As my eyes adjust from ‘square’ back to ‘round’ after another thrilling week at the Harvard Macy Institute, I reflect on the joy and privilege of working with the talented and extraordinary faculty and scholars of the course. One would be forgiven for thinking that you would leave a program such as this armed with a suite of amazing and increasingly usable tools to dazzle your students and peers, which of course you do, but I kept finding myself focusing my reflections on the spaces between the technology – the people. 

As a person straddling the divide between “Digital Native” and “Digital Immigrant”, I always felt like I should know more about the technology that is coming and going around me. I had a facebook account, but never felt comfortable with the idea that tools like social media could be used effectively in the educational context.

Boy, was I wrong.

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The Harvard Macy Institute course on “Becoming a Digital Citizen” in 2015 was an engaging and clever set of teachings and activities that explored the myriad of tools out there for educators and how they could be used to optimal effect in educating people. Here are my top 3 take-home nuggets that I would like to share with everyone:

1. Don’t be dazzled by the lights