THE PROJECT
With the rise of misinformation and disinformation on the internet, the skills needed to recognize and counter false information has become a critical component of digital literacy education for youth and was a concern for McGill’s Faculty of Education. Researchers met with teachers and students at the elementary, CEGEP and university levels to assess their digital literacy development needs, factoring in students’ six core digital literacy skills (photo-visual, reproduction, branching, information, socio-emotional, and real-time).
COMMUNITY IMPACT
The results were used to develop handbooks and training programs for teachers designed to foster students’ digital literacy skills at each level of education. The success of the program found that both teachers and students substantially improved their ability to responsibly engage with information on the internet and became significantly more aware of disinformation tactics, with over 500 students receiving training in the first year.
RELATED LINKS
- Check out CIRA’s blog, CIRA’s Grants can help fight disinformation
- Visit the Faculty of Education
