The Digital Student: Challenges for Universities in a Post COVID World and How to Address Them

The Digital Student: Challenges for Universities in a Post-Covid World and How to Address Them provides a thorough discussion of digital pedagogy, enabling readers to understand effective digital teaching methodologies, particularly post-Covid, to enhance online learning experiences and quality. The book discusses issues that have little coverage elsewhere, including the social dimension of online student life, the needs of neurodiverse students, those with mental health concerns and acknowledges that students differ in their level of awareness and competency of how to operate within the digital world. Insights into the impact of digital technologies on student well-being and mental health are discussed and ways that students can be supported are suggested. Online harms to students posed by digital environments are explored, together with cybersecurity and strategies to mitigate the risks. Guidance is provided on digital policy development and implementation. Strategies are suggested to help universities adapt to the evolving digital landscape. A self-assessment tool is provided enabling universities to benchmark their policies and activities against best practice in order to develop and enhance their digital operations

• Discusses digital pedagogy and also draws on case studies using authentic student experience and empirical research into issues such as online harms and abuse, digital isolation, resilience, mental health and neurodivergence that have a far smaller body of knowledge
• Presents practical insights and solutions for dealing with problems that students may encounter in the digital world
• Includes a self-review tool enabling universities to benchmark their own policies, strategies and operations with best practice, which is applicable to any higher education institution in any location
• Explores in detail the social dimension of online student life and the risks and harms that may arise, and highlights the role of universities, as stakeholders in student safeguarding and providers of education, advice and support around these challenges

Andy Phippen is a professor of digital rights at Bournemouth University and a visiting professor at the University of Suffolk. He has worked with the IT sector for over 15 years in a consultative capacity on issues of ethical and social responsibility. He has presented written and oral evidence to parliamentary enquiries related to the public use of ICT and is widely published in the area. In recent years he has specialised in the use of ICTs by children and young people, carrying out a large amount of grass roots research on issues such as their attitudes toward privacy and data protection, file sharing and internet safety. He is a research partner with the UK Safer Internet Centre and is a frequent media commentator on children and the Internet

Professor Emma Bond is Pro Vice-Chancellor Research and Professor of Socio-Technical Research at the University of Suffolk.

Her research has covered virtual environments, mobile technologies and risk, particularly the everyday interactions between people, society and technology and in developing both innovative and accessible methodologies in research which foster participation with marginalised groups and challenge inequality