FAQs- Education

Dr Kristy Goodwin is an award-winning researcher, speaker, author, and mum on a mission to help parents and educators raise happy, healthy children and teens who thrive online and offline.

As a researcher and educator herself, she’s spent most of her professional career researching and speaking about the ways in which technology shapes children’s and teens’ wellbeing, health, and learning.

She provides research-based but realistic advice and strategies to teachers and parents on how they can teach their children to use technology in productive and purposeful ways without reverting to phone bans or constant digital detoxes. Dr Kristy, author of Dear Digital, We need to talk shares realistic, research-based microhabits that people can apply to tame their digital habits and thrive in the digital world.

Dr Kristy also authored the book Raising Your Child in a Digital World and has conducted numerous evaluations and research studies for the New South Wales Department of Education and Communities.

Prior to becoming a speaker and consultant, she worked as an educator for 14 years with schools in both the public and private sectors. She also lectured at Macquarie University and University of Notre Dame and have completed a PhD on the impact of digital technologies.

Dr Kristy Goodwin draws on the latest research to inform educators and health professionals about how today’s learners’ digital immersion is shaping their childhood and adolescence. Dr Kristy translates the latest neuroscience and technological research into practical advice and simple strategies for parents and educators.  

Through her ongoing research Dr Kristy shares what ARE the big issues and risks facing kids and teens today and how kids’ digitalised childhoods and adolescence are shaping their capacity to learn and impacting their wellbeing.  She uses the science behind the seven, basic developmental priorities that kids have to ensure their development and will share strategies to ensure that screen-time doesn’t displace opportunities for these basic needs to be met and how to manage these issues in the long term.  

Dr Kristy Goodwin helps education providers understand the broad-ranging impacts technology is having on students, parents, educators and school leaders. Dr Kristy uses her extensive knowledge of how the brain works best, to create engaging learning experiences that ‘stick’ and create sustainable behavioural change.

Dr Kristy offers a range of keynotes and workshops for parents and educators.    These can be delivered in-person or online.  Dr Kristy has also developed her Student Digital Learning Programs to support students with topics of Digital Wellbeing and Digital Distraction.  Dr Kristy also offers various school packages to ensure that all stakeholders receive the same information.

Dr Kristy also works with corporate leadership teams, individual teams within an organisation or at corporate conferences, offsites and events. 

To embed digital habits, students need more than a one-off student workshop. Sustainable and longterm changes to behaviour require information, an opportunity to digest, discuss and make meaning from the information and opportunity to apply the strategies and techniques to their lives. This is why Dr Kristy has developed two digital wellbeing packages, rather than presenting single student sessions.  

Digital Wellbeing and Digital Distraction are the two programs that Dr Kristy has developed.  Each stream includes pre-recorded video modules (based on the latest research about students’
attention spans). You’ll have a site licence to access the digital resources for three months. You can
download and store the information on your school’s learning management system. These packages
have been designed for students in Grades 5-12, as an interactive multi-modal learning experience,
ideal for use in pastoral care time or as part of your wellbeing initiatives and give your students the time to "practice" and embed the micro-habits and strategies that I share in the program.

The past few years have ensured that ‘remote learning’, ‘Zoom’ and ‘Teams’ became part of our vernacular because of the global pandemic. The delivery of virtual masterclasses (webinars and online keynotes) have proven to be a wonderful tool to deliver virtual speaking engagements and training.  Dr Kristy has found the attendance at parent sessions to be significantly higher when the session is held virtually as it allows both parents to attend, negates the need for childcare and allows the session to be recorded and shared along with the resources Dr Kristy mentions to anyone who registers to attend, even if they cannot attend live.  

In the last four years Dr Kristy has delivered webinars to schools throughout Australia and internationally, speaking to thousands of parents, students and educators.  Dr Kristy is offering her signature Parent Seminars and Educator Professional Learning Workshops online or in person when multiple sessions are booked on a single day at the same location.  Her keynote presentation for training days and conferences can also be presented online or in person. 

If your school/education institution is looking to implement true habit and cultural change, Dr Kristy can be engaged to present one of her education packages which delivers parent and educators/school leader sessions, along with Dr Kristy's Student Digital Learning Packages to ensure that all receive the same (age appropriate) messages and gives a community consistent language around digital wellbeing and boundaries.  Engaging Dr Kristy to address the two most influential groups on our kids and teens, educators and parents, along with students themselves has proven to be more impactful than single sessions that addresses one of these groups alone.  When a school is wanting consistency and uniform adaption of habits that support learning and digital wellbeing, a holistic approach supports true transformation.  

Dr Kristy works not only with education providers but also with corporate clients to help organisations understand the broad-ranging impacts technology is having on employees (and their families) and how to fix it. Dr Kristy helps businesses prioritise their employees’ digital wellbeing, bolster their performance at work, minimise digital distractions and preserve staff wellbeing by taming their toxic tech habits (both at work & home).

Dr Kristy has worked with leadership teams, individual teams within an organisation or at corporate conferences, offsites and events. Dr Kristy can deliver keynote addresses (onstage, or in-person), half-day or full day workshops. She works with Australian and international organisations, both big and small.

If you would like to find out more information about your organisation engaging Dr Kristy please visit here.