Digital Stewardship through Blended Learning

Our plan for the digital stewardship case study via blended learning is outlined below. I am responsible for leading our team through the collaborative inquiry process in order to inform our teaching practice for this pilot project. There are many excellent examples of using social media in the classroom, but many educators and administrators encounter challenges when it comes to teaching students about the ethical and responsible use of information technologies. An example of the need for this kind of instruction was highlighted in a recent blog post by George Couros, 'Is your school’s “digital citizenship” practice a pass or fail? His example of the student twitter accounts that contained derogatory and offensive remarks is one that is playing out in many schools as students become more prolific at using social media. The problem is that students are not always taking the appropriate steps to protect their privacy, or do not fully understand or contemplate the implications of their online activity because they have difficulty differentiating between public and private realms.

During my session we will working in the discussion board of our Learning Management System to determine our shared vision for the project. 'In an ideal world, what would responsible & ethical use of digital technologies by our students look like?' Subsequently, we will identify the inquiry question which will determine what type of action is required and what evidence we will need in order to make our decisions with respect to planning the instruction for the case study.