1st Interactive Webinar:
Tackling Technostress in Distance Learning
The first POSITIVE LEARN Interactive Webinar was held on Thursday 19th January 2023.
The recent Covid-19 pandemic had a profound effect on school education. Overnight, school education experienced a massive shift to online-only learning.
It became evident that the effective take up of digital technologies and innovative pedagogies in education calls for a rethinking of the portfolio of digital competences of educators:
- competencies to move seamlessly towards digital learning scenarios and
- competencies and skills to react to psychological effects such as technostress, depression or isolation.
While the basic technology skills for educators are adequately supported (e.g. DigiComp for Educators framework), positive interventions and emotional aspects are rarely addressed.
The webinar was titled “Tackling Technostress in Distance Learning”.
Participants had the opportunity to:
- Learn how technostress is affecting Distance Learning in schools.
- Explore the most common stressors affecting teachers and students.
- Discuss the available mitigation options
In this webinar, Dr. Dimitra Pappa, project coordinator from NCSR Demokritos, presented the POSITIVE LEARN project and described its scientific goals.
Dr. Kati Clements from the University of Jyväskylä gave an introduction to Positive Computing and Technostress.
Mikko Muilu educator from Finland spoke about his experiences of teaching online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prof. Dr. Jan M. Pawlowski from Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences presented early findings of the project in three thematic areas:
- Theme I: Technostress related to technology use and network connections
- Theme II: Technostress related to Access to learning materials/educational content
- Theme III: Technostress related to Professional development of teachers
Dr. Sofoklis Sotiriou from Ellinogermaniki Agogi summarised the conclusions drawn and the way forward.