From Access to Engagement: Building a Digital Media Literacy Strategy for Canada

In February 2022, MediaSmarts hosted a symposium that brought together key stakeholders and community partners from across Canada who share an interest in developing and implementing a national digital media literacy strategy. This report summarizes the discussions that took place at the symposium along with key findings from an environmental scan of existing national and international digital media literacy strategies.

Youth and Digital Skills Symposium: Preparing young Canadians to make social, economic and cultural contributions

To explore the critical issue of promoting the importance of essential digital literacy and skills for Canadian youth, a one-day invitation-only Symposium was organized by the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) and MediaSmarts in Ottawa on February 10, 2014. This summary report -- Youth and Digital Skills Symposium: Preparing young Canadians to make social, economic and cultural contributions -- encapsulates “what we heard”. It frames the challenges and opportunities and suggests ways forward as captured by the organizers.

Young Canadians in a Wired World, Phase III: Sexuality and Romantic Relationships in the Digital Age

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.

Young Canadians in a Wired World, Phase III: Encountering Racist and Sexist Content Online

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. Encountering Racist and Sexist Content Online (the sixth in a series of reports from the survey) looks at how often Canadian youth are exposed to prejudice online, how it makes them feel and how they respond to it.

Young Canadians in a Wired World, Phase III: Trends and Recommendations

This is the final report in a series of nine from the Young Canadian in a Wired World: Phase III study. The Trends and Recommendations report brings together the findings from interviews with children, teens, parents and teachers and a national survey of students in grades 4 to 11, which took place between 2012 and 2013. It offers recommendations for parents, teachers and policy makers to support young people in meeting the challenges of growing up in the digital age. It also includes an analysis of students’ top 50 favourite websites and profiles of students’ online activities organized by grade.

Mapping Digital Literacy Policy and Practice in the Canadian Education Landscape

To develop the Use, Understand & Create framework, we needed to first explore the digital literacy skills Canadian youth were already learning in different provinces and territories. Our discussion paper Mapping Digital Literacy Policy and Practice in the Canadian Landscape draws on policy and curriculum documents from across the country to synthesize key concepts and best practices in current digital literacy education. The discussion paper was made possible by financial contributions from Google Canada.

Young Canadians’ Experiences with Electronic Bullying

Although there has been research on offline bullying and the role of peers, there is limited research on peer intervention for online bullying. Researchers have expressed concerns that cyberbullying and online harassment might increase negative bystander behaviours because of the physical distance and the perceived anonymity of online communication. To better understand the relationship between peer intervention and electronic bullying amongst Canadian youth, MediaSmarts partnered with PREVNet and TELUS to examine the factors that influence the likelihood of young people intervening in online bullying scenarios; the helpfulness of different ways of intervening, and the motivation and barriers to intervening.

Connected to Learn: Teachers’ Experiences with Networked Technologies in the Classroom

To help understand how networked technologies are impacting teachers and their teaching practices, in 2015 MediaSmarts partnered with the Canadian Teachers’ Federation to survey 4,043 K-12 teachers and school administrators who were teaching in classroom settings across the country. The survey explored the extent to which networked technologies are available in the classroom, the ways teachers are using networked technologies to support learning, the knowledge and skills teachers have developed to make the most of networked technologies as learning tools and creative uses of networked technologies for learning activities.

Digital Youth Summit 2015

To better understand the skills young Canadians need as citizens and future workers in the digital age, MediaSmarts and the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) hosted a national Digital Youth Summit in Ottawa (October 22-23, 2015) to hear directly from secondary students on this topic. This report provides an overview of the important themes raised and discussed by the students during panel discussions, brainstorming sessions, Speakers’ Corner, and through evaluation forms.

Young Canadians Pushing Back Against Hate Online

MediaSmarts conducted a survey of 1,000 youth ages 12 to 16 years old to better understand their attitudes and experiences with casual prejudice online; specifically, the motivations and external factors that influence their decisions whether or not to intervene. Study results uncover that youth experiences with online casual prejudice are common yet many youth do not respond because they don’t know what to do to make a difference. This research is a call for more effective interventions that will prepare, engage, and empower youth to push back against hate online.