Experts urge learners, educators to strengthen digital community

Experts in the education technology field have called on parents, educators and learners to prioritise actions that promote digital wellness and build a resilient digital community.

This was the takeout at the recently concluded June edition of Edtech, an initiative of the Co-Creation Hub (CCHUB) in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation’s Centre for Innovative Teaching & Learning in ICT.

The engagement session themed “digital wellness and resilience for educators and learners” was moderated by Chinyelu Akpa, practice lead, Education, CcHUB.

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One of the panelists and founder, Coachfrika, Afeez Iyiola whose company has been at the forefront in the balance between how digital tools are used and the wellness of teachers involved, stated that priority must be given to understanding the educators, their readiness, availability, and self-motivation, provision of digital literacy to achieve wellness.

“When we bring digital innovations and solutions to the teachers, most of the time, we don’t do our background survey to understand who these teachers are. Digital literacy, proficiencies in the use of digital tools, self-motivation, customisation that suits teachers’ individual needs, and developing the right structure are critical to delivering digital wellness,” Iyiola said.

Another panelist and founder, Internet Safe Kids Africa, Confidence Osein explained that parents have a big role to play in ensuring that students maintain digital wellness in their daily online activities. According to Osein, parents and teachers should lead by example by allowing for a structured screen time for classroom and home settings.

She advised that stakeholders must take advantage of technology by deploying digital wellness apps to monitor and regulate screen time for the students.

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Also speaking, product and operations lead, eLimu, Bridget Iyere, stated that conscious effort must be made by edtech product developers or designers and parents to ensure that learners and educators have balanced and healthy interactions with technology.

Stressing that edtech product designers such as eLimu should always take into consideration key factors such as size, age, parental consent, or control before designing an edtech product to guarantee the digital wellness of end users, Iyere said there was a need to incorporate features into edtech products to guide against any negative influence on the kids.