Rationale

Rationale

UMW must prepare our students to live, work, and serve effectively in this Age of Accelerations; thus, a Digital Intensive course will intentionally foster the ability in our students to consume and produce digital knowledge, as well as to creatively adapt to emerging technology. The Digital Intensive course requirement will ensure that all students, regardless of major, will develop digital fluency during their time at the University. As defined by the Digital Fluency Working Group, advanced digital fluency is the ability to consume and produce digital knowledge critically, ethically, and responsibly, as well as to creatively adapt to emerging technology. This incorporates information literacy, knowledge production and creativity, critical thinking paired with ethical actions, social awareness in the digital environment, and the evolving nature of what is understood as “digital.” These skills are necessary for UMW graduates as they move through an increasingly digital and interconnected world.

In Digital Intensive courses, students will build on information literacy foundations developed in the First Year Seminar to work toward advanced digital fluency. This will serve as an across-the-curriculum requirement, where these principles and skills will be presented in appropriate ways that may be unique to each learning context or discipline. This will ensure that every student would develop demonstrable digital fluency skills and capabilities, with the ability to adapt to the inevitable changes in the digital landscape.