In time for Safer Internet Day, new resources to fight cyber bullying

Today is Safer Internet Day, an annual international event sponsored by Insafe to promote a safer Internet for children. Recent research on Internet life has shown that the greatest threat to kids online comes from kids themselves, both in the form of risky behaviour and online harassment, or cyber bullying. Cyber bullying can take forms such as harassing e-mails or text messages, social exclusion and spreading private photos and videos, among others, and presents a particular challenge for parents and teachers because it often happens outside the home or classroom. Because the Internet has become an essential part of kids' social lives, cyber bullying can also have more devastating effects as youth feel they have no escape.

Something to think about during your next family movie night!

My last post here was about balancing screen time over the summer months. This is something I’ve been giving a lot of thought, and I can summarize my feelings on the matter this way: my personal aim is to decrease the amount of time that my kids consume utter dreck**, and balance other free time with good quality viewing that we can enjoy as a family.

The Most Toys

Summer is officially upon us, and with it comes the usual lineup of blockbuster movies. Along with the usual cast of superheroes, spies and sexagenarian, whip-cracking archaeologists comes a somewhat unusual hero: Wall-E, the nearly mute robot protagonist of the film of the same name.

The Environment Canada hoax: a news story that's full of hot air

If anyone still doubts that youth need to learn how to evaluate online information, those doubts should have been dispelled by a recent hoax perpetrated by the group called the Yes Men. This group, which has a history of staging fake press conferences, decided to draw attention to Canada's position at the Copenhagen conference on climate change by creating a number of fake Web sites purporting to be, among others, the Copenhagen summit site, the Wall Street Journal, and Environment Canada's site. While it didn't take long for Environment Canada to make a statement exposing the hoax, by that time many journalists had reported the story as fact and the story had been widely distributed by wire services.

Parents’ Guide to Cyberbullying

For most youth, the Internet is all about socializing and while most of these social interactions are positive, increasing numbers of kids are using the technology to intimidate and harass others – a phenomenon known as cyberbullying.

The Prime Minister’s Awards Program

Best Teaching Practices Released!

Submitted by the Prime Minister’s Awards team 

The Prime Minister’s Awards (PMA) for Teaching Excellence has just released their latest Exemplary Practices publication highlighting the innovative ideas and proven best practices of the 2014 national level winners.

Managing Your Family’s Media Time in a World of Screens

This year marks the 20^th anniversary of Screen-Free Week (May 4^th to 10^th), and it’s striking to consider just how our relationship with screen media has changed in that time.

Privacy Pirates

​When we think about the privacy risks that youth face online, we tend to think in terms of teens and tweens oversharing on cell phones and social networks. Increasingly, though, children are facing privacy issues younger and younger: according to a 2014 study from the UK, kids aged 13-14 said they were eight and a half years old when they first went online, kids aged 11-12 said they were eight and kids aged nine to ten said they had gone online when they were just six years old.^[1] 

Mark your calendars for Media Literacy Week 2015!

This November 2-6, students, educators, parents and community organizations across the country will join MediaSmarts and the Canadian Teachers' Federation (CTF) in marking Canada’s 10th annual Media Literacy Week (#medlitweek).

New tool from Twitter for combatting trolls

One of the challenges of being a parent in a digital age is (a) keeping up with all the new tools and websites and social media channels our kids may or may not be using and (b) keeping track of new developments and updates within existing tools. Honestly, sometimes it feels like I’m trapped inside a 21st century hamster wheel!