As a part of a smaller research project in working groups, the students must learn about GDPR rules and translate their knowledge into practice. 

In groups, students analyse data from the social media platform Reddit. The data concerns how different social groups present and position themselves in relation to each other on the platform (e.g., vegans vs vegetarians, Christians vs atheists). They individually write a report on the project, in which they include their thoughts on GDPR in relation to collecting data on social media. They also demonstrate their knowledge on data protection, for example through anonymisation of data. In this way, the course is designed to be application oriented. 

The course includes a lecture, completion of parts of AU’s Data Protection course on Brightspace, analyses in groups and a written project report. 

The teacher’s motivation 

The focus on GDPR has increased over the past few years, and it is essential to introduce students to GDPR in a course on social media (supplementary subject Social Minds, ARTS) that aims to develop competencies aimed for the labour market in social media data collection and analysis.  

It makes sense to integrate AU’s Data Protection course into the teaching, since it is a learning resource on GDPR developed specifically for students. In this way, they gain fundamental knowledge about GDPR and current data-processing principles. Through the online course with activities, reflection exercises, quizzes, short videos, etc., they can be introduced to the subject in different ways that supplement the lecture and other activities well.  

Outcome of the activity

• The AU Data Protection course was easily accessible and flexible. It helped the students achieve their learning outcome without needing further resources.  

• The students were very satisfied with the way AU’s Data Protection Course was integrated in the teaching. They found that the separate focus on GDPR was relevant and necessary in relation to their general academic study competencies.  

• The exam showed that the GDPR related curriculum had been understood and could subsequently be applied in practice.   

• Some students were particularly happy with the certificate they could generate after the final quiz (at 80% correct answers), because they wanted to add it to their resume.  

Challenges 

From a teaching perspective, it was somewhat time-consuming to look through AU’s Data Protection course and assess which parts were relevant and which parts were not. It also took time to develop guidelines for completion, so the students could skip the parts that were not relevant for their specific course – for example, the detailed lecture and the learning module about the clinic.