Digital Wellness in the Classroom: The Emotional, Relational, and Cognitive Impact of Digital Media on Students

Digital Wellness in the Classroom: The Emotional, Relational, and Cognitive Impact of Digital Media on Students

Content Warning 

This course includes sensitive mental health topics intended to promote digital wellness and awareness but is not a substitute for professional mental health care. Please carefully consider the nature of the content before enrolling.

Course Details

Course Type:

• Self-Paced, Fully-Facilitated
• Cohort, Fully-Facilitated

Course Length: 10 Hours

Course Access:

• Self-Paced: Each course includes 45 days of interactive access. If you purchase multiple courses within a single concentration at the same time, your total access period will be extended (e.g., two courses = 90 days, three courses = 135 days, etc.).
  
  Upon enrollment, your dashboard will initially display 45 days per course. By the next business day, your end date will be adjusted to reflect the correct total access period based on the number of courses purchased.
  
  After your enrollment period ends, you will continue to have read-only access to your courses.

• Cohort: Participants will follow a set start and end date, determined by their school district.

Course Description

This course provides educators with a comprehensive understanding of how digital media habits—particularly misuse—can influence students’ emotional regulation, interpersonal relationships, and cognitive functioning. Building on the foundational concepts introduced in Course 1, this course emphasizes recognition and response: what these impacts look like in real classrooms, why they affect student behavior and performance, and how educators can respond with intentional support.

Grounded in harm-reduction principles, the course helps educators promote the positive facets of digital media use while minimizing potential harms. Participants will learn adaptable, practical strategies that can be integrated organically into daily routines—whether through advisory periods, transition times, SEL lessons, content-area connections, or brief “tech tip” moments embedded throughout instruction. Each strategy is designed to be quick, sustainable, and flexible, making ongoing digital wellness support accessible in any school context.

The course revisits the foundational digital wellness framework introduced in Course 1—self-reflection, intentionality, and critical thinking—and explores how these principles connect to emotional, relational, and cognitive domains. Educators will reflect on how students experience digital media across these areas and how instructional choices can shape healthier, more balanced digital habits.

By the end of the course, educators will be equipped with actionable tools that support students’ emotional, social, and cognitive well-being in a technology-saturated world.

Course Objectives

Participants will be able to:

• Identify key emotional, relational, and cognitive impacts of digital media use on students, drawing from current research.
• Integrate flexible strategies that support students’ emotional, social, and cognitive wellness within the digital age.
• Develop and apply practical approaches that promote student well-being across digital contexts.
• Evaluate classroom routines and instructional practices to ensure they balance digital engagement with opportunities for hands-on learning, collaboration, reflection, and offline skill development.

Additional Digital Wellness Courses Coming Soon!

Navigating Digital Discernment, Linguistics, and Identity in the Classroom

This course invites educators to explore how digital spaces shape students’ linguistic choices, their sense of self, and their ability to discern misinformation and disinformation in the online realm. Educators will learn strategies and practices that strengthen connections with their students, help them evaluate online information, engage with digital content responsibly and ethically, and reflect critically on their evolving digital identities.

Promoting Digital Responsibility and Safety in the Classroom

As students move across online platforms, the need for safe digital behavior becomes more crucial than ever. This course equips educators with the tools to guide students in making thoughtful choices about their online actions, privacy, and digital footprints. Through practical strategies, classroom-ready resources, and a strengths-based approach, educators will learn how to foster a culture of safety, respect, and accountability that empowers students to navigate the digital world with confidence.