Digital Wellness in the Classroom: A Foundational Framework for Educators

Digital Wellness

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.

Digital Wellness in the Classroom: A Foundational Framework for Educators

• Course Type: Self-Paced, Fully-Facilitated
• Course Length: 10 Hours
• Course Access: Participants will follow a set start and end date, often determined by their school district.

This 10-hour course introduces middle and high school educators to the foundational concepts of digital wellness and their practical application in the classroom. Designed around a harm-reduction approach, the course emphasizes helping students build balanced, mindful, and informed relationships with digital media—rather than advocating for elimination.

Participants will explore the current research on how digital media impacts students socially, emotionally, and cognitively, and will learn strategies for guiding students toward more intentional, reflective digital behaviors. The course also includes sample lesson plans and prompts to help facilitate open, age-appropriate classroom conversations. The course contains three substantive units:

A Digital Wellness Overview

Explores the risks and rewards of digital media use among youth through a harm-reduction lens. Participants will learn to foster awareness, reduce alarm, and define what healthy digital engagement can look like.

Why Should Educators Prioritize Students' Digital Wellness?

Highlights the educator’s role in shaping students’ digital habits and values. This module examines the social and developmental case for addressing digital wellness in schools.

Integrating Digital Wellness Basics into the Classroom

Provides flexible, foundational strategies and lesson ideas to introduce digital wellness in any subject area. Emphasis is placed on reflection, adaptability, and fostering student agency..

Course Objectives

Participants will be able to:

• Demonstrate a well-rounded knowledge of digital media risks and rewards.
• Understand what it means for students to be digitally well.
• Develop insight into fostering the basic principles of digital wellness in the classroom.
• Integrate digital wellness basics into the classroom.

On the Horizon: Expanded Digital Wellness Courses in 2026

Digital Wellness and the Emotional, Relational, and Cognitive Impact of Digital Media on Students

A deeper look at how digital media shapes students’ minds, emotions, and relationships—and how educators can respond with SEL-informed strategies..

Digital Wellness and Teaching Digital Responsibility: Online Safety, Ethics, and Healthy Engagement

Practical tools for helping students navigate digital risks, protect their privacy, and engage online with integrity.

Digital Wellness and Media Literacy in Action: Navigating Misinformation and Manipulation

Empowering students to critically assess digital content, algorithms, and influence in today’s media landscape..

Digital Wellness and AI in the Classroom: Risks, Rewards, and Responsible Use

A practical introduction to artificial intelligence in education, with a focus on ethical integration and student readiness.