by Anita Brooks Kirkland
Advocating for Digital Media Literacy: A Comprehensive Approach
This article was written for publication in Synergy, the journal of the School Library Association of Victoria, Australia. Published on the TMCanada blog and the CSL Research Archive with permission.
Abstract
This article summarizes key points in the recent research report published by MediaSmarts (Brisson-Boivin, K. & McAleese, S., 2022), From Access to Engagement: A Digital Media Literacy Strategy for Canada. Representing Canadian School Libraries, Anita attended the MediaSmarts stakeholder symposium that informed this report. Participants in the stakeholder symposium emphasized the importance of supporting community-based programs for all ages and audiences, but we were also reminded that students’ right to education means they also have a right to digital media literacy instruction in school. At the same time, data from MediaSmarts’ Young Canadians in a Wired World studies indicate that students feel they do not receive this instruction consistently. Anita’s article takes up that point, and proposes strategies for school library learning commons programs to address the inequities highlighted by MediaSmarts’ research.
MediaSmarts Report Key Points and Takeaways
Full Report: Brisson-Boivin, K. & McAleese, S. (2022). From Access to Engagement: A Digital Media Literacy Strategy for Canada. MediaSmarts. Ottawa.
MediaSmarts’ Director of Education Matthew Johnson presented this report at TMC7.
Anita Brooks Kirkland is the Chair of Canadian School Libraries and co-editor of CSL Journal. She is a past president of the Ontario Library Association and the Ontario School Library Association. Professional interests focus on information literacy, the virtual library, action research, and the role of the library learning commons. Anita draws on her extensive experience as a teacher-librarian and as a teacher educator, both in her previous roles as the library consultant for the Waterloo Region DSB and as an instructor in teacher-librarianship for the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.