The Living Online curriculum is designed to empower students to become informed, engaged, and critical digital citizens. Our online lesson plans, developed in collaboration with leading teachers and academics, are grade-differentiated and user-friendly. Each lesson comes with curated and updated resources for use in the classroom, as well as background material and guidance for instructors, extension activities, assessments, and student handouts.
The curriculum is currently reaching more than 35,000 secondary school students, mainly in the U.S.A. and Canada.
CURRICULUM OUTLINE:
1. ABOUT THE INTERNET
This module takes students on a unique journey behind the screens of their devices to learn about the “nuts and bolts” of the most revolutionary tool of our era. They will travel back to the roots of the internet, examine the path that has taken us from the first networked academic computers to the commercial internet of today, and study the sophisticated technology and business models that shape today’s digital world.
Lessons in this module include:
Welcome to the Net – How the Internet Works – No Free Clicks: The Digital Economy – All About the Data, Big Data, and Metadata – “A” is for Algorithm
2. THE DIGITAL WORLD AND US
With about half of the world’s population now online, we explore our relationship with the digital world - specifically how technology affects our lives and moderates our behavior. The primary goal of this module is to raise awareness and inspire student engagement in issues that are central to their lives.
Lessons include:
Cyberpsychology – Identity – Privacy – Online Empathy – Online Friendship & Relationships – Digital Ethics – Addiction, Boredom & Overuse – Social/Anti-Social Media – Digital Activism – Diversity of Thought – The Digital Divide - Digital Rights
3. DIGITAL MEDIA LITERACY
The interactive properties of the internet have broken down barriers and unleashed forces that are powerful and creative, but which also require new skills of students. This module is designed to empower students by helping them to become savvy, critical consumers and sophisticated “prosumers” of digital content.
Lessons include:
Digital Reading & Writing – Remix Culture – The Digital Media Revolution – Online Propaganda – Memes – Smart Search & Research – Wikipedia – Critical Thinking about Technology - Internet Culture
4. THE DARK SIDE OF THE WEB
No study of the internet would be complete without casting light on one of the largest, least known, yet most controversial areas of the internet. Nefarious entities and individuals may use the Dark Web to wreck havoc on the net and our physical world. But at the same time, opponents of oppressive regimes sometimes rely on the Dark Web to communicate and organize.
Lessons in this module include:
The Dark Web - Cybercrime - Cyberwarfare & Cyberterrorism
5. THE WEB WE WANT
The curriculum ends with a close examination of how the ideals that accompanied the early internet have evolved, and the visions and questions of a range of activists, thinkers, and technologists about the future of the web. Technology is not just something that happens to us; we also have power to influence technology.
Lessons in this module include:
From cyberutopianism to digital dystopia - exploring the future of the internet