{"id":83444,"date":"2022-07-11T09:04:59","date_gmt":"2022-07-11T13:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=83444"},"modified":"2025-10-17T18:37:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T22:37:54","slug":"teaching-tweens-digital-literacy","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/teaching-tweens-digital-literacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Game On: Teaching Tweens Digital Literacy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Game On: Teaching Tweens Digital Literacy\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Phishing scams are everywhere \u2014 in your email, social media inbox and the texts on your phone. But most of the time, they’re pretty easy to spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Teaching students about phishing is very straightforward. Some emails have malicious links, and you don’t click them, even if they have a catchy title,” says Sana Maqsood, a postdoctoral researcher at Carleton’s Human Oriented Research in Usable Security<\/a> lab in the School of Computer Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sana
Postdoctoral researcher Sana Maqsood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Other topics are more nuanced and more challenging to teach young people. That’s why Maqsood developed a digital literacy video game that will be delivered in classrooms by MediaSmarts<\/a>, a national not-for-profit organization that aims to make children and youth active and informed digital citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“Consider data privacy,” says Maqsood.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

“Websites and social media collect information about you, and that information stays forever, even after you stop using them. It isn’t clear exactly what to do about this. It depends on the individual. I might choose to share a lot of information. A more privacy-conscious person might choose not to.”<\/p>\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n

Navigating Scenarios and Learning Consequences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The game, called A Day in the Life of the Jos<\/a>, does not guide players toward a single “correct” answer. Instead, it presents a scenario and a set of choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These scenarios deal with 25 different cyber security, privacy and digital literacy topics, and tweens navigate these scenarios using two characters \u2014 Joe and Josie. They make decisions and a news feed shows them the consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“In one scenario, Josie is on a field trip and takes a silly picture of a friend. She wants to post it on social media and the player has to choose whether to do that,” says Maqsood.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

“Josie could ask permission, but that will take time and the friend might not give it. Or she can post it right away \u2014 and the kids want to post it because they think it’s funny. But if they do, Josie’s friend gets upset and unfriends them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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