Student wellbeing and technostress: critical learning design factors
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi25.985Abstract
In higher education, student wellbeing is now the responsibility of all of us. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the pivot by universities to online learning positioned technology as a panacea, and saw students being signposted to digital resources for digital skills and wellbeing support. Our use of the concept, technostress, is derived from the Student Minds report (2021) entitled ’Life in a pandemic’. It refers to the stress experienced by students when using technology within higher education, given the sector's expectations of their technical abilities. Our paper reported on the results of a digital health and wellbeing survey (n=103) with surprising responses from 80 students to the survey question about technostress.
The findings indicate students feel let down by teaching staff who struggle with the mediating tools of their online trade – technology – and show little empathy for those they teach. McDougall and Potter (2018) argue that human-centred approaches, prioritising staff and students’ immediate and lifelong wellbeing rather than the mere use of digital tools, are key to success in developing policies for student wellbeing.
The findings indicate that the formulaic approaches offered by academic staff to students in response to their digital health and wellbeing challenges will chime with learning developers championing student support as emancipatory practice. Attendees were invited to reflect on their own experience of technostress and share their considerations as to how to widen understanding of this phenomenon. The presentation concluded by recommending an integrated model for framing student wellbeing underpinned with exceptional learning design and considered the optimum on a continuum for the use of technological tools.
References
Biggins, D, Holley, D and Supa, M. (2022) From tools to wellbeing: a proposed digital learning maturity model (DLMM). Available at: https://library.iated.org/view/BIGGINS2022FRO (Accessed: 20 October 2022).
JISC Student Survey (2021) Student digital experience insights survey 2020/21: UK higher education findings. Available at: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/reports/student-digital-experience-insights-survey-2020-21-uk-higher-education-findings (Accessed: 20 October 2022).
McDougall, J. and Potter, J. (2018) ‘Digital media learning in the third space’, Media Practice and Education, 20(1), pp.1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/25741136.2018.1511362.
NSS (2022) National Student Survey: NSS. Available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/student-information-and-data/national-student-survey-nss/nss-data-provider-level/ (Accessed: 20 October 2022).
Student Minds (2021) University Mental Health: Life in a Pandemic. Available at: https://www.studentminds.org.uk/lifeinapandemic.html (Accessed: 20 October 2022).
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).