Southern Utah University

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Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Spring Semester 2026

Digital Citizenship and Information Literacy (Hybrid)

EDUC 5079-225

Course: EDUC 5079-225
Credits: 3
Term: Spring Semester 2026
Department: TED
CRN: 13692

Course Description

The goal of this course is for participants to gain a deeper understanding of digital citizenship and information literacy components to prepare students to thrive in a rapidly changing digital world. Educators will learn how to create positive online experiences for students, promote appropriate data privacy practices, and model best practices for information literacy and media fluency. Educators will learn how to create a culture of learning that provides opportunities for collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and communication.

During this course educators will explore the following topics:

  • Digital Citizenship
  • Data Privacy Practices
  • Digital Identity
  • Information Literacy
  • Media Fluency
  • Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Creativity, and Communication (4 C’s)

Required Texts

These texts and courses are an integral part of this class:
  • Culatta, R. (2021). Digital for good: Raising Kids to Thrive in an online world. Harvard Business Review Press. ISBN: 978-1647820169
  • ISTE & Metiri Group (2017). The Digital Citizen Pathway [MOOC]. ISTE Standards PD. https://istestandardspd.org/digital-learning-pathways/digital-citizen-pathway/
  • ISTE & Metiri Group (2017). The Knowledge Constructor Pathway [MOOC]. ISTE Standards PD. https://istestandardspd.org/digital-learning-pathways/the-knowledge-constructor-p athway/

Learning Outcomes

Digital Citizenship

Educators will be able to

  • Create positive online experiences for students that foster responsible contribution and empathetic engagement
  • Empower students to recognize and appropriately respond to inappropriate or dangerous online interactions
  • Promote and model appropriate data privacy practices
  • Guide students to develop a positive and responsible digital identity
Information Fluency

Educators will be able to

  • Model and instruct students in best practices for information literacy and media fluency
  • Model and instruct students to assess the credibility and usefulness of online resources
  • Model and instruct students to meaningfully interpret large amounts of complex information and communicate and share across various media platforms
  • Model and instruct students in the best practices for fair use, copyright protection and creating original works
  • Create a culture of learning that provides opportunities for collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, communication (4 C’s) which empowers learners to adapt, create, consume and connect

Course Requirements

Assignment Descriptions:
Elevator Pitch (5 points each)

An elevator speech is a quick synopsis of your vision. The reason it’s called an elevator speech is that it should be short enough to present during a brief elevator ride. For this assignment, you will tell us your elevator speech that explains why digital citizenship and information literacy are important components of our educational system.

4C’s Artifact (5 points)

After studying and learning about the 4C’s, you will create an artifact demonstrating your knowledge of this concept. You will have creative freedom for this assignment…more details to come!

Portfolio (80 points)

The standards and competencies for this course focus on you as the educator, your understanding of the concepts, and most importantly, your ability to create high-quality instructional experiences that will impact our students. Your main project in this course will be to develop an Impact Plan, describing in detail how you will teach your students about digital citizenship and information literacy. We will work on this project throughout the course, with final presentations at the end of the semester. You will receive feedback on your assignments throughout the course, from the instructor and your peers. The different components of your project are listed below. Stay tuned each week for more instructions about this project!

  • Elevator Pitch (6 points)
  • 4 C’s Artifact (6 points)
  • Mini Lesson #1: Digital Citizenship & Digital Identity (10 points)
  • Mini Lesson #2: Promoting Positive Online Interactions (10 points)
  • Mini Lesson #3: Dangerous Online Interactions (10 points)
  • Mini Lesson #4: Digital Citizenship with AI (10 points)
  • Mini Lesson #5: Fair Use, Copyright, and Creating Original Works for Learning (10 points)
  • Artifact Reviews (10 points)
  • Final Portfolio (70)
Course Information:

To qualify for SUU credit, course participants must earn a passing grade in the course of 70% or higher.

Assignment Submission Requirements:

Given that the majority of the content for this course will be delivered online, via Canvas, you will be expected to follow the specific assignment submission requirements as outlined in Canvas and will submit your work via Canvas.

Participation:

Demonstrate in class and/or in online valued-added components, participation in class discussions and activities, knowledge and ideas concerning class topics.

Grading Scale:

A = 95-100% A- = 90-94%
B+ = 87-89% B = 84-86% B- = 80-83%
C+ = 77-79% C = 74-76% C- = 70-73%
D+ = 67-69% D = 64-66% D- = 60-63%
F = 59% and below

Course Outline

Tentative Schedule of Assignments and Activities:

Students can expect to spend 3 hours per week of contact time for this course, for a total of 45 contact hours total for the course.

DateTopicAssignments and Required Reading
Module 1: Elevator Pitch & The 4C’s
Week 1 | 1/7- 1/13Preparing Students for the Real World
  • Assignment: Introduction & Elevator Pitch
Week 2 | 1/14-1/20The 4C’s
  • Reading: Digital for Good: Chapters 1 & 2
  • Assignment: 4C’s Artifact
Module 2: Digital Citizenship and Digital Identity
Week 3 | 1/21-1/27What makes a good digital citizen?
  • Reading: Metiri Digital Citizen Course
Week 4 | 1/28-2/3Instructional Strategies for Digital Citizenship
  • Reading: Digital for Good Ch. 3-5
Week 5 | 2/4-2/10Instructional Examples for Digital Citizenship
  • Assignment: Mini Lesson #1
Module 3: Promoting Positive Online Interactions
Week 6 | 2/11-2/17Creating Positive Online Experiences
  • Reading: Metiri Knowledge Constructor Course
  • Reading: Empathy in Action
  • Reading: Resources Research
Week 7 | 2/18-2/24Creating Positive Online Experiences
  • Assignment: Mini Lesson #2
Module 4: Dangerous Online Interactions & Online Credibility
Week 8 | 2/25-3/3Responding to Dangerous Online Interactions
  • Reading: Digital for Good Ch. 6-7
Week 9 | 3/4-3/10Assessing the Credibility and Usefulness of Online Resources
  • Assignment: Mini Lesson #3
Module 5: Digital Citizenship with AI
Week 10 | 3/11-3/17Interpreting Complex Information and sharing across various media platforms
  • Reading: Digital for Good Chapter 8-9
Week 11 | 3/18-3/24Promoting and modeling data privacy practices
  • Assignment: Mini-Lesson #4
Module 6: Data Privacy, Fair Use, Copyright, and Creating Original Works for Learning
Week 12 | 3/25-4/7Best practices for fair use, copyright protection, and creating original works
  • Reading: Research Resources
Week 13 | 4/8-4/14Student Impact Plan
  • Assignment: Mini-Lesson #5
Module 7: Final Portfolio
Week 14 | 4/15-4/21Review and Peer Feedback
  • Assignment: Review and Peer Feedback of Portfolio Draft
Week 15 | 4/22-4/28Moving Forward
  • Assignment: Final Portfolio Due

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

Late work Policy:

Discussions and other assignments such as the Peer Review that have a collaboration component will have points deducted for late submissions. Individual assignments such as the mini-lessons will not have points deducted for late submissions, as these assignments are competency based and your grade on these assignments should reflect your competency of the course objectives. All assignments must be submitted by 11:59pm on Sunday, December 14th 2025.

Communication:

I will typically respond to email and Chats twice per day (M-F). This is not always the case during holidays, breaks, or other unforeseen situations. If you do not receive a response within 24 hours, please send the message again. Including “DigCit Course” in the subject line will make your message a priority and ensure that it’s brought to my attention. You may also communicate using the class Virtual Office page. Please be respectful and courteous as this page is able to be seen by all course participants.

Any communication sent via email will have [OSD EdTech Endorsement] in the subject line.

Attendance Policy

Those students missing class or online components because of activities sponsored by Ogden School District, must be cleared prior to the event with the Instructor.

Course Fees

 $69

If an teacher with Ogden School District, the Digital Teaching & Learning Department will pay the fee.  If you do not work for Ogden School District, the fee is $250 to cover the cost of the course, books, and instructor.  This fee can be paid to the Student Achievement Department Administrative Assistant in Building 2.  This fee must be paid prior to the first class. 

Course Standards and Information

Educational Technology, Instructional, Content Standards:
  • ISTE Standards for Teachers (ISTE Standards)
  • Utah Effective Teaching Standards
  • Utah Core Standards
Course Information:
  • Credit(s): 3 Credits
  • Recommended Semester: Spring 2026
  • Course Length: 15 weeks (3 hours per week)

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.