Experts or Amateurs? Gauging Young Canadians’ Digital Literacy Skills: How Canadian Youth Use, Understand and Create Digital Med

It’s been almost fifteen years since Mark Prensky coined the term “digital native” to describe young people who have grown up with the Internet and digital media. In fact, the children who were born the year Prensky’s book was published are now in high school. While for many, the public perception of young people taking to digital platforms like ducks to water persists – accompanied by the image of adults, particularly parents, who are seen (often by themselves) as hopelessly out of their depth – the question remains how close that image is to reality. Are Canadian youth truly digitally literate? And if they are not "digital natives" who effortlessly acquire their skills on their own or from peers, are students learning what they need from their parents or teachers?

CIRA and Media Awareness Network Launch Guide to Avoiding Risks Online

April 4, 2011 (Ottawa) – The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), in partnership with Media Awareness Network (MNet), is proud to introduce a Cyber Security Consumer Tip Sheet, a guide to avoiding risks online.

As the Internet has become a ubiquitous part of our daily lives, so too have the number and severity of potential risks we face each day. With increasing accessibility to digital technologies, Internet literacy programs are, now more than ever, essential to protecting Internet users and their computers.

MediaSmarts welcomes new Executive Director Kathryn Ann Hill

Ms. Hill will champion digital and media literacy for the next generation of Canadian parents, teachers and youth

OTTAWA, July 5, 2018 – MediaSmarts, Canada’s centre for digital and media literacy, is excited to announce Kathryn Ann Hill as its next Executive Director. She replaces Cathy Wing and Jane Tallim, who are retiring from their roles as co-executive directors after more than 25 years of service to the organization.

New media education resources

Two new media education resources crossed our desk recently: Totally Wired by Anastasia Goodstein and Children's Learning in a Digital World, edited by Teena Willoughby and Eileen Wood. While they are extremely different, both are useful additions to any media education library.

Fear Factor

Halloween is perhaps the most contradictory of the major holidays. Though born in Ireland and other Celtic regions, today it is almost exclusively observed in the form that developed in North America; though closely associated with the imagination, it has been thoroughly commercialized, becoming an opportunity for children to buy costumes and then acquire candy (today it is the second largest commercial holiday in the US, after Christmas); and finally, though it is the holiday most closely associated with children, it is also one that has, traditionally, been all about fear.

How to tell fact from fake online: A Reality Check Guide

The internet is like a giant library that catalogues millions of new publications every second. But how do you know if what you’re reading is fiction or non-fiction?

Where no Eagles soar

This winter the Olympics return to Canada for the first time since the Calgary games of 1988. For many people, the most vivid memories of that Olympiad are the colourful stories of some of the less accomplished athletes, such as British ski jumper Michael “Eddie the Eagle” Edwards and the members of the Jamaican bobsled team. It's unlikely, though, that there will be any charming underdogs in this year's Olympiad, as the games become more and more the province of professionals. As audiences and advertising revenues drop, however, will the professionalization of the Games spell their downfall?

Wikiwars

With all the recent attention focused on stories of teenagers charged with distributing child pornography for taking sexually suggestive pictures of themselves, jobs lost due to Facebook and MySpace entries, and libel suits over blog posts, people are justifiably concerned about the permanence of material posted to the Internet. Many a teacher or parent has had to carefully explain to children or teens that whatever they post online might be seen by people other than the intended audience, and might be out there for a very long time.

Watching the elections

Joe McGinniss’ book The Selling of the President had a shocking title for 1968, suggesting as it did that in the television age the presidency had become nothing more than another product to be packaged and sold. MediaSmarts’ resource, Watching the Elections (a lesson for Grades 8-12), shines a light on how the different aspects of an election – from the debates to political ads to the candidates themselves – are actually media products.

Outcome Chart - Manitoba - Science 8