Is it back to school already? Well, not quite — or at least not for everyone. But I do know a lot of educators out there are starting to think about and plan what they will be teaching this fall.
I'm not sure how many readers of the digest are teachers, but I imagine most of you know a teacher or two. So, I'm asking you to forward this article to them so that they are aware of a bunch of really excellent resources available to them to help educate children and youth about privacy in Canada.
First, the most recent additions to the curriculum come from the Information and Privacy Commissioner's Office of Ontario. The IPC has released four classroom-ready lesson plans to help educators teach students in Grades 2 through 8 about why privacy is important and how to protect their privacy online. They're designed to be used along with the IPC's "Privacy Pursuit!" activity booklet which is filled with word searches, crossword puzzles, thought-provoking questions and other fun activities for learning about privacy. Visit here for more information.
For a slightly older youth audience, you can also check out the lesson plans for grades 6 to 12 that the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada put out over the last few years on a variety of important privacy topics. They can easily be accessed here.
You know, there are others doing really great work in this area. University of Ottawa professor Val Steeves and her team at the eQuality project have also created a bunch of great lesson plans, which you can find here. For those of you who don't know, it is a partnership of scholars, research and policy institutes, policymakers, educators, community organizations and youth. Their educational materials: aim to help young Canadians make the most of their digital media experiences; are grounded in needs and desires identified by youth themselves; are responsive to programming; and fill educational gaps identified by partners based on their on-the-ground experience.
So, there you have it. Tons of incredible resources for Canada's educators, many of which have been developed with MediaSmarts and others, to help teach our children and youth about privacy-related topics. I am personally not ready for school to begin. Where the heck did the summer go? Anyway, privacy pros, please help me spread the word by forwarding this to the teachers in your lives.
Thanks and have a good weekend.