Should student well-being be an aspect of innovation in teaching and learning?
Students face increasing pressure during their studies. How can we embed student well-being in our teaching? What role do prevention, knowledge and expertise play? And should we see student well-being as an aspect of innovation in teaching and learning? This is what policymakers and teaching staff from various universities discussed at the ‘Well-being in the curriculum: thinking in possibilities’ knowledge-sharing day on 6 March.
Less comparison, more belonging
Keynote speaker Marjolein van de Pol (Radboud UMC) stressed how teaching and learning can improve resilience and well-being. She can see how the emphasis on performance and success affects student well-being – as does everything happening ‘all at once’ in this stage of life. Added to this, is a lack of mental self-care and an inability to talk about feelings. And social media and linguistic inflation also play a role. According to the National Student Well-being Framework, the following would improve student well-being:
- a sense of belonging;
- prevention;
- more knowledge and expertise;
- better collaboration between educational and external institutions.
Innovation in teaching and learning rather than well-being measures
Researcher and keynote speaker Maarten Dietz (Radboud University) spoke about implementing the Personal and Professional Development (PPO) learning trajectory and how he is focusing on identifying obstacles, success factors and best practices. He thinks the PPO should be seen not as a well-being measure but as innovation in teaching and learning – innovation that improves student well-being and helps ensure that higher education equips students for the outside world.
From inspiration to action
The day was about interaction as well as listening, with the attendees giving short pitches on initiatives they had launched. These were grouped into four important themes:
- How do you support student well-being in a full curriculum? Eindhoven University of Technology shared their experience of incorporating dignity and respect as a professional skill in a degree programme. And Sonja Wagenaar from Leiden University spoke about the role of mentoring in well-being.
- Study advisers, teaching staff, mentors and psychologists all play a part. How do you ensure effective collaboration? University of Twente has developed a short well-being course in which students work on resilience and stress management. The course has measurably positive effects.
- Students have different needs and backgrounds. Delft University of Technology emphasised the need to support gifted and talented students. It has also introduced empathy training that uses virtual reality to help teaching staff see the world through the eyes of students with autism.
- What does and doesn’t work? Delft University of Technology presented its Personal Development Week, where students reflect on their learning process. And Eva van der Meer from Leiden University presented the ‘Influence & Me’ course on the Honours programme, which is all about resilience.
Pointers for the future
The collected insights, key takeaways and practical tips from the knowledge sharing day can be found in the document inspiratiedocument (pdf, Dutch only).
What did attendees think?
Linda Zwinkels (Student Well-being Project Coordinator):
‘We got to share and explore the many different top-down and bottom-up initiatives. Institutions, faculties and degree programmes differ in how well-integrated well-being is in the teaching. The language we use is something we need to work on together. Ultimately, well-being means that students get through their studies successfully: that is the crux of well-being. We’re happy to share the inspiration and energy from the knowledge-sharing day with others at Leiden University.’
Angela van der Lans (Student Well-being Programme Manager):
‘We mainly concluded that Leiden University is already quite far – take our mentoring, transferrable skills, staff training and range of extracurricular options that can also be integrated in the teaching. There are many ways to integrate well-being in your teaching. There are no ready-made solutions. It’s clear that the attendees really appreciated this day. If you ask me, we should consider a follow-up.’
Elly van Laar (Faculty of Science Well-being Officer):
‘The keynote speaker was really inspiring. My top takeaway from today is the advice to link working on well-being in the teaching to a vision on teaching and learning, and to view it as innovation in teaching and learning.’
Eva van der Meer (Study Choice/Career Adviser):
‘Well-being is very concrete and affects us all. It’s about how we want our graduates to enter the world outside. That makes it a task that is an integral part of our teaching. Language is a crucial aspect of this; that was clear once more today. This means teaching a richer language (there is more between a ‘chilled out’ and a ‘shit’ day) to students and it means that we as policymakers should strip well-being back to the core: it’s about personal growth and development. Researcher Maarten Dietz (Radboud University) even spoke about innovation in teaching and learning. If you ask me, we have already got off to a good start by defining our transferable skills. That is something we can build on.’