Under the watchful eye of the Evans clock tower at Queens University of Charlotte, students awoke Wednesday to find that the residential quad on campus had been egged.
On Monday, students in the digital literacy exploration seminar stuffed over 1,000 easter eggs with digital literacy tips and candy. This morning, they egged the campus by staging a surprise egg hunt on the university’s residential quad.
Our exploration seminar in digital literacy has been investigating the ways that people become “digitally literate.” In recent weeks, we’ve been trying to come up with ways to create opportunities to engage students on campus in this conversation in serendipitous ways. One student in the seminar, Natalia Marino, had the idea of using Easter eggs to reach students. A team of 6 students from the seminar took on the idea and brought it to fruition.
The Knight Vision team in the James L. Knight School of Communication supported the idea by providing digital literacy prizes in the form of iTunes gift cards as part of the hunt. In addition, the team suggested that the students use the analog object, the egg, to inspire a digital connection. Thus alongside a digital literacy tip, each egg has inside of it either a quick response (QR) code, or directions about entering the contest through either Twitter, Facebook, or text.
Here’s a sample of the types of tips and directions found in the eggs:
John A. McArthur, Ph.D. 