Teaching Privacy Using Learner-Centered Practices in a Credit-Bearing Context

Abstract

This chapter describes practices of teaching privacy to undergraduate students in a credit-bearing context. The chapter features a discussion of a semester-long course, Information Ethics and Privacy in the Age of Big Data. This chapter opens by briefly outlining three points of consideration for approaching a semester-long course. We then highlight three assignments from the course that we think are particularly useful and adaptable for teaching privacy. We include excerpts from course materials and student feedback to illustrate specific points. The chapter concludes with a self-reflective assessment of our experience as teachers. We co-taught the course with a pedagogical viewpoint of learner-centered participation and trust, an approach that we have previously discussed in detail. The course was built around reflective and co-creative activities that make space for students to bring their own experiences and perspectives into the classroom, including self-evaluation, student-led discussion sessions, small-group discussions, creative activities, and hands-on projects. We intend for the assignments and topics of this chapter to be used beyond a credit-bearing context. Librarians teach in so many different contexts. With that in mind, we offer points of consideration for adapting our assignments for other settings, like workshops, one-shot instruction, or a sequence of course-embedded instruction to be completed over two or three class sessions.