Assessing the Digital Well-Being of Student-Catechists: Pathways to Effective Cyber-Evangelization

Received: October 06, 2024 | Published: December 27, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.63130/hijcre.v1i1.108

Authors

Abstract

In today's digital era, catechists play an increasingly important role in utilizing digital platforms for evangelization and maintaining their overall digital well-being. Student-catechists can engage with their peers and younger generations through various digital platforms, enhancing their role in cyber-evangelization. This allows them to communicate the good news of salvation while collaborating with communities to interact with others; however, it is essential to ensure that their physical, mental, spiritual, social, intellectual, privacy, and safety are safeguarded while utilizing digital technology. This study aimed to assess the digital well-being of 15 student-catechists at the Notre Dame Center for Catechesis (NDCFC) in Cotabato City, Philippines during the academic year 2024-25. A descriptive quantitative research design was used, and the primary data-gathering tool was an adopted survey questionnaire. The student-respondents' assessments of their digital well-being were quantified using numerical values. The results showed that the student-catechists generally made positive assessments of their digital well-being, but identified areas that require improvement, particularly in the physical-digital well-being domain. It was recommended that student-catechists maintain a healthy digital identity and possess the necessary skills to navigate digital hazards. A digital well-being framework was proposed for implementation by NDCFC and other catechetical centers.

 

Keywords:   assessment, cotabato philippines, cyber-evangelization, digital well-being, student-catechist

 

Keywords:

descriptive quantitative, catechetical center

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Mary Ann Rhudy, Oblates of Notre Dame (OND)

Sr. Mary Ann B. Rhudy, OND, MA, FRIEdr is an Oblate Missionary Sister from the Congregation of the Oblates of Notre Dame currently assigned as the Directress of NDCFC in Cotabato City, Philippines. As a religious sister, she believes that advancing her profession as an educator and researcher will enhance her pastoral ministry engagements and align her commitment to the mission of God.

Ronnie Torres, Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI)

Fr. Ronnie L. Torres, OMI, PhD, DLitt, PDTQM, FRIEdr, FRIM is an Oblate missionary priest assigned to Thailand.  He is currently the Advisor to School Director for English Program – Oxford International Curriculum and Human Resources of Saint Nicholas School in Phitsanulok, Thailand. His research interests involve human resources, education, and total quality management.

References

[1] Bhattacharya, S., Bhattacharya, S., Vallabh, V., Marzo, R. R., Juyal, R., & Gokdemir, O. (2023). Digital well-being through the use of technology – a perspective. International Journal of Maternal and Child Health and AIDS, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.21106/ijma.588

[2] Boyd, J. (2021, December 11). Intellectual Wellness for the Digital Age - Jaimie Boyd - Medium. Medium. https://jaimieboyd.medium.com/intellectual-wellness-for-the-digital-age-ea917e0cf469

[3] Camilleri, R. (2024). The Identity, Mission and Formation of Parish Catechists for Child Catechesis. www.academia.edu. https://www.academia.edu/121720949/The_Identity_Mission_and_Formation_of_Parish_Catechists_for_Child_Catechesis

[4] Dovetail Editorial Team. (2023, February 5). Descriptive research: design, methods, examples, and FAQs. https://dovetail.com/research/descriptive-research/

[5] Gennari, R., Matera, M., Morra, D., Melonio, A., & Rizvi, M. (2023). Design for social digital well-being with young generations: Engage them and make them reflect. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 173, 103006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2023.103006

[6] Hunt, J. The Digital Way: Re-imagining Digital Discipleship in The Age of Social Media Journal of Youth and Theology, 2019

[7] Lausanne Movement. (2024, May 24). Discipleship in a Digital Age - Lausanne Movement. https://lausanne.org/report/digital-ministry/discipleship

[8] Liu, Y., Zhang, H., & Xu, R. (2023). The impact of technology on promoting physical activities and mental health: a gender-based study. BMC Psychology, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01348-3

[9] Madera, M., Torres, R., Ong, A. (2024). Exploring the digital well-being of senior high school learners towards the development of a digital-balanced blueprint. Exploring-the-Digital-Well-Being-of-Senior-High-School-Learners.pdf (apjaet.com)

[10] Making Disciples through Technology. (2023, November). The Navigators Singapore. Retrieved October 2, 2024, from https://navigators.org.sg/donation/resources/blogart92

[11] Molina, H. (2020, September 15). Alpha & Kerygma. Catholic Answers. Retrieved September 18, 2022, from https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/alpha-kerygma

[12] Park, S. Y., Huberty, J., Yourell, J., McAlister, K. L., & Beatty, C. C. (2023). A Spiritual Self-Care Mobile App (Skylight) for Mental Health, Sleep, and Spiritual Well-Being among Generation Z and Young Millennials: Cross-Sectional survey. JMIR Formative Research, 7, e50239. https://doi.org/10.2196/50239

[13] Rangel, D. (n.d.). Contextualized Discipleship: a catalyst system for the XXI century. SMU Scholar. https://scholar.smu.edu/theology_ministry_etds/23/?utm_source=scholar.smu.edu%2Ftheology_ministry_etds%2F23&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages

[14] Smith, T. J., & Niemandt, N. (2022). Exploring a missional pedagogy for transforming discipleship: Stellenbosch Theological Journal, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.17570/stj.2022.v8n1.a4

[15] Sng, B., Yip, C., & Han, N. (2016). Legal and ethical issues in research. Indian Journal of Anaesthesia, 60(9), 684. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5049.190627

[16] Temporal, W. (2020). Evaluation of the religious education in the catechetical program of the University of Saint Louis. International Journal of Research Studies in Education, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrse.2020.5723

[17] Vespoli, G., Taddei, B., Imbimbo, E., De Luca, L., & Nocentini, A. (2024). The concept of privacy in the digital world according to teenagers. Journal of Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-024-02242-x

Downloads

Published

12/27/2024

How to Cite

Rhudy, M. A., & Torres, R. (2024). Assessing the Digital Well-Being of Student-Catechists: Pathways to Effective Cyber-Evangelization. Hitik: International Journal of Catechists and Religious Educators, 1(1), 114–127. https://doi.org/10.63130/hijcre.v1i1.108

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2024): Hitik: Internationa Journal of Catechists and Religious Educators (12th National Conference on Catechesis and Religious Education)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Mary Ann Rhudy, Ronnie Torres (Author)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. Under this license, you may not use the material for any commercial purposes.

The images or other third-party material in this article are included under the Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material.

Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

Similar Articles

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.