Saskatchewan – Media Studies 20
This outcome chart features links to MediaSmarts lessons and activities that support the learning objectives for Media Studies 20.

This outcome chart features links to MediaSmarts lessons and activities that support the learning objectives for Media Studies 20.

Quick, easy strategies can keep false news from spreading

In this lesson, students learn the concept of the Dual-Shield Defense for cybersecurity: The Outer Shield (Technical Perimeter Defenses): Automatic, structural blocks that prevent risks from ever reaching a user's account or device. This includes DNS (domain name system) filtering tools such as CIRA Canadian Shield, ad blockers, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and device-level Stolen Device or Theft Protection. The Inner Shield (Human Cognitive Verification): Active mental habits that allow users to spot, analyze, and neutralize scams that get past the outer shield. This includes detecting psychological triggers (Urgency, Fear, Authority, Secrecy), applying the "Take Five, Tell Two" rule, and using robust offline verification protocols.

My middle daughter, age 13, read the novel The Outsiders last year. She loved it, and like any good mom who was raised in the 1980s, I bought her a DVD copy of the classic movie. She loved the film version, too.

This outcome chart contains media-related learning outcomes from the British Columbia, Level 5, Literacy Foundations English Language Arts curriculum, with links to supporting resources on the MediaSmarts site.

With the tremendous success and spread of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, along with home-broadcasting sites such as YouTube and Flickr, many people have become concerned about what effect they will have on our attitudes towards privacy. Now a new question has arisen: whether Facebook postings violate the Youth Criminal Justice Act if they identify suspects or victims covered under the act.

There have been four main approaches to integrating digital media literacy into the curriculum.[1] The first, infusion, makes digital media literacy an integrated part of the inquiry process. The second, integration, makes digital and/or media into its own, separate subject, or gives it a prominent place within an existing subject: media literacy was first brought into the Ontario curriculum in Ontario following this approach in 1989 as one of the four strands of English Language Arts, on a par (at least in theory) with Reading, Writing and Listening.[2] The third, cross-curricular competencies, identifies digital media literacy competencies as “not something to be added to the literacy curriculum, but a lens for learning that it is an integral part of all classroom practice”[3]; and the last, dispersion, locates them within various grades and subjects without any overall design.[4]

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

By Susana Mas, TFCN Manager
The Teen Fact-Checking Network (TFCN) is an internationally renowned program that brings together teenagers to learn about digital media literacy with a focus on fact-checking skills.