United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Open Pedagogy Fellowship
Mental Health and the Digital Society
Dr. Stephanie Hoon, Pima Community College (Arizona)
James Furgol, Montgomery College (Maryland)
Introduction:

2022-2023

Welcome to your role in an international mission. This mission is dedicated to expanding
educational access and championing student empowerment through "open pedagogy." In this
approach, you, as a student, are at the heart of an engaging, collaborative learning environment,
with the freedom to access your educational journey. What is this mission's ultimate goal? To
heighten social justice in our community, promoting the free exchange of knowledge and work.
Under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework, this renewable
assignment paves your path to becoming an agent of change within your community. Prepare to
embark on this transformative journey.
For this work, we will integrate the disciplines of Business and Professional Communications
and World History/Government to achieve the primary goal of responding to SDG #3: Good
Health and Well-Being. Within this SDG, we will focus on the specific targets of Mental Health
and Well-Being.
Purpose:
We will be focusing on the concept of mental health and well-being for this assignment. This
multi-part assignment focuses on health and well-being from your personal and worldwide
angles and how digitalization can affect mental health and well-being. It is aimed to be a multidisciplinary approach, so add areas and ideas that relate to your field of study.
Learning Objectives:
We want them to reflect and critically think about how media affects their mental health and
well-being.
Instructions:
Step 1: Review the information about digital-related stress at
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/health-sports-psychology/mental-health/how-manage-thedigital-related-stress-technology Once you have read this article, journal about the following
ideas:

1.
2.
3.
4.

How does digital-related technology affect your stress levels, and how do you know they are
affected?
What do you do to manage digital-related technological stress? What are some ways you
can control digital-related stress more effectively?
What apps may be helpful to you in managing digital-related technology stress?
Submit answers to these questions to your instructor. (20 points)

Step 2: Relate to your area of study. Continue to research digital-related technology stress and
come up with three of the most pertinent lessons from this article. Here are a couple of examples,
but be creative…this is your time to make this assignment valuable to you!
1.
2.
3.

A business major may think about ways to help employees reduce the stress associated with
digital technology.
A communications major may think about how this information is disseminated and analyze
the tone and wording of online sources to assess credibility.
Cite and reference these ideas in APA format and discuss how each relates to your study
area. (20 points)

Step 3: Complete and submit your essay by 11:59 pm on (date). The paper is broken into the
following three parts: (120 points)
Part 1 Self-Reflection: The first part of the assignment is to summarize how you see yourself
handling digital-related technology. Discuss at least three specific examples of how digital
technology affects your stress levels. Discuss at least three specific examples of how you can
healthily handle digital-related technology. (approx. 250 words, 1 page)
Part 2 Global Implications for Your Area of Study: The second part of the assignment is to
summarize how you see digital-related technology affecting humans' stress levels worldwide.
Support your ideas with research and provide at least three specific examples from a different
part or parts of the world than where you live. (approx. 250 words, 1 page)
Part 3 Conclusion: Concluding paragraphs go well beyond summing up the paper's main points.
Instead, you ought to explain whether the issue described in part 2 is ongoing as well as describe
the long-term implications of this issue. (50-100 words, approx. 1/2 page)
I encourage you to organize your paper by using subsection titles.
In total, your paper ought to be no more than 750 words or three pages. The title page and
reference list do not count toward the page count.
Research: You must include at least two academic sources along with any relevant course
material. One source will come from your school's library. The other source should be accessed
using Open Learn.
Citations: For this assignment, you must cite your work. This does not mean slapping on a list
of partially completed citations at the end of your assignment. You must tell the reader exactly

where you obtained your information. Use MLA or APA according to the instructions from your
instructor. Failure to cite your work will result in an automatic F (this is not negotiable).
For guidelines on APA citations, review the following website:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/ge
neral_format.html
For guidelines on MLA citations, review the following website:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/.
Writing: If research is the work of history, then writing is the art. Writing in a clear and
organized manner will assist the reader in understanding what you are saying and following your
argument(s). Content is certainly important, but if the reader cannot understand what you are
saying, then it does not matter how much research you put into this assignment.
This paper is not a copy-and-paste exercise. In other words, the majority of your essay ought to
be paraphrased (written in your own words that is supported by credible sources). Direct quotes
ought to be limited to supporting key points throughout your paper. Simply copying and pasting
large blocks of text from your sources reduces your voice and gives off an impression of
laziness.
Assessment Criteria:
Grading Rubric:
•
•
•

Step 1 Questions: 20 points
Step 2 Pertinent Lessons: 20 points
Step 3 Paper: 120 points
o Clearly summarized your method of handling digital-related technology (15
points)
o Provides at least three clear examples of how you see digital-related technology
affecting your stress levels (15 points)
o Discuss at least three specific examples of how you can handle digital-related
technology in a healthier manner (15 points)
o Clearly summarized how you see digital-related technology affecting humans'
stress levels from a worldwide level (15 points)
o Provide at least three specific examples from a different part or parts of the world
than where you live (15 points)
o Effectively cited and referenced three sources (15 points)
o Organization and development (15 points)
o Grammar and format (15 points)

Mental Health and the Digital Society is licensed by Dr. Stephanie Hoon, Pima Community
College (Arizona); James Furgol, Montgomery College (Maryland) under the Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA)