McGill Expert: Canada’s prosperity will suffer without national plan for digital literacy

Story: Canada's leading digital literacy organization, Media Awareness Network (MNet), is sounding the alarm that Canada will continue to trail other countries in productivity and innovation unless a national plan for digital literacy is put in place.  In its submission to the Government of Canada's consultation on the digital economy, MNet asserts that there is a connection between Canada's declining performance in the digital economy and its failure to develop a digital literacy strategy.

MNet outlines several action items the government needs to take to support digital literacy in Canada, including the immediate steps of:

• creating a taskforce to develop a blueprint for a National Digital Literacy Strategy;
• supporting national research on the digital skills needed by Canadian children and youth; and
• facilitating a summit of key stakeholders to discuss implementation through the education, government, community, and job training sectors.

McGill expert: McGill University Prof. Michael Hoechsmann, Faculty of Education, Department of Integrated Studies in Education

Source: http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/corporate/media_kit/reports-publications.cfm