Digital Media Experiences are Shaped by the Tools We Use: The Disconnection Challenge

In this lesson, students consider the role of technology and media in their lives and then spend a week either tracking or limiting their media use. They then share their experiences and discuss how the ways that digital media tools are made may cause us to use them differently (or simply more often). Finally, students draw on those insights to create a mindful media use plan. In an optional extension activity, they interview other students for a video exploring their experiences and reflections over the course of the project.

Quebec Competencies Chart - Finding Balance in Our Digital Lives

Quebec Competencies Chart - Digital Media Experiences are Shaped by the Tools We Use: The Disconnection Challenge

Level: Grades 7 to 12
Lesson Length: This lesson takes place over two weeks, with roughly three hours class time mandatory and an additional two to six hours for the optional media production activity.
Subject Area: Digital Health, internet & mobile, media production

Media Literacy Week 2023 kicks off, bringing with it Digital Citizen Day

October 23, 2023 –  With the rise of AI-generated deepfakes and an increase in online hate and harassment, people of all ages need to be equipped with the skills to navigate and contribute positively to our complex media landscape. 

From Ethics and Empathy to Making and Remixing: Extending Digital Literacy to the Secondary Grades

For more than a decade, MediaSmarts has been a leader in defining digital literacy in Canada. This is reflected in the elementary digital literacy framework we launched in 2015. The Use, Understand & Create framework is based on a holistic approach which recognizes that the different skills that make up digital literacy cannot be fully separated. 

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Ottawa, ON — February 9, 2026 — MediaSmarts has sent an open letter to 10 federal decision-makers, including the Prime Minister and senior Cabinet ministers, urging the Government of Canada to develop a National Strategy for Digital Media Literacy.

Prince Edward Island government to put digital literacy programs to all schools

Ottawa, ON (Sept 30, 2014) – MediaSmarts is pleased to announce that the Prince Edward Island Department of Education and Early Childhood Development has licensed its series of digital literacy resources for all teachers and classrooms in the province.

Shaw Communications commits to healthy kids in a digital world as a Platinum Sponsor of MediaSmarts

February 25, 2015 (Ottawa) – MediaSmarts, a leading Canadian centre for digital and media literacy, is pleased to welcome Shaw Communications Inc. as its first Platinum sponsor. The Platinum Sponsorship represents a $75,000 contribution in 2015 to the charitable organization.

USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE: A Digital Media Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools - Overview

USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE provides a road map for teaching digital media literacy skills in Canadian schools. The framework draws on nine framework topics of digital media literacy and provides teachers with supporting lessons and interactive resources that are linked to curriculum outcomes for every province and territory.

Alberta students to acquire digital literacy skills through new online game

March 8, 2010, Ottawa - Media Awareness Network (MNet) announced today that Alberta Education has licensed its award-winning interactive game – Passport to the Internet: Student tutorial for Internet literacy (Grades 4-8) – making the resource available to 1,800 elementary and middle schools in the province.