Digital Wellbeing Educators:A compendium of innovative practices.

Royo, Carme and Sime, Julie-Ann and Themelis, Chryssa and Sicilia, Miguel Angel (2019) Digital Wellbeing Educators:A compendium of innovative practices. E-Journal of University Lifelong Learning, 3 (1). pp. 13-18. ISSN 2616-6674

Abstract

We live in a highly digitally connected Europe where people of all ages use the internet to link, communicate, explore and learn through digital media. However, a recent JISC study reported that educators in Higher Education institutions are concerned about the wellbeing of their students in digital settings. In addition, the Opening Up education report shows that 70% of educators in the EU understand the importance of digital literacy but only 20-25% students are taught by digitally confident educators (Opening Up Education, 20131). Hence, improving the digital literacy of educators is required, particularly in the area of digital wellbeing. Higher Education institutions are becoming increasingly aware of the consequences of digital distraction and overload on the mental health of individual students, the societal impact on relationships such as cyberbullying, technical issues such as cybersecurity and the addictive design of technology and the controversies surrounding fake news, radicalisation and challenges to democracy. The Digital Wellbeing Educators Project (DWE), funded by the ERASMUS+ programme of the European Union, aims to increase the capacity of educators in Higher Education institutions so that they can integrate digital education and promote the wellbeing of their students. The first step towards this has been to publish a Compendium of innovative practices and open educational resources that showcases how the challenges of the digital era are addressed by others so that teachers are inspired and can find solutions that can be transferred to their students. DWE has 6 partners: Lancaster University (UK), Letterkenny Institute of Technology (IE), Universidad de Alcalá (ES), eucen (BE), European Institute of E-Learning (DK) and Momentum Marketing Services (IE). The project started in September 2018 and will finish in August 2020.