Digital sovereignty in education

Digital sovereignty in education is about making informed choices and keeping meaningful control over the digital tools, platforms, and learning materials we depend on. It is not about doing everything yourself. It is about reducing unnecessary dependency, protecting privacy, and making sure our education remains reliable and sustainable over time.

Content

In this 90-minute hands-on workshop for all UM teachers, you will explore what digital sovereignty means in your own teaching practice, reflect on the digital tools and platforms you currently rely on (including AI-based systems), and examine where key decisions about control, data, and continuity are being made.

You will then work with our AI-based Open Educational Resource (OER) Discovery Tool to find high-quality, openly available educational materials that you can reuse or adapt for your own course. Along the way, we will explicitly connect tool choice, AI use, openness, and reuse to broader questions of autonomy, fairness, privacy, and responsible use of digital technology.

What will you get out of it

• A practical introduction to digital sovereignty as a teaching competence, focusing on informed decision-making about tools, AI, platforms, and content.
• Guided time to use of the AI-based OER discovery tool which automatically matches your course objectives and description, and searches for relevant materials across 5 international repositories within minutes.
• A mini (re)use roadmap for your course, with clear next steps on what you can reuse as-is, what you might adapt, and what you may want to create yourself.
• Quick and usable guidance on what makes reuse possible in practice, including the basics of usage rights and attribution.

Why join

If you want your course to be easier to maintain, easier to share, and less dependent on a single platform or content source, this workshop will give you a simple, doable starting point. You do not need prior experience with open materials. Bring a laptop and, if possible, a course you are currently teaching.

This workshop takes place as part of Digital Fitness Month 2026, a nation-wide initiative focused on strengthening educators’ ability to make informed, responsible, and sustainable choices in their digital teaching practices. It is organised in collaboration between University Library Open Science in Education and Digital Literacy team.

Target group: educators at Maastricht University

Language: English

Format: workshop, bring your own laptop

Time: 1,5 hours