Teaching Human Rights and Digital Technology

The preceding chapters have examined the intersection between human rights and digital technology for a variety of stakeholders. This chapter presents a comprehensive approach, one that integrates the lessons learned in the four preceding chapters and brings this knowledge into the university classroom. Educational curricula offer an ideal platform for exploring the relationship between our rights and our use of technology, encouraging a rigorous examination of their complex interstice as part of either a general education programme or a specialized degree. Of particular interest is the blended classroom: this hybrid of the physical and virtual space allows students and teachers to learn by doing, to utilize technology in creative and singular ways that privilege the tangible classroom space, while providing digitized access to materials, people and discussions that are physically out of reach. This chapter examines the potential for blended, interdisciplinary learning through (1) a discussion of the right to access education and to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress, rights that the digital divide calls into question, (2) an analysis of human attention in digital environments and the consequences for higher education, (3) the presentation of a curriculum that blends the traditional classroom and the Internet, and (4) a viewpoint on the future of blended learning in an increasingly digitized university environment.