Lesson: Online Marketing: Protecting Your Privacy
This lesson introduces students to the ways in which commercial apps and websites collect personal information from kids and to the issues surrounding children and privacy on the Internet. Students begin by considering how comfortable they would be with people knowing various things about them, and then watch and discuss a video which explains how targeted advertising works. They then explore the idea of targeted advertising through a class exercise in which Prince Charming tries to target Cinderella with an ad for glass slippers, and then analyze how their own personal information might be used to target them with ads.
In the second part of the lesson, students are introduced to privacy policies and how they are rated by the website Terms of Service, Didn’t Read. They read and analyze the site’s rating for a popular app and then learn ways to limit data collection.
Grade range: 7-10
Time Frame
| One class period (75 minutes) | Two or three class periods (150-225 minutes) | Extended Unit |
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| Activities |
What Would People Think if They Knew… How Targeted Advertising Works Finding Cinderella The Target is You!
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What Would People Think if They Knew… How Targeted Advertising Works Finding Cinderella The Target is You! Grading Privacy Policies
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What Would People Think if They Knew…
How Targeted Advertising Works Finding Cinderella The Target is You! Grading Privacy Policies Privacy Audit Protecting Your Privacy |
Preparation:
- Make sure that you are able to show the embedded videos or that students are able to access the links.
- Make sure that students are able to access the interactive activities.
- If you have plan to have students create Digital Stories for the assessment activity, ensure they can access the Digital Story tool.
A printable version of this lesson is available on the MediaSmarts website.
Learning Outcomes
Big ideas/key concepts: Students will understand that…
Media have commercial considerations:
- Personal information is valuable to the companies that own apps and websites
Digital media have unanticipated audiences:
- You may be giving away more of your personal information than you are aware of when using apps
Digital media experiences are shaped by the tools we use:
- Features and defaults of apps’ design and interface can lead us to share more than we otherwise would.
Key questions:
- How does targeted advertising work?
- Why do apps and websites collect personal data?
- What do privacy policies mean?
- How can we control how our data is collected and used?
Common misunderstandings to correct: The presence of a privacy policy does not mean that a service does not collect data, it only lays out how the service may collect and use your data
Essential knowledge: Students will know…
- Privacy & security:
- How personal information is used an ad targeting
- Some possible impacts of data collection
- What privacy policies are
- Technical measures to limit data collection, including where and how to turn off ad targeting and tracking on popular apps
- Consumer awareness:
- How apps and other online platforms make money
- How and why online platforms use targeted advertising
- Key vocabulary: Data, targeted advertising, privacy policy , public service ad
Performance tasks: Students will be able to…
- Use: Identify how advertisers might target them using their personal information
- Understand: Evaluate a privacy policy
- Access: Take steps to limit data collection when using apps and websites
Student-friendly outcomes:
- We will learn how personal information is used for targeted advertising, what privacy policies mean, and how apps and websites make money by collecting our data.
- We will think about how targeted ads work, why companies collect our data, and how we can control what information is shared.
- We will identify how advertisers target us, evaluate privacy policies, and practice steps to limit data collection and ad tracking on apps and websites.
Curriculum Connections
Strand A: Literacy Connections and Applications
A1. Transferable Skills
A.2 Student Agency and Engagement
evaluate and explain how transferable skills help them to express their voice, be engaged in their learning, and implement a plan to develop their capabilities and potential
A2. Digital Media Literacy
A2.1 Digital Citizenship
evaluate and explain their rights and responsibilities when interacting online with appropriate permission, and make decisions that contribute positively to the development of their digital identity and those of their communities
A2.2 Online Safety, Well-Being, and Etiquette
demonstrate an understanding of how to navigate online environments safely, manage their privacy, personal data, and security, and interact in a way that supports their well-being and that of others, including seeking appropriate permission
A2.4 Forms, Conventions, and Techniques
evaluate the use of the various forms, conventions, and techniques of digital and media texts, consider the impact on the audience, and apply this understanding when analyzing and creating texts
A2.6 Innovation and Design
select and use appropriate digital and media tools to support the design process and address authentic, relevant, real-world problems by developing and proposing innovative solutions
Strand C: Comprehension: Understanding and Responding to Texts
C1. Knowledge About Texts
C1.3 Text Patterns and Features
compare the text patterns, such as compare and contrast in an expository essay, and text features, such as footnotes and copyright information, associated with different text forms, including cultural texts, and evaluate their importance in helping readers, listeners, and viewers understand the meaning
C2. Comprehension Strategies
C2.1 Prereading: Activating Prior Knowledge
identify and explain prior knowledge from various sources, including personal experiences and learning in other subject areas, that they can use to make connections and understand new texts
C2.2 Prereading: Identifying the Purpose for Reading, Listening, and Viewing
identify a variety of purposes for engaging with texts, select texts from diverse creators that are suitable for the purposes, and explain why the selections are appropriate
C2.5 Monitoring ofUnderstanding: Making Connections
connect, compare, and contrast the ideas expressed in texts and their knowledges and lived experiences, the ideas in other texts, and the world around them
C2.6 Summarizing: Identifying Relevant information and Drawing Conclusions
summarize and synthesize the important ideas and supporting details in complex texts, and draw effective conclusions
C2.7 Reflecting on Learning
explain and compare how various strategies, such as visualizing, making predictions, summarizing, and connecting to their experiences, have helped them comprehend various texts, and set goals for future improvement
C3. Critical Thinking in Literacy
C3.2 Making Inferences
make local and global inferences, using explicit and implicit evidence, to explain and support their interpretations about various complex texts
C3.3 Analyzing Texts
analyze complex texts, including literary and informational texts, by assessing the credibility, reliability, and significance of information and formulating conclusions
C3.8 Reflecting on Learning
assess the effectiveness of the critical thinking skills they used when analyzing and evaluating various texts, and set goals to improve their use
Strand D: Composition (Expressing Ideas and Creating Texts)
D1 Developing Ideas and Organizing Content
D1.2 Developing Ideas
generate and develop ideas and details about challenging topics, such as topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to other subject areas, using a variety of strategies, and drawing on various resources, including their own lived experiences
D1.3 Research
gather and synthesize information and content relevant to a topic, using a variety of textual sources and appropriate strategies; evaluate the currency, quality, bias, and accuracy of information; verify the reliability of sources; and check copyright and cite the sources for all content created by others
D1.4 Organizing Content
classify and sequence ideas and collected information, selecting effective strategies and tools, and identify and organize relevant content, evaluating the choices of text form, genre, and medium, and considering alternatives
D2 Creating Texts
D2.1 Producing Drafts
draft complex texts of various forms and genres, including narrative, persuasive, expository, and informational texts, citing sources, and use a variety of appropriate media, tools, and strategies to transform information and communicate ideas
D2.4 Point of View and Perspective
explain the explicit and implicit points of view, perspectives, and bias conveyed in their texts, evaluate how various audiences might respond, and suggest ways to acknowledge other perspectives
D3 Publishing, Presenting and Reflecting
D3.1 Producing Final Texts
produce final texts using appropriate techniques and tools, including digital design and production tools, to achieve the intended effect
D3.3 Reflecting on Learning
evaluate the strategies and tools they found helpful when publishing and presenting texts, reflect on what they learned at each stage of the creative process, analyze how their texts address various topics, and suggest steps for future improvement as a text creator
Advertising that is shown to you based on personal information that has been collected about you.
The policy that explains what the company that operates and app or website will do with the information it collects about you.
Ads that perform a public service rather than sell a product.