Policy Backgrounder: Digital Citizenship in Ontario Curriculum Policy A Brief History

In 1987, the Ministry of Education of Ontario was the first province to develop ‘media education’ for grades 7-12, constituting ten percent of their English curriculum. In 1995, that curriculum was extended to elementary grades 1-8, and then further updated in 2006 as a new strand which gave media literacy the same weight and attention as oral communication, reading, and writing (MediaSmarts, 2018).

In 1998, North America was introduced to Google. In 2003 we were introduced to Myspace, then in 2004 we were introduced to Facebook, and in 2006 we were introduced to Twitter. Within a span of 10 years, our fundamental methods of communication were permanently altered. It is my opinion that it became incredibly apparent to all governments that education and economic policies would have to be updated to reflect the omni-present digital landscape we had created.

Despite these world-changing realities, the use of the internet was mentioned only 18 times in the 2006 updated version of the literacy curriculum for Ontario (Ministry of Education, 2006), but the terms ‘social media’ and ‘digital literacy’ were not included. Despite the already prevalent use of Google, Yahoo, and other online search engines at the time, the reference to the internet was in the form of ‘sites’ and ‘media texts,’ as well as safety recommendations or restrictive strategies for young users in the Ministry of Education’s Ontario Language Curriculum Grades 1-8 (Ministry of Education, 2006, p. 29).

In 2008, the ministry published a curriculum guide document, titled ‘A guide to effective literacy instruction, grades 4-6; volume seven, Media Literacy.’ This document was a change slight improvement from the 2006 curriculum, mentioning the internet 32 times, but uses dated language like ‘chat room’ and ‘video sharing websites.’ The updated document defines the internet almost as an after-thought in its definition of the media:

“’The Media’ or ‘Mass Media’ are all forms of communication- audio, visual, audio-visual, print, and electronic – designed to reach a very wide audience. They include (but are not limited to) radio, television, movies, newspapers, magazines, mass-market paperbacks, billboards, bus signs, direct mail, and the Internet.” (Ministry of Education, 2008, p. 11).

What is Digital Citizenship?

Digital Citizenship has over a dozen definitions, but the most commonly used include concepts such as communication, creativity, critical thinking, safety, taking responsibility, and prioritizing honesty (MediaSmarts, Common Sense Media, OSAPAC). Digital Citizenship includes literacy as a fundamental skill, but also incorporates the components of citizenship, humanity, and civility to ensure that each internet user is approaching the platform from an authentically human place.

In 2010, the federal government of Canada released ‘Digital Canada 150: Building digital skills for tomorrow,’ which outlined digital literacy as a major element in economic development for the country, and made recommendations for each province to develop digital literacy curriculum and to prioritize funding for digital infrastructure improvements. This recommendation created a major ripple-effect in provincial education, with several ministries of education creating province-wide curriculum policy in response to the federal recommendations (Hadziristic, 2018). This publication was followed by a report from the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity (2016), as referenced in the Brookfield Institute report ‘The State of Digital Literacy in Canada by Tea Hadziristic (2018). The Ontario government chose another strategy, involving further amendments to their existing literacy curriculum, and making policy ‘suggestions’ for each school board to develop their own digital literacy and digital citizenship curriculum.

It is my opinion that this decision by the provincial government to not standardize digital citizenship curriculum can be considered the critical point when equity, resources, and accommodations were no longer part of the curriculum design process. Asking all boards (with varying resources and individual problems of their own) to develop costly, research-based curriculum documents without any baseline for reference effectively created a hierarchy of school boards, with the wealthiest and resource-laden able to create programs and providing support to schools while the rest continue to struggle to catch up. The most concerning trend was the equity-blind BYOD (bring your own device) policy adopted by some boards, despite their best efforts to pair it with a board level Digital Citizenship Policy (Peel District School Board, 2013).

A few Ontario Ministry policy documents have been published since the 2010 federal recommendation that address the changing landscape of digital learning, including the ‘Achieving Excellence’ policy from 2014 and the ‘Literacy for a Connected World’ publication from 2015. The ‘Literacy for a Connected World’ publication has half a page dedicated to digital citizenship curriculum recommendations, and the content is taken directly from the OSAPAC (Ontario Software Acquisition Program Advisory) website which has not been updated since 2014.

As of 2020, there are only two websites dedicated to explicit digital citizenship curriculum recommendations for Ontario, and neither of them are the Ontario Ministry of Education. MediaSmarts and OSAPAC continue to be the two main resources for digital literacy curriculum for the Ontario, however there is some digital citizenship material available in the Ontario Health and Physical Education Curriculum, published in 2019.

The only two Ontario-specific policies around use of digital devices were the cellphone policy ban for classrooms, which was put into effect in November of 2019, and the somewhat contradictory mandatory e-learning that is currently being contested as of 2020. While e-learning was developed in 2006 and improved in 2013 as a strategy to reduce barriers and improve access to coursework, enforcing mandatory e-learning effectively reverses the purpose of improving accessibility for students, (Ministry of Education, 2013).

Why is this important?

It is 2020, and the province of Ontario does not have a curriculum policy dedicated to digital citizenship for our education system. Ensuring that our children know how to use the internet as an ethical, responsible, and informed way is essential, and we do not have an accepted standard available for educators and parents. Existing documents cannot agree on a definition of digital citizenship or digital literacy (OSAPAC and MediaSmarts), and there are no top-down provincially standardized curriculum documents for what should be included in a child’s education. In most of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, there have been exceptional resources developed for teachers and policymakers to create evolving curriculum documents (see hyperlinks). It is my opinion that Ontario has not prioritized these skills as part of our curriculum, and this has already created a divide between students that have access the resources to navigate this technology, and those who do not. It is my believe that there are very real short-term and long-term effects to not having foundational skills in a 21st century reality. If we do not provide youth, parents, and educators with the skills and training needed to use our digital platforms effectively, we are doing our province and our future a disservice.

Questions for online dialogue:

• Have you been involved in any discussions about or initiatives addressing digital citizenship?

• What do you wish you had been taught as a student about the digital world?

• What initiatives have you been involved in, seen, or heard about that you think are good ways to prepare students for the digital future?

• As an educator, what digital citizenship curriculum policies are you aware of?

References:

Common Sense Media. (unknown). What is Digital Citizenship? Retrieved from: https://www.commonsense.org/education/videos/what-is-digital-citizenship

Dina Al-Shibeeb for the York Region. (2019). Does the Upcoming Cellphone Ban in Ontario Make Sense?
Retrieved from: https://www.yorkregion.cows-story/9658115-does-the-upcoming-cellphone-ban-in-ontario-classrooms-make-sense-/

Government of Canada. (2010). Digital Canada 150: Building digital skills for tomorrow. Retrieved from: http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/028.nsf/eng/00041.html#discussionquestions

Hadziristic, T. (2018). The State of Digital Literacy: A Literature Review. The Brookfield Institute. Retrieved from: https://brookfieldinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/BrookfieldInstitute_State-of-Digital-Literacy-in-Canada_Literature_WorkingPaper.pdfMediaSmarts (2018). Media Education in Ontario.  Retrieved from: http://mediasmarts.ca/teacher-resources/digital-media-literacy-outcomes-province-territory/media-education-ontario

Ministry of Education. (2006). The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8, Language (revised) 2006. Queen’s Printer for Ontario.

Ministry of Education. (2008). A Guide to Effective Literacy Instruction, Grades 4-6; Volume Seven, Media Literacy. Queen’s Printer for Ontario.

Ministry of Education. (2013). Provincial e-learning Strategy Master User Agreement. Queen’s Printer for Ontario. Retrieved from: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/elearning/MasterUserAgreement.pdf

Ministry of Education. (2008). A Guide to Effective Literacy Instruction, Grades 4-6; Volume Seven, Media Literacy. Queen’s Printer for Ontario.

Ministry of Education. (2014). Technology in Classrooms Helping Students to Succeed: New Funds Will Improve Access to Leading-Edge Learning Tools. Retrieved from: https://news.ontario.ca/edu/en/2014/09/technology-in-classrooms-helping-students-succeed.html

Ministry of Education. (2014). Achieving Excellence: A renewed Vision for Education in Ontario. Queen’s Printer for Ontario.

Ministry of Education. (2015). Literacy for Connected World. Queen’s Printer for Ontario.

Ministry of Education. (2019). The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8: Health and Physical Education, 2019. Queen’s Printer for Ontario.

Ontario Software Acquisition Program Advisory. (2014). Digital Citizenship.
Retrieved from: https://www.osapac.ca/dc/

Peel District School Board. (2013). Digital Citizenship.

Retrieved from: http://peelschools.org/aboutus/21stCentury/byod/digcitizenship/Pages/default.aspx