Digital Literacy 101 For Teachers

How can teachers equip their students to successfully and ethically navigate the digital world?

What is Digital Media Literacy?

Media are all around us. From the TV we watch and the advertisements we see to the social media sites we use and the news we read. Our digitally connected world is constantly changing how we play, learn and interact with each other.

Digital Outreach for Community Engagement

This lesson asks students, in groups, to take their issue and solution to the streets. In order to enact real change through action for the benefit of the larger community, each chosen topic will need to be exposed to and understood by other members of the community. In this lesson, students will design a community outreach promotional campaign in order to effect real change that matters to them. If the students have completed the Digital Storytelling for Community Engagement lesson and have created their own Digital Story, this digital project can be used as the starting point/product with which to share with others. If not, groups of students can create a hypothetical solution to an existing problem, which then could be disseminated to the larger community using their designed outreach strategy. 

Digital Storytelling for Community Engagement

In groups, students will create a Digital Story which addresses a topic, theme or issue that is affecting them.  All stages of production will be covered, including research, storyboarding their idea into a visual organizational layout, practicing capturing quality photographs and interviews, and finally weaving their Digital Story into a finished project using computer editing software.

Why Teach Digital Media Literacy?

Today's definition of literacy is more than reading and writing. In order to be functionally literate in our media-saturated world, children and young people—in fact, all of us—have to be able to read the messages that daily inform us, entertain us and sell to us. Media literacy education, therefore, must begin long before children become print literate to prepare them to critically engage with the media they consume.

Back to school in the digital age

OTTAWA, Aug. 31, 2017 – Back to school for today’s teenagers looks a lot different than it used to. On top of new classes and friends, they might also be exploring new social media networks, online relationships or digital personas.

Being a positive digital citizen

Now is a good time to think about how we are creating, curating and engaging with online content.  

Digital Citizen Day is October 25, 2023, and Media Literacy Week is October 23-27, 2023. MediaSmarts is focusing on spreading positivity online as a part of their campaign.

DigitalSmarts: Explore Digital Parenting

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.

Digital Media Literacy Framework

Young Canadians need to be able to make good choices about privacy, ethics, safety and verifying information when they’re using digital media, and they need to be prepared to be active and engaged digital citizens. Based on our ground-breaking research on digital literacy education in Canada – and linked to existing curriculum outcomes for each province and territory – MediaSmarts’ model curriculum that provides a framework for integrating digital literacy in Canadian schools. The framework draws on our research to identify nine essential skill topics that students need to know and provides resources in each category and at every grade level.