BASIC FACTS
The project is funded by the E+ programme under KA2 – Strategic Partnership for Higher Education and is coordinated by the University of Lancaster. It started in September 2018 and will last two years.

CONTEXT
There is, by now, consistent evidence that using digital technologies in education has positive effects on learning outcomes. However, as HEIs we are also becoming aware of the collateral repercussions of digital overload and uncontrolled use of digital communications and social media, from the mental health of individual students, to societal impacts, such as the controversies surrounding free speech and radicalization. The crux of the challenge is that access to digital media has outpaced our ability to guide its responsible use. Many teaching staff feel disadvantaged by having grown up in a pre-digital world, and yet are concerned with the wellbeing of their students and their ability to thrive in digital settings. In response, Digital Wellbeing has a clear objective: increase the capacity of lecturers and teachers to integrate digital education in a way that promotes the digital wellbeing of students.

Through building teacher capacity, the project will improve students’ abilities to manage their online time, make the most of digital learning, critically assess the media they consume and create, and become responsible, confident digital citizens.

OBJECTIVES AND OUTPUTS
We will achieve this by pursuing the following specific objectives:
– Identify and showcase innovative, participative approaches to developing digital wellbeing in education (IO1: Compendium of Best Practice)
– Upskill teachers in confident use of digital education, combining digital wellbeing with effective development of other digital competences (IO2: Digital Wellbeing Education OERs & APP)
– Develop a Digital Wellbeing App to be used as a stand-alone resource for students, and as an additional teacher resource to be used alongside the OERs (IO2: Digital Wellbeing Education OERs & APP) .
– Produce a Teachers’ Digital Pedagogy Toolkit to support teaching staff in developing their own digital competences and mainstreaming digital literacy skills in their teaching activities. (IO3)

The project involves the direct participation of 60 teachers, lecturers and 60 students in developing the Digital Wellbeing Educators’ framework and app, and a further 15 lecturers and teachers will take part in the Learning Activity in Ireland including information and orientation sessions using the project’s IOs, participatory group work and knowledge exchange and best practice visits.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED
Do you have examples of initiatives, studies, reports, about ensuring digital wellbeing? Send them to office@eucen.eu!

The project website is already available. You can also join the Facebook group or the LinkedIn group.