verify if a particular news item is accurate – and made it easier for misinformation to be spread, either intentionally or unintentionally.

Decoding the News

“Be skeptical, not cynical.” Lori Robertson, managing editor of Factcheck.org