UM launches interprofessional digital wellness course for sixth graders

UM launches interprofessional digital wellness course for sixth graders

Sixth-grader Sera Bergman admits she spends a lot of time watching movies — and enjoys it, like most kids her age. Once she starts scrolling through the short videos, she finds it difficult to stop.

"When I'm in the car, I think I'm just going to watch a few YouTube shorts before I get anywhere," said Bergman, who attends Scarlett Middle School in Ann Arbor. "But then when I get out of the car, I'm like, 'Just one more.' It's super addictive. When creating games and social media apps, designers find ways to get us addicted to them."

Addiction, cyberbullying, eating disorders, anxiety and other mental health issues caused by problematic digital practices and increased screen time are some of the topics covered in a new and unique interprofessional peer-to-peer digital wellness course from the University of Michigan.

This semester, UM students and scholars launched an interprofessional course in collaboration with Ann Arbor Public Schools sixth graders to facilitate engagement in digital wellness in the classroom and in practice.

There is evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated mental health issues and shifted social engagement to digital platforms. With the increasing reliance on screens as a primary means of learning, entertainment and socialization, there is an urgent need to educate students about digital wellness.

“Improving digital well-being, including online engagement activities and emotional experiences, is critical to students’ emotional, intellectual and social well-being.”

Liz Kolb, clinical professor at U-M's Marsal Family School of Education

The current digital wellness program grew out of the digital citizenship curriculum designed by Kolb. The curriculum she implemented at Scarlett Middle School began with a focus on bullying, privacy and online safety. As concerns grow from parents, teachers and researchers across the country, the new digital wellness program has shifted toward a broader discussion with children: "How are these devices affecting me?"

The program is a collaboration between the Marsal Family School of Education, the School of Information and the School of Social Work. The UM students' mentors are undergraduate and graduate students from these schools who are taking a digital wellness course.

“Most of the education about digital device use for young people has focused on safety lectures and lists of rules of conduct from adults and authority figures,” Kolb said. “These approaches often do not help young people understand the impact of their device on their individual mental and physical health and rarely result in young people changing their habits.

“This course takes a different approach and provides young people – both college and middle school students – with scientific information about what happens to our bodies when we use screens, both the benefits and the harms.”

This first class includes 52 sixth-graders from Scarlett, Tappan and Clague middle schools, as well as 11 UM students.

Master's student Wanting Qian, an education major, chose to take the course not only for internship credit toward the course and because she viewed digital wellness as an area of ​​interest after graduation, but also because of its interdisciplinarity.

“This course is interdisciplinary and co-taught by the faculties of social work, education and information, and I want to understand how these three aspects work together,” she said. “I also needed practical experience to put the theory into practice.”

Qian's studies focus on design and technologies for learning across cultures and contexts, and she has no doubt that this experience will benefit her future career.

“First, understanding trauma-informed practice,” she said. “This is a concept and theory that every teacher should know and incorporate into their teaching, taking into account students' previous experiences and personalities and responding culturally.

"Secondly, technology is evolving rapidly in today's world. We need to not only invest in new technologies, but also think critically about how they affect our lives and what we should do when we are exposed to negative influences, especially for the younger generation."

Muneer Khalid of the UM Center for Research on Learning and Teaching worked closely with Kolb and her colleagues Kristin Fontichiaro, clinical professor of information, and Beth Sherman, clinical associate professor of social work, to develop and support the new class.

According to the researchers, it was surprising to see what sixth graders and college students have in common when it comes to device use and their mental health issues. They hope many schools across Michigan and the United States can replicate this digital wellness program.

“Students of all ages had the opportunity to share stories, engage in conversations and discuss solutions to their challenges,” Kolb said. “This near-peer approach appears to lead to longer-term habit change, or at least an understanding of how individual feelings and emotions are affected by screen time.”

"There was a lot of joy in this project, which is different from the shame that often comes with school-related conversations/lectures about digital safety and citizenship. Healthy use of digital devices should feel good."

For sixth-grader Oliver Thomas, who attends Scarlett Middle School, balance was one of the big takeaways from the program.

“I learned that technology isn’t really a bad thing,” he said. "In some cases it can be bad, so you just have to monitor it. We've learned that social media, for example, can lead to higher rates of anxiety and depression. So I need to think more intelligently about how often I use social media, if at all. We should try to delay it as long as possible. But if we decide to use it, we should be smart and limit it in time."

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