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.
Representations of violence aren’t new. In fact, violence has been a key part of media since the birth of literature: Ancient Greek poetry and drama often portrayed murder, suicide and self-mutilation; many of Shakespeare’s plays revel in violence, torture, maiming, rape, revenge and psychological terror; and some of the most popular books of the 19th century were “penny dreadfuls” that delivered blood, gore and other shocks to the lowest common denominator.
Sports media also contributes to the construction of masculinity in contemporary society.
Author: Lauren Middlemiss and Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts. The PushBack Timeline was developed and written by Robert Porter as part of The eQuality Project.
Level: Secondary Cycle One and Two
Duration: 1½ to 2 hours class time
Subject Area: English Language Arts, Visual Arts, Ethics and Religious Culture
Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts
Level: Grades 6-9
Lesson Length: 1.5 hours, plus time for the evaluation/assessment task
Subject Area: English language Arts, Visual Arts, Ethics and Religious Culture
Lesson Link: https://mediasmarts.ca/teacher-resources/break-fake-lesson-plan-verifying-information-online
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.
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]
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