STUDY TOUR REPORT

NSW Premier's Teachers Health Fund 

Health Education Scholarship - 2014 

STUDY TOUR REPORT 

Teaching Digital Nutrition: 

The benefits of Digital Citizenship education 

in promoting healthy online and technology habits 

to young people. 

Jocelyn Brewer 

School Counsellor | Registered Psychologist 

Chester Hill High School | Birrong Public School

CONTENTS 

Scholar’s Foreword Page 3 

Focus of the study Page 4 

Significant Learning Activities Page 5 

Significant Themes Page 10 

Discussion and Recommendations Page 12 

Further Information and Resources Page 12 

Conclusion Page 12 

Glossary of Key Terms Page 13 

References Page 14 

2 Jocelyn Brewer // Study Tour Report // Digital Nutrition // August 2015

SCHOLAR’S FOREWARD 

My interest in the impacts of technology and the potential for Internet enabled devices and activities to be 

‘addictive’ began when completed a research project as part of the NSW Department of Education’s 

School Counsellor Retraining program in 2009. 

The project titled ‘Young Males, the Internet and Online Games: Exploring the Impacts’ was the first of its 

kind in NSW to consider the role that increasing access to digital technology and the expectation for it’s 

use in learning as part of the Digital Education Revolution had on young people’s wellbeing and academic 

performance. 

Since this time, there has been a significant interest around the issues created by the uptake of digital 

technology and the moral panic around aspects of technology use/overuse/abuse and young people is 

now a regular feature of media reports and commentary. 

By continuing my work in this field, working with students, participating in dialogue on the trends and 

engaging with the media over the last six years, I have developed an expertise profile in issues relating to 

the ‘psychology of technology’ and its implications for education. 

Digital Nutrition was a term I coined around 2013, in response to the growing narrative about young 

people’s device use and analogies to drugs of addiction, pejorative conceptualisation of ‘Generation 

Screenager’ and the rise of the ‘Digital Detox’ (which presupposed technology is toxic when used in 

excess or compulsively). 

Digital Nutrition is way to conceptualise the ‘Digital Health and Wellbeing’ domain, which is one of several 

components of ‘Digital Citizenship’. It uses the analogy of food and healthy eating to propose we consider 

our relationship to technology in a similar way, by considering the impact of our ‘digital diet’ and 

consumption of information on our overall social, emotional and cognitive wellbeing. 

While the Digital Education Revolution (DER) has ended, the true transformative power of digital 

technology and internet enabled devices is only starting to be realised from the perspectives of pedagogy 

and engagement in health and wellbeing. Digital Nutrition (DN) is an attempt to explore and maximise 

these opportunities, while proactively managing the risks and threats. 

A note on terminology: 

A variety of interchangeable terms have been used to describe what is in effect the use of a digital 

technology device, characterised generally by a touch screen and the ability to access the 

Internet. 

These terms include: computers, desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, devices, digital devices, 

technology, digital technology, iPads, iPhones, Information and Computer Technology (ICT). 


FOCUS OF THE STUDY 

Given the ubiquitous nature of technology for both leisure and learning the scope of the study was wide 

and included a range of organisations, projects and individuals whose work has relevance to the wider 

Educational Technology (also known online as #EdTech) and Digital Citizenship (#DigCit). 

Internet Addiction (IA) and Problematic Internet Use (PIU) are synonymous. Both seek to characterise the 

apparent issues regulating compulsions when engaging in habitual use of digital devices. Neither are 

listed in DSM V as disorders, despite two decades of research. Nonetheless studies indicate that for a 

relatively small number of the population their use of computers, and more specifically particular online 

activities, will have negative impacts on interpersonal relationships, academic/work performance and 

physical wellbeing. 

This project originally sought to focus on the psychological and educational benefits of teaching students 

explicit skills to mediate and monitor their use of Screen Based Media Use (SBMU) in order to prevent 

issues which studies have shown to be associated with excessive and dysfunctional use (Walter and Tam, 

2013 and Starcevic, 2013). It sought essentially to allow me to develop the concept of Digital Nutrition 

more fully. 

The study tour aimed to develop a deeper understanding of the dynamics of SBMU and aspects of digital 

cultures that put young people at risk of PIU, and to explore the current resources which exist in this 

space. 

As a result of the study tour I have now widened my area of research to encompass how systematic, 

explicit teaching of Digital Nutrition (DN) can develop student resilience and wellbeing, by providing 

principles which balance the use of technology and real life activities and promote general concepts of 

wellbeing, connectedness and inclusion. 

Digital Nutrition does not delve into issues of cyber-safety or cyber-bullying prevention, nor does it seek to 

provide online mental health interventions. A wealth of resources specific to these topics are already in 

existence. 


SIGNIFICANT LEARNING ACTIVITIES 

Camp Grounded, a Digital Detox Summer Camp for adults. 

Camp Grounded was one of my first stops on the tour and provided me with an opportunity to ‘practice 

what I preach’ with regard to reduced and more mindful interaction with technology. This outdoor 

adventure camp draws on the nostalgia of many American’s experiences as young people going to 

Summer Camp. It aims to to develop conscious awareness of our hyper-connected lives and provides the 

opportunity to go on a 4 day ‘Digital Detox’ and connect with nature in the Red Woods forests 3 hours 

north of San Francisco. This is one of several organisations providing experiences that are a ‘return to 

analogue’; tapping the nostalgia we have for our pre-internet lives. 

Camp Grounded featured a range of ‘playshops’ and craft, art, wellbeing and physical activities, as well as 

a very powerful ‘silent dinner’ in which we were invited to remain in silence for several hours while 

mindfully reflecting on our fears, creating new dreams and sharing a meal without speaking. 

Photo above: The Silent Dinner at Camp Grounded – Mendocino, California – May 2015. 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for children & adolescents training at the Beck Institute 

Dr Aaron Beck is the ‘grandfather’ of CBT, one of the world’s most effective forms of psychological 

therapy. The opportunity to attend training in Philadelphia, which included a 90-minute audience and 

workshop with 94-year-old Dr Beck himself was a highlight of the tour. His model of CBT has been 

adapted to be more reflexive and now includes aspects of Mindfulness and other techniques which can be 

integrated into the core framework. 


Principles of CBT can be applied to treating people who have ‘addictive’ and compulsive behaviours as 

well as anxiety, depression and a range of common psychopathologies. The application to Problematic 

Internet Use is several fold, as well as in preventing PIU and creating strategies (such as ‘Catch, Check 

and Change’ thoughts) to bring awareness to our use/overuse of technology and the cognitions that create 

negative automatic thoughts and lead to mental health problems. 

Photo above: Some of the participants at the Beck Institute training – front row: trainer Torey Creed PhD, Dr Judith S 

Beck and Dr Aaron T Beck. 

The E3 Games Expo – Los Angeles 

I was very lucky to be invited to attend the E3 Games Expo in LA by the Educational Technology panel 

through Greg Toppo, education editor at USA Today and author of The Game Believes In You. I met Greg 

through connections on Twitter just days before meeting in Washington, DC and he was a great supporter 

of my work and ideas. 

Tickets to this enormous, highly anticipated showcase of video games are generally $US1000. E3 is a 

games industry and media event – it was opened for the first time this year to the public with a very limited 

number of tickets – and it is where the newest technology and releases from all the major gaming 

entertainment companies launch new products with much fanfare. This industry was valued at over 

$US15 billion in 2015. 

This year, the big news was surrounding Virtual Reality (VR) products such as Occulus Rift and Holo Lens 

and the way that VR is shaping personal gaming. There are a range of ways VR will be integrated into 

teaching, learning and the use of ‘games for health’. Many of the large title, huge budget games in this 

commercial industry are the source of concern for parenting and media education groups – the use of 

developmentally inappropriate violent games is the source of much research into aggression affects. 

Independent game design companies were also represented at E3 with IndieCade (an independent game 

design co-operative) showcasing a range of serious games in their modest section. Game designer Robin 

Hunicke was very positive about the concept of Digital Nutrition, discussing the ways that her designs and 

philosophy on games can link into the ‘superfoods’ idea. 


Selected meetings with individuals and organisations 

- Brisa Ayub at Common Sense Media, San Francisco 

Common Sense Media is a globally recognised resource for parents and educators which advocates 

for the safe, healthy applications of technology. They are the leaders in this space, and meeting with 

their head of education content helped clarify issues with regard to pace of change and gap between 

both parents and educators and within the skills of educators. 

- Greater Good talk with Kelly McGonigal at UC Berkley, meeting Jane McGonigal (briefly). 

Kelly McGonigal is a psychologist, yoga teacher and Mindfulness expert. Her first book was on Will 

Power, which is an underlying ‘soft skill’ that is required to mediate technology use. Her new book 

The Upside of Stress examines how harnessing sources of stress can be used positively. Her work 

has benefit to DN in its promotion of mindfulness and empathy. The upside of seeing Kelly speak 

was that her twin sister and game designer,Jane McGonigal, was at the talk and I had the opportunity 

to share DN with her. Jane’s work was instrumental in developing my interest in the benefit of games 

back in 2010 with her TED talk on how gaming can make the world better. 

- Amy Jussell from Shaping Youth 

Amy is an incredible energy in the space of Digital Literacy and media awareness, she has rich 

background and brilliant perspectives on many of the dynamic aspects relating to young people and 

the psychology of technology. Given I met Amy soon after my time at Camp Grounded, I was very 

interested in her thoughts on outdoor education and adventure camps to help young people develop a 

range of personal and physical skills which help them connect in nature and notice mindfully aspects 

of the natural environment. The balance of ‘greentime’ with screentime is a vital aspect to both 

development and wellbeing. 

- Dr Suzanna Flores – Author of Facehooked 

Suzanna is a clinical psychologist with a day job, who by night researched and wrote Facehooked 

based on her clinical observations. We had many aspects of work in common with Susanna working 

with mostly adolescents and emerging adults, whose worlds have been shaped by technology, 

especially social media. We both recognise the way that social media platforms have features which 

have the potential to create and generate negative cognitions, provides a platform for comparisons 

and negative self-appraisals huge comparisons and to develop a sense of FoMO (Fear of Missing 

Out) amongst users. 

While her book draws on the aspects of social media which show up as ‘addictive’, there is great 

scope to reverse this trend by placing a focus on the development of the soft skills, which protect 

against overuse and trends towards the negative thought patterns and habits evident in some types of 

social media use and dependency. The application of our clinical skills to the issue were also 

discussed with vigor. 

- Dr Erin Mason – school counsellor and creator of SCOPE4SC 

Erin trains school counsellors and has an interest in the use of technology in counselling. In the US, 

school ‘counselors’ have a different role – with more of a focus on career development and guidance, 

as well as counselling skills and child protection etc. We both felt that many of our colleagues were 

slipping behind in using technology as productivity tools in administration but also in the use of apps 

and games in their clinical practice, and at least a theoretical knowledge of aspects of youth culture 

(selfies, sexting, social media dependency etc). 


- Dr Devorah Heitner, Founder and Director of Raising Digital Natives 

Devorah runs excellent Digital Citizenship programs in Chicago, her TEDx talk touched on many 

fundamentals of DN – namely the way that empowering young people with technology and being 

curious about their online/digital worlds and collaborating with young people about setting limits and 

guidelines with their technology use. Her programs are rolling out in schools and she had a wealth of 

understanding of the nuances of technology use and a balanced approach to communicating benefits, 

not just moral panic around risks (which is the feature of many headlines relating to kids and 

technology). 

- Denise DeRosa, Program Manager, Good Digital Parenting – Family Online Safety Institute 

FOSI, like Common Sense Media are advocates for empowered, informed choices and information 

regarding parenting in the digital age. Based in Washington DC they have a large lobby base and 

links with the major social media and technology companies. Conversation centred around the lack of 

clear direction and understanding of the current research in regard to impacts of technology on 

developing brains and aspects of cognitive development – the reading of the research can be very 

difficult as the age of the games and the activities that young people engage in are so diverse, rich 

and the underlying social, cultural and economic factors and vulnerabilities are impossible to control 

for. The role of FOSI and CSM in interpretation of research and dissemination of key messages is 

vital. 

- Norman Shamas, Director of Curriculum & Pedagogy at TechChange 

TechChange is a vibrant start-up which seeks to provide high-level Digital Advocacy skills in a variety 

of areas, from health engagement to disaster management. It is unique in the way it leverages these 

skills for communities who need assistance in amplifying their messages and accessing audiences 

who they can work with to solve real world problems in grassroots communities. TechChange is 

about using technology for innovating developing/disadvantaged communities and providing 

innovative training in disseminating the ‘superfoods’ of technology for social change. 

- Interview with Manoush Zamorodi, host of the New Tech City podcast on WYNC. 

New Tech City is one of my favourite podcasts, it explores our modern relationship with technology 

and the intersection of human behaviour. At the end of 2014 they created a ‘Bored and Brilliant 

Challenge’ which saw over 20000 people sign up to adapt, tweak and control their online behaviours 

to get back a sense of control, create space for boredom and the creativity which is born out of it. I 

was invited to the studio for an interview and chat about my work and how it fits with the show’s remit. 

- Play@PREVENT team and Professor Bruce Wexler at C8Sciences team at Yale 

Play2Prevent develops Games for Health, and engages with young people to address public health 

issues. They’re work is clinically developed and tested to demonstrate outcomes and they have a 

team of interns and researchers who design, develop, test and analyse results. I was able to visit their 

development lab and discuss the issues with competition in the ‘apps for health’ space. An issue with 

apps is that so many available (over 1.6 million – about 10% are ‘educational’) yet there is no 

recognised way of reviewing the credentials of the designers or developers of the apps or the true 

efficacy of it (unless backed by clinical trials rather than popularity measures). 

Professor Wexler is a neuroscientist with a long and esteemed career in developmental disorders. 

His work with games designed to develop neuro-feedback and executive functioning skills is not, by 

his own admission, cool or popular – however rigorously designed and tested games using purist 

neurocognitive tests without the bells, whistles and gimmicks of commercial games (many of which 

have features of poker machines). 


- Meeting with David Polger, Digital Ethicist and Digital Lifestyle Expert 

David is another self-starter who has become a leading voice in the Digital Citizenship space, creating 

excellent resources such as the mental food plate and founding the DigCit Summit which brings 

together leading voices in the space. Our conversation lasted over 3 hours and spanned issues of 

Intellectual Property, finding unison amongst the diverse voices and developing networks to amplify 

and deliver key messages. 

- Greg Toppo – author of The Game Believes In You. 

Greg is the Education Editor for USA Today and a journalist with over 25 years experience. His new 

book came out just before we met Washington DC, and is an excellent resource on understanding the 

opportunities that (well designed and moderately used) games provide educators. Greg was 

incredibly generous with both his time but also energy in helping me connect with individuals who may 

be interested in the work and discussion. 

- Dr Michael Rich, the Mediatrician, Peadiatrician at Boston Children’s Hospital 

Dr Rich is a wealth of knowledge on media and psychopathologies, his ‘Ask the Mediatrician’ column 

and website is a globally recognised resource and his experience with the ‘pointy end’ of problems 

relating to the intersection of technology and psychiatry. His account of the significant issues he 

encounters helps frame the need for prevention and proactive interventions addressing issues of 

‘addiction’ to technology. 

- Janell Burley Hofmann – author of iRules. 

Janell came to fame as ‘Greg’s Mom’ in 2013 when her contract with her son Greg and his use of the 

iPhone he received for Christmas went viral and became the iRules book. Janell is a mother of 5 and 

is another of the balanced and realistic minds in the space of understanding the digital cultures that 

kids create and enjoy. We agreed that ‘tech-shaming’ parents for the way they allow their children to 

access digital devices is not useful in engaging parents with adaptive strategies and efficacy over 

their parenting skills. 

- Media Psychologist Dr Pamela Rutledge and Diana Graber at CyberWise 

Meeting Pamela and Diana was the final stop of the tour, and I was quite mentally fatigued. They 

both have incredibly rich knowledge of the nuances of the issue and have created resources and 

responses to the challenges. Pamela teaches at Fielding University and is able to unpack layers of 

technology impacts that dig deeper into the issues and help elucidate practical interventions. Diana’s 

CyberWise network and teaching program is well informed and matched to the needs of children as 

they learn to navigate the information age. 

- Dr Michelle Blanchard at Young And Well CRC, Melbourne. 

The Young and Well is a key organisation both Australian and internationally which champions the 

role technology has in the lives of young people’s mental health and wellbeing. I refer to their work 

regularly and it has helped inform my ideas on many aspects of both my role as a school counsellor 

and in thinking specifically about DN. Our meeting centred around their projects and the intersection 

with the development of DN . 

- Steve Dupon at The Institute of Games, Melbourne 

Steve is working on programs that address the issues relating to PIU and the need to develop coding 

and programming skills simultaneously. It was really affirming to hear his ideas and perspective and 

feel that my direction and perspectives were reflected in his experiences with young people in 

Melbourne. The Institute of Games looks to be a clear member of the Digital Nutrition ‘family’. 


SIGNIFICANT THEMES 

‘Screen-time’ is an out-dated concept: consider the content and context of online activities 

Considering a simple metric of time is no longer an effective way to consider technology use. In late 

September 2015, The American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) updated their advice to parents on 

children’s use of screen technology to removed time based guidelines and instead replaced these with 12 

principles for parents to guide technology use and it’s context. This is a welcomed adjustment to the way 

we consider Screen Based Media Use (SBMU), the challenge is now to disseminate these widely 

accepted principles to facilitate healthy development in a digital age. 

The discussions, research and public service/health announcements about what constitutes a ‘healthy 

digital diet’ must continue. A focus on translating science/research into interventions and strategies that 

can be used by busy parents as they struggle to keep up with the hyper-immediacy and rapidly changing 

digital media landscape is needed. Considering the deeper design principles and features of the games 

and apps that young people use is important as it helps us to understand the related cognitive processes. 

A good understanding of the relationship between design principles and features of software can help us 

to develop an understanding of how cognitions can form in a maladaptive way in the absence of 

regulation. Attention should be paid to the metaphorical ‘nutrients’ within an online activity and the way this 

activity might be loaded with calories or vitamins which enhance learning or social skills as well as the 

maladaptive potential. 

Digital Citizenship requires a larger focus as an integral part of the curriculum 

While a focus has recently been placed on 

developing technical skills in the form of 

programming code and practical uses and 

application of technology, an increasing 

emphasis is being placed on Digital 

Citizenship – the acquisition of skills which 

complement a wholesome, respectable 

digital citizen. The model of Digital 

Citizenship that the NSW Department of 

Education promotes has cyber-safety and 

cyber-bullying interventions embedded into 

it. 

Photo left: NSW DoE Model of Digital citizenship 

2011. 

The domain of Digital Health and Wellbeing requires further attention and proactive intervention program 

implementation in order to educate young people, and parents on ways to maintain the wellbeing in an era 

in which learning with technology is an expectation. 

The role of parents (in partnership with schools) is critical. 

The role of parents and the home environment play a critical role in child development and as such the 

digital world they participate in. Issues which arise out of PIU and technology dependence is not restricted 

to the home, many spill into school and require resourcing to effectively address the issues according to 

best practice and local legislation. 


The apparent ‘digital divide’ which exists between young people’s and their parent’s technical knowledge 

creates a situation in which parents may abdicate responsibility around their child’s use of technology until 

problematic use issues have arisen. There is currently a sense of ‘course-correction’ occurring in this 

area, with an increasing recognition that young people benefit and indeed welcome limits, guidelines and 

expectations around their use of technology both in the home and classroom. 

Social media offers an important tool for sharing messages and for schools to communicate with parents. 

Schools can sharing their day to day logistics and notices fulfilling an immediate information need but also 

use social media to better communicate key values and public service announcements that are relevant to 

the health and wellbeing of young people, and their parents. 

Gaming provides new opportunities for engagement, when used appropriately. 

Attitudes and stereotypes to technology use and particularly the use of games is shifting. The use of 

games for health and learning is becoming more popular and the movement to design games with richer 

narratives and perspectives, more purposeful play outcomes which solve real world problems is 

increasing. 

The online commercial games, mostly designed for pure entertainment and for adult audiences are the 

ones that come to mind when we think about gaming. The serious games and independent games 

movement is one that offers new opportunities for student engagement and learning when used in balance 

with a range of other strategies. The challenge is for teachers to develop their capacity to make use of 

gaming and then to move towards best practice use of gaming in the classroom. in the biggest challenge 

is for educators to adopt and develop expertise in Games Based Learning as quickly as digital cultures 

and trends emerge. 

Mindful and meaningful technology use is fundamental to preventing PIU. 

In advocating for mindful and considered technology use, the need for balance with offline skills and 

interactions is essential. Mindfulness is being researched widely in its application for both preventing and 

treating a range of mild mental health issues, including anxiety and depression. 

There is a need to explicitly teach soft skills like self-control, will-power and intrinsic motivation in order to 

bring awareness to the ways that digital technology can create compulsive and habitual habits of use 

through the positive and intermittent reinforcement many online activities provide. Many of these skills are 

expected but not taught. Social and emotional learning (SEL) is a growing area of instruction in the US 

that embeds these skills into classroom instruction. Apps and games cannot effectively teach empathy or 

eye contact, or gross motor skills – and educators need to be wary of reliance on technology for 

engagement. 

By cultivating soft skills, mindful and meaningful awareness of their actions and cognitions y mindfulness 

and meaning young people develop skills and strategies to live more rewarding and enriching lives in 

general. 

Uniting key voices in the #DigCit and #EdTech space 

The wealth of information, ideas, resources and key organisations in the space which straddles Digital 

Citizenship and Educational Technology is extraordinary, although fragmented. My tour united many of 

these organisations through introductions and social media mentions, harnessing many of the resources 

and developing presentations to school counsellors and psychologists back at home on the range of 

issues and ways to work with them. 

The power of this ‘tribe’ to share, collaborate and amplify key messages is currently gathering pace with 

the co-ordination of the Digital Citizenship Summit (which is due to take place in October 2015) and the 

possibility of an Australian DigCit Summit in 2016 (as a partnership between Be Smart, Be Social and 

Digital Nutrition). 


DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 

Digital Citizenship, Digital Wellbeing and Digital Nutrition lie within a burgeoning field of enquiry with the 

potential to positively shape overall wellbeing outcomes of young people. 

Various perspectives on issues relating to young people and technology are shared in the media, many 

are pejorative, and there is much confusion around what is best practice as demonstrated by scientifically 

backed research. It is important that along with developing 21 st Century learning skills, students are also 

enabled to develop critical media and digital literacy skills and these become a central component in 

pedagogy. 

I foresee that a Digital Nutrition program of a suite of 15-minute tips/hacks and concepts could be part of 

the Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) program. Digital Nutrition is about encouraging awareness of 

positive behaviours and seeks to maximise learning opportunities using technology. The delivery of a 

Digital Nutrition program for lower secondary school students would be useful to set up healthy habits as 

many ‘legally’ get social media accounts as they turn 13. The role of peer awareness and mediation of 

technology overuse is also a powerful mechanism by which young people can self-monitor and set social 

mores around their digital habits within their friendship groups. 

MORE INFORMATION AND RESOURCES 

Digital Nutrition was outlined in my TEDx talk at the Northern Sydney Institute (part of TAFE NSW) in May 

2015. Titled ‘The quest for digital superfoods’ this 15 minute presentation outlined the premise and 

aspects of the study tour. It can be viewed here. I have also engaged in a range of media appearances 

relating to Digital Nutrition which can be viewed here. 

Digital Nutrition is a concept which I will continue develop as a personal project over the next few years. I 

hope to see it develop into a dynamic resource which brings together the best practice principles and 

practitioners in the areas of Educational Technology, Digital Citizenship and the Psychology of 

Technology. 

Ongoing updates and information can be found at: www.digitalnutrition.com.au where links to social media 

channels and valuable blogs can be found. 

CONCLUSION 

Parents rely on the advice and information of policy makers, educators and experts in order to make 

reasoned decisions for their families. Ongoing communication and collaboration between schools, 

parents and other agencies is invaluable in disseminating information and up-skilling and empowering 

parents and young people in strategies to maintain and improve their wellbeing. 

Technology and the Internet are here to stay. We have the choice to be proactive and informed in the way 

we integrate this powerful tool into our educational, social, cultural and leisure practices and maximise the 

benefits it has on advancing our wellbeing. 


GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS 

Cyber-bullying 

Cyber-safety 

DER 

DigCit 

Digital Nutrition 

Digital Health and 

Wellness 

EdTech 

FoMO 

GBL 

The use of technology to perpetrate bullying behaviours. 

Issues relating to young people and their safety online, ranging from their digital footprint to 

privacy issues and use of social media to connect with ‘friends’. 

Digital Education Revolution: a federal government program valued at $2.4 billion over 7 years 

from 2008. It aimed to provide laptops to all public high school students from year 9-12 as well 

as deploy high speed internet and upskill teaching capacity for ICT. 

Abbreviation for Digital Citizenship: skills and characteristics of a person who engages regularly 

and effectively in digital technologies and the Internet. 

Concept for teaching healthy and sustainable technology habits created by Jocelyn Brewer in 

2013. 

An aspect of Digital Citizenship which covers the awareness of the physical stress placed on our 

minds and bodies by internet usage. For example impacts of eye strain, headaches, stress 

problems, interpersonal relationships etc 

Educational Technology: a movement of pedagogy interested in the use of technology to 

enhance learning. 

Fear of Missing Out: a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding 

experiences from which one is absent, characterised by being constantly connected to the 

internet and social media. 

Games Based Learning: type of game play that has defined learning outcomes, designed to 

balance subject matter with gameplay and the ability of the player to retain and apply said 

subject matter to the real world. 

Games for Health 

IA 

Part of the ‘serious games’ movement – development, use, and applications of game technology 

for improving physical and mental health and well-being. 

Internet Addiction: see PIU 

ICT Information and Computer Technology: see ‘note on terminology’ on page 3. 

Oculus Rift Virtual Reality head mounted display (like goggles) due for release in early 2016. 

PIU 

SBMU 

Serious Games 

Soft skills 

Technology 

VR 

Problematic Internet Use: excessive or poorly controlled preoccupations, urges, or behaviours 

regarding computer use and internet access that lead to impairment or distress. The problem is 

more common in adolescent males than females and is very often linked to playing online 

games. 

Screen Based Media Use: the term by which we consider the screen mediated media rich 

activities conducted using ICT. 

Serious games are the paradoxically named games which simulate real-world events or 

processes designed for the purpose of solving a problem. They can be entertaining, their main 

purpose is to train or educate users, though it may have other purposes, such as marketing or 

advertisement. 

The cluster of personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, 

interpersonal skills, managing people, leadership, etc. that characterize relationships with other 

people. 

Various definitions, which have changed over the last 200 years -- the simplest of which is 

something that has been created through the application of mental and physical effort to solve 

problems and craft solutions, thereby achieving some value. 

Virtual Reality: immersive multimedia or computer-simulated life, replicates an environment that 

simulates physical presence in places in the real world or imagined worlds and lets the user 

interact in that world. VR artificially creates sensory experiences, which can include sight, 

hearing, touch, and smell. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY/ REFERENCES 

McGonigal, J. (2011) Reality Is Broken. 

McGonigal, J. (2015) SuperBetter 

McGonigal, K. (2015) The Upside of Stress. 

Starcevic, V. (2013). Is Internet addiction a useful concept? Australian and New Zealand 

Journal of Psychiatry, 47(1), 16 – 19. DOI: 10.1177/0004867412461693 

Tam, P., & Walter, G. (2013). Problematic Internet use in childhood and youth: evolution of a 21 st century 

affliction. Australasian Psychiatry, 21(6), 533-536. 

Toppo, G. (2015) The Game Believes In You.

STUDY TOUR REPORT

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?