Week 4 Reflection: BC’s Digital Learning Strategy
Exploring Provincial Policy
This week I learned how provincial policy shapes digital learning in BC. We looked at the BC Post Secondary Digital Learning Strategy, which came from the work of the Digital Learning Advisory Committee during and after COVID. It was created through input from many post secondary schools across the province.
The Strategy includes Strategic Priorities and Recommended Actions, Guidelines for Technology-Enhanced Learning, the BC Post-Secondary Digital Literacy Framework, and the BC Post-Secondary Ethical Educational Technology Toolkit. These focus on three areas: policies and processes, system collaboration, and enhancing digital equity.
Understanding Systems-Level Change
The Strategy focuses on policies and processes, system collaboration, and digital equity. This feels like a complete approach to educational technology. In many places, new tools are used in small, isolated ways. Instructors try things on their own without much support from the wider institution. By encouraging system collaboration, the Strategy recognizes that issues like privacy and digital equity are too big for one person or one school to solve alone.
The Digital Literacy Framework stood out to me. With my background in Computer Science, I used to think digital literacy mainly meant knowing how to use technology well. This framework showed me that it is much broader. It includes critical thinking, responsible online behaviour, and awareness of equity. An educator can be great with software, but if they ignore privacy, accessibility, or the digital divide, they are not fully digitally literate.
Key Takeaways
Provincial strategies show how important it is to think about educational technology at a systems level. BC’s Strategy offers helpful frameworks that support more ethical and fair decisions in digital learning. Still, because participation is voluntary and there are no clear accountability measures, the impact may be limited. As future educators, we should look at these strategies with a critical mindset. We can value the guidance they offer while also pushing for stronger action, clearer implementation, and real ways to measure progress in digital equity.