Critical Digital Literacy Education Guide

2 Today’s digital media landscape can leave users frustrated about which sources to trust. Because an informed public is essential to a strong democracy, our civic health depends on analyzing the media we consume with critical thinking skills. This guide is intended as a resource to provide a framework that readers can use to weigh the sources, facts, and opinions that bombard them every day. Long before the rise of digital and social media, disinformation and manipulation have been woven into the fabric of Canadian politics. Courting public opinion through half-truths, embellishment, omission, and disinformation is a key tool of political and social persuasion. The difference today is that the internet allows anyone to appear to be an expert, and deciding who and what is reliable becomes increasingly challenging. Furthermore, local and international voices have learned to manipulate public opinion through trolls (people), bots (machines), and social media to distort the truth and circulate falsehoods. Drawing on historical examples of disinformation, we provide a media literacy framework for addressing 21st-century media. Wartime propaganda posters, covert government campaigns against Black immigration, and public alarm during the 2003 SARS outbreak offer fundamental lessons in visual language, infrastructure of information, and biases that can speak to our digital present. These historical examples can equip us to assess the content, quality, and consistency of what we read, see, and hear, even as technology continues to change how information is curated and circulated. We invite you to use this guide to empower students to examine the everyday media they consume with a critical eye and greater confidence. This guide complements provincial and territorial curricula in middle and high school history and social science classes. The framework presented in this guide includes four modules to help identify misinformation and “fake news.” Each module can be completed on its own; however, the four modules are interconnected and are best completed in order. Activities from each of the four sections build on one another and work together. Recommended articles mentioned throughout the guide (in bold ) can be accessed by visiting The Canadian Encyclopedia at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. All supplementary worksheets (noted in bold ) complementing this education guide can be downloaded on the Historica Canada Education Portal at education.historicacanada.ca/en/tools/645. The videos in the Critical Digital Literacy Video Series, “ The Last Best West , ” “ Wartime Propaganda Posters , ” and “ The SARS Outbreak , ” can be accessed by visiting Historica Canada’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/historicacanada . The following is a list of bilingual research resources to support educators and studies. This list is not exhaustive, and you may choose to seek out supplementary resources. The Canadian Encyclopedia Historica Canada Education Portal MediaSmarts Canadian War Museum Pier21 Museum Statistics Canada Introduction Message to teachers Understand the System What are digital media? How do algorithms and data influence digital media? Assess Channels and Bias Where are you consuming media? How are they reaching you? How do media and individual biases influence the content you encounter? Examine the Sources and Content Is it a reliable source? Is the author trustworthy? Is the headline emotionally provocative, or does it make outlandish claims? Is the content accurate? Check the Facts What are the facts? Where do they come from? Can they be corroborated and validated? The complicated nature of recorded history, curricular requirements, and space limitations do not allow us to provide a comprehensive analysis of Canadian media history. This learning tool is designed to cultivate fundamental media literacy, and we encourage teachers to create opportunities for students to practice those critical thinking skills with various forms of digital media. Historica Canada’s bilingual education guides are developed in collaboration with history educators, academic historians, and community stakeholders in content creation and lesson planning. online resources Man uses smartphone (ImYanis/Shutterstock.com /594829253). Cover Images: Sir Wilfrid Laurier (Courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-001971). W.D. Scott, superintendent of immigration, signing letters (Still from “The Last Best West,” Historica Canada, 2019). G.W. Miller’s editorial in The Oklahoma Guide , 1911 (Courtesy The Gateway to Oklahoma History and Oklahoma Historical Society). Radio receiver (Africa Studio/Shutterstock.com/735197473). Petition signed by residents of Edmonton and Strathcona urging the Canadian government to prevent further Black immigration, 1911 (Courtesy Library and Archives Canada/R1206-127-4-E). A Black Oklahoman family reads the newspaper (Still from “The Last Best West,” Historica Canada, 2019). Second World War Canadian propaganda poster (Courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-033620). Immigration officials draft a document (Still from “The Last Best West,” Historica Canada, 2019). Pedestrians walk by a TV news broadcast (Still from “The SARS Outbreak,” Historica Canada, 2019). W.D. Scott signs letters (Still from “The Last Best West,” Historica Canada, 2019). Note to Educators : Accommodations for Special Education, ELL, and ESL students are included under the appropriate sections and identified as “modifications.” Many of the activities in this guide require more advanced reading skills. Consider pairing ELL students with stronger readers.