Apply for Digital Well-Being Challenge (US)

The Office of Educational Technology (OET) in the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are partnering to launch the Digital Well-being Challenge. The Challenge will bring together selected school- or district-based teams to design and implement a solution addressing a problem related to digital citizenship and well-being in their school community that they’d like to address in the next 6-12 months.

Goals

• The Challenge has one overarching goal: for school- or district-based teams to co-design, alongside students, innovative approaches and strategies for addressing a range of digital citizenship and well-being issues facing schools and districts.
• They hope to accomplish this goal through several specific aims:
  • Connecting selected school- or district-based teams with specialists in social media and youth mental health, safety- and privacy-by-design, and responsible technology use from federal agencies, non-government organizations, and academia during a 1-day virtual co-design summit. Experts will share evidence-based research on issues of digital citizenship and well-being and provide feedback to teams as they design their projects.
  • Connecting school- or district-based teams with mentors and a minimum of $1,000 in prize funding that can be used to support implementation of their projects. (All prizes are subject to the availability of funds).
  • Embedding co-design and authentic youth engagement principles into the design of the summits to model these practices and empower educators to continue applying these principles in their school communities.

Funding Information

• Each selected team will receive a minimum of $1,000 in prize money after attending the virtual co-design summit.
• Winners are responsible for the payment of any applicable local, State, and Federal taxes, providing, if requested to do so, their personally identifiable information (e.g., their names, addresses, and taxpayer identification numbers) to Digital Promise, so Digital Promise can report payments to the Internal Revenue Service of $600 or more per tax year to an individual winner, and the reporting of any other taxes that are required under applicable tax laws.

Eligibility Criteria

• Any school- or district-based team with a primary point of contact who is a school or district staff member 18 years of age or older is eligible to apply.
  • Teams must include a school or district leader (e.g., Principal and/or Assistant Principal, Superintendent), at least one teacher, and at least two students ages 13+.
  • Teams may also include other school or district staff (e.g., school counselor(s), school librarian(s), curriculum coordinator(s)), family representatives, or representatives from community-based organizations.
  • They recommend that teams consist of 4-6 people.
  • For additional clarity on how teams will be evaluated please see the rubric for judging submissions.
• Entrants must:
  • Provide a submission according to the Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions in this notice;
  • Comply with all requirements on the Digital Well-being Challenge webpage and this notice;
  • Provide affirmation upon submission that a submission is eligible under paragraph (a) of this section.
  • Agree to:
    • Assume any and all risks and waive claims against the Federal government, its contractors including Digital Promise, and its other related entities, except in the case of willful misconduct, for any injury, death, damage, or loss of property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arising from their participation in the Challenge, whether the injury, death, damage, or loss of property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arises through negligence or otherwise;
    • Indemnify the federal government against third-party claims for damages arising from, or related to, Challenge activities, patents, copyrights, and trademark infringements; and
    • Comply with and abide by the Official Rules, Terms, and Conditions in this notice, and the decisions of the Department, which shall be final and binding in all respects.

Selection Criteria

• Each submission will be reviewed against a rubric by two reviewers who will be employees of the Department, SAMHSA, or Digital Promise, the Challenge Planning Team:
  • Teams will be scored on a scale from 1-5 across a number of categories.
  • The final score for a submission will be the average of the two reviewers’ scores.
  • The teams with the top 30 scores will receive invitations to participate in the Challenge. The Challenge Planning Team reserves the right to increase or decrease the number of selected teams.

Application Requirements

• To participate in the Digital Well-being Challenge, an entrant must:
  • Submit the required information on the Challenge entry form.
• Content and Form of Submission
  • To provide a submission, an entrant must complete the entry form according to the call for submissions notice from the Department. Responses will be evaluated against a rubric. Entrants must answer two questions to describe their problem statement and team:
    • “Please describe a problem statement related to digital citizenship and well-being that your school- or district-based team would like to address in the next 6-12 months.”
    • “Co-design is a process where different people or groups work together to solve a problem they all care about. The main ideas of co-design are building strong relationships and trust, making sure everyone has an equal voice and the process is inclusive, and focusing on helping people learn and grow. Explain how the main ideas of co-design outlined above relate to your team and how your team plans to use them in your work. Please note: Previous co-design experience is not required for participation.”

For more information, visit OET.