Master's in Digital Learning

Learning Digitally in the 21st Century

This course provides students with an overview of the emergence of digital learning, the social, cultural, political and economic dimensions of its growth, and an introduction to critical theories to understand and guide digital learning design in the 21st Century. Drawing on case studies from diverse learning contexts (K-12, higher ed, community-based learning, training), students will develop an understanding of the challenges, limits, and possibilities of designing digital learning environments and activities. The course introduces students to the Community of Inquiry framework that is the foundation for further learning, research, and design in the program. Key learning outcomes: Learners will understand the social, cultural, political, and economic dimensions of the growth of digital learning and gain an awareness of the affordances, limitations, and possibilities of digital learning.

Digital Learning Principles and Practices

This course explores in greater detail the Community of Inquiry (COI) model that underpins the program’s approach to digital learning. We look at the COI theoretical framework in depth, including its three key elements: teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence. Through close reading and examination of research on the COI model, as well as case studies that implement the model in practice, students will identify the strengths and limits of this framework in designing and implementing communities of learning within digital environments and experiences. Key learning outcomes: Learners will understand the meaning of teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence, and develop a critical understanding of the strengths and limitations of the Community of Inquiry model.

Histories of Learning Technologies

To help students critically understand contemporary developments in digital learning and issues surrounding the presence and impact of digital technologies in learning environments and learner’s lives, this course provides a historical perspective on the introduction of educational technologies and their consequences on the organization, nature, and purpose of schooling in the United States. This historical view will provide students with crucial insight and a deeper understanding of digital technologies in contemporary educational settings, as well as context and resources for evaluating claims, critiques, and debates related to current and emerging technologies in teaching and learning. Key learning outcomes: Students will develop a critical historical understanding of edtech design and deployment and connect lessons of the past to inform design in present-day digital learning environments.

Foundations of Inclusive Digital Learning

When learning environments are equitably designed and inclusive of diverse backgrounds, identities, and experiences, students feel valued, acknowledged, and experience a strong sense of belonging. Designing learning environments for equity, inclusion, and belonging reduces barriers, increases access, and improves the learning experience for all students. Learners in this course will explore frameworks and practical strategies for building inclusive and equitable digital learning environments that consider technology, student support services, accessibility, course materials, assessment practices, images and representation, human bias, content meaning, and connection and belonging. Key learning outcomes: Learners will understand the meaning of equity, inclusion, and belonging in relation to learning design; and recognize the strategies and approaches that facilitate (and impede) the design of inclusive digital learning environments.

Designing Ethical and Equitable Digital Learning Environments

In this course, students gain hands-on experience applying frameworks and strategies to the design and construction of digital learning experiences that are ethical and equitable for all learners. Taking into account histories of exclusion and bias in the design and implementation of educational technologies, students will identify potential barriers to learning digitally and generate possibilities for digital learning environments and activities that do not perpetuate and deepen social biases and inequities. Key learning outcomes: Students develop a deeper understanding of the challenges for designing ethical and equitable digital learning environments and can identify opportunities and strategies that construct more ethical and equitable digital learning experiences.

Open Educational Technologies and Practices

In this course, we will examine ways to use open educational technologies to foster social presence and build engaged, meaningful, humanized teaching and learning opportunities across various classroom modalities (e.g., in-person, blended, hybrid, and online). We will consider elements and strategies for successful, culturally responsive course design alongside a critical and sober examination of educational technologies and platforms. We will focus particularly on digital technologies and educational media that enhance collaboration, exploration, and self-reflection. Key learning outcome: Learners will be able to understand and evaluate approaches to open education pedagogies and resources, and begin to apply their understanding to posit open educational experiences that favor collaboration, exploration, and self-reflection among diverse learners.

Social Issues in Digital Learning

The shift to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted social and ethical concerns related to learning online and with technology. But concerns about the role and impact of technology on learners, learning environments, and outcomes are not new. In this course, students will consider critical discourses about technology in learning, in both contemporary and historical contexts, and gain a broader understanding of the implications of digital technologies in education specifically, and in society more broadly. We will explore current issues related to digital technologies and learning, including AI, digital surveillance, and algorithmic bias. This investigation will inform our efforts to imagine and propose new designs that posit more just and humane futures for digital learners. Key learning outcomes: Students will be able to contextualize current issues and debates in digital learning and leverage this understanding to inform digital learning design that centers human relationships and the dignity of all learners.

Engaging Digital Literacies and Multimodal Expression

Students explore the relationship between digital technologies, literacies and identity in digital learning environments. We will look at the ways that digital tools and techniques are redefining what it means to engage in literacy practices to read, write, and represent the world, and the implications of these shifts for digital learning design. We will approach these questions through critical praxis, exploring a variety of forms of multimodal expression and the tools for their creation. Through hands-on multimodal engagement with processes such as digital storytelling, storymapping, audiovisual essays, virtual reality and podcasting, students will have opportunities to analyze the design and place of multimodal activities and assignments in digital learning environments. Key learning outcomes: Students identify forms of digital literacy and can construct multimodal learning objects engaging visual, audio, textual, and spatial elements.

Digital Storytelling, Student Voice and Agency

Students will learn the processes, fundamental technical skills, and design involved in creating digital stories that integrate voice, image, audio, maps, text, and other elements. In this course, students research, plan, design, and produce a digital narrative. Students have opportunity to draw from their backgrounds, identities, experiences, or future goals in developing and digitally producing their stories. They will assess digital tools and formats to determine the most appropriate tool for their digital story (e.g., VoiceThread, WeVideo, TimelineJS, Storymap), and develop technical skills required to develop and share their digital production. Key learning outcomes: Students will uncover new ways of telling and sharing stories digitally, and develop the technical skills required to design, create, and implement digital storytelling activities that engage student voice and agency.

Capstone in Digital Learning

Students in both certificate and master’s programs complete a capstone course. This course is differentiated according to program level and will challenge students to reflect on, synthesize and represent their knowledge and skills related to digital learning. Students create a project that demonstrates their learning and applies it to a real-world digital learning context, ideally one that connects to their professional experience or future career goals. Examples may include designing a digital learning activity, module, or assignment; a framework for digital learning goals and outcomes; a curated collection of resources to support digital learning in a field relevant to the student’s own professional interests. Through planning and developing a digital learning project, and sharing it via their digital portfolio, students demonstrate their ability to apply what they have learned in the program to specific digital learning challenge and setting. Key learning outcomes: Students will apply design thinking and skills to create a digital project reflecting on, representing and showcasing their knowledge and abilities to create ethical and equitable digital learning experiences.