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DWEL

Digital Wellbeing for Higher Education Lecturers
Project 2021-1-SK01-KA220-HED-000032017. .
DWEL final logo(1)
14 April 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the digital transition within HEIs, leading to a rise in online/remote teaching. The shift to online education could be seen as adding flexibility to both teaching and learning. However, it would be fairer to say we are assisting to a distance learning movement rather than online learning one, or more accurately an emergency remote teaching (ERT). Questions arise about how to master the burdens of distance working without negative consequences on well-being of both sides of teaching process. Lecturers in particular face a higher risk of digital overload or burnout than ever before. The DWEL project focuses on the impact of the pandemic on lecturers and aims to design, develop and implement a new approach to train HEI lecturers and managers in digital wellbeing. The target groups are: – HE lecturers whose work has changed dramatically over the last year because of remote working and teaching which the majority of whom do not feel well prepared for. – HE management and department heads who need to know how to optimise digital teaching without compromising staff’s performance and wellbeing. They need greater awareness and knowledge to lead change in organisational policy and practice. The project’s results focus on the professional development of lecturers providing them with the skills to offer high quality digital teaching without compromising their wellbeing: – the Digital Wellbeing Report (R1) will ensure a sound understanding of the basic issues – the DWEL Resource Pack (R2) will help their employers to improve policy and organisational culture around digital wellbeing – the DWEL Online Course (R3) will directly develop lecturers’ knowledge and skills to be proactive in safeguarding their own digital wellbeing in order to maintain high quality teaching performance over time. The project results improve educators’ digital competences, while also boosting the capacity of HEIs to manage the digital transition in a way that marries high quality teaching with the wellbeing of those involved. The project is coordinated by the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (SK), has started in November 2021, and will run for two years. eucen co-leads the development of the Digital Wellbeing Report and leads the dissemination and promotion strategy. Further information on the project will be provided in due course through this website and through our regular Newsletters. Here is the link to the project website. You can access additional information from the Digital Ways community: LinkedIn group Facebook: @TheDigitalWaysEU. Twitter: @TheDigitalWays