Discover how digital tools can be harnessed to teach essential SEL skills such as self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and relationship building. Learn practical tips, resources, and examples for integrating digital tools into your SEL instruction and fostering positive social-emotional development in students.

Self-awareness: The abilities to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts. This includes capacities to recognize one’s strengths and limitations with a well-grounded sense of confidence and purpose.

Technology can help students be more comfortable sharing their experiences. For example, students can create a video diary to document their daily activities and reflect on their emotions and reactions to different situations. Using tools such as Flip to record a reflection, or capturing ideas using Canva to create visual representations of their emotions or design a timeline of their progress and set goals, can help. Digital tools such as Kahoot, Quizizz, and Google Forms are helpful for creating self-assessment quizzes for students. With these tools, students can self-assess their knowledge, skills, and attitudes and receive authentic, meaningful, and timely feedback on their performance.  

Self-management: The abilities to manage one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations. This includes the capacities to delay gratification, manage stress, and feel motivation and agency to accomplish personal and collective goals.

Students can also use digital tools to create to-do lists, set deadlines, and make reminders using tools like Padlet or Google Keep. These tools can help students to visualize tasks they need to complete and learn how to manage their time more effectively. 

Brain breaks help with dealing with stress and managing emotions; for example, Flocabulary offers short brain break videos and activities that include music and movement that can be used in a Nearpod lesson. Meditation is also a great tool for self-management; teachers can explore JabuMind, and students can use Calm or Headspace. 

Students can also create vision boards, which are helpful for setting and visualizing goals. Tools such as Buncee provide templates to design a vision board, which is a collage of words, quotes, or images that represent goals that have been set. 

Social awareness: The abilities to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts. This includes the capacities to feel compassion for others, understand broader historical and social norms for behavior in different settings, and recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.

Relationship skills: The abilities to establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups. This includes the capacities to communicate clearly, listen actively, cooperate, work collaboratively to problem solve and negotiate conflict constructively, navigate settings with differing social and cultural demands and opportunities, provide leadership, and seek or offer help when needed.

Responsible decision-making: The abilities to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations. This includes the capacities to consider ethical standards and safety concerns, and to evaluate the benefits and consequences of various actions for personal, social, and collective well-being.

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