Last week I had the pleasure of attending Jisc’s online annual Connect More conference. The event took place over three days with a ‘pic ‘n’ mix’ style programme and I ran a session with Jisc training focusing on the digital aspects of wellbeing. It’s worth noting that ‘digital’ wellbeing is only one aspect to the broader wellbeing debate, and many universities and colleges are developing resources in the round.
Moving towards digital wellbeing
Conversations around wellbeing are complex and often iterative, stressing a need to not only be attentive to our own wellbeing concerns and those of others but also to revisit and refresh how we address wellbeing issues.
The potential impacts are wide-ranging and are covered in this previous post, which makes you reflect on the language we use when talking about wellbeing issues. The need to regularly check in on students and give them opportunities to flag concerns is key. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as using simple emojis or Gifs to receive a quick temperature check, like this activity used with students at Glasgow Caledonian University.
Phrases like “I’m getting there” or “Things are going well” are common responses to questions about our wellbeing. They both suggest a journey. I like the metaphor of a journey when talking about wellbeing. After all, we may all be at different stages on our journey towards wellbeing and travelling at different speeds.
Digital wellbeing tube map
This presented a challenge for capturing member input at the event and distilling it in a way that was timely and comprehensive.
Infographics can be a great way to clarify a nuanced subject. I wanted to keep the idea of a journey but map this to the different strands that define digital wellbeing. That’s when I came up with the idea of using the ‘Tube Map’ below.
As an infographic, this has been used a lot because it’s a good way of presenting different strands of information with a range of destination points – perfect!
Hopefully you’ll find this a good conversation starter to have with learners. The ‘tube map’ also provides you with topic areas to reflect on and action to help you on your journey.
