Media Literacy Week: Protecting and empowering students in the digital age

Guest blog by Patricia Kosseim, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario  

What an Internet Outage Means for Teens

We had an internet outage in our neighbourhood last week. We had no internet access for three whole days.

Quebec Competencies Chart - Shaking the Movers: Youth Rights and Media

Quebec Competencies Chart - Shaking the Movers: Youth Rights and Media

Quebec Competencies Chart – There’s no excuse: confronting moral disengagement in sexting

Author: MediaSmarts and TELUS
Level: Grades 11-12
Lesson Length: 1 hour, plus time for assessment and evaluation activity
Subject Area: English Language Arts, Visual Art, Drama, Ethics and Religious Culture
Lesson Link: https://mediasmarts.ca/teacher-resources/there’s-no-excuse-confronting-moral-disengagement-sexting

Ontario - English 9 (ENL1W)

This outcome chart contains media-related learning outcomes from the Ontario, Curriculum for English, Grade 9, with links to supporting resources on the MediaSmarts site.

Outcome Chart - Ontario - Computer Engineering Technology, Grade 12 University/College Preparation (TEJ4M)

Technology, The Environment, and Society

Overall Expectations

C2. analyse societal issues related to the widespread use of computers and associated technologies.

Specific Expectations

C2.1 assess the benefits of computer and electronic technology for society (e.g., improved access to technology for economically disadvantaged people and nations; greater efficiency and lower costs for information services; development of a “global village”; software that can help monitor or predict changes in wetland area, deforestation, and climate);

Digital Media Literacy Framework - Grades 7-8

Given their increasing use of the Internet to find information, now is also a good time to introduce strategies for determining authorship and authority of online information so they can recognize good health information, biased or hateful content, and online scams and hoaxes.

At this age media influences on gender norms and body image are becoming more intense. Children need to learn to apply key media literacy concepts to online spaces such as social networks.

Outcome Chart – Prince Edward Island – Integrated Curricula 5

Inquiry Skills

Overall Expectations:

GCO 1: Students will be expected to develop inquiry skills through a process of initiating and planning, investigating and exploring, analysing and interpreting, and communicating the results of an inquiry.

Specific Expectations:

IS 1.1 initiate and plan an inquiry.

IS 1.2 investigate and explore in an inquiry.

IS 1.3 analyze and interpret the results of their inquiry.

IS 1.4 effectively communicate the results of their inquiry.

MediaSmarts Launches New Online Course for Teachers

OTTAWA – MediaSmarts, Canada’s not-for-profit centre for digital literacy, has launched a new free, self-directed online course for in-service and pre-service teachers and other educators. Making Media Across the Curriculum will provide training and resources to incorporate digital media production such as games, film, and animation in their classrooms from kindergarten to Grade 12 and across the curriculum.