On September 24th, our team had the opportunity to share our findings at the First Year Experience Science Education Symposium. Our audience was a wonderful group of (mostly) science instructors. Before sharing the results, we asked our audience to rate their skill/knowledge in four areas; at the end of the presentation, we asked the audience the same four questions. The difference was remarkable!
| Average | ||
| Pre | Post | |
| I am knowledgeable regarding the impact of mental health and wellbeing on learning | 7.3 | 7.7 |
| I believe that faculty members are responsible for supporting student wellbeing | 8.3 | 9.3 |
| I have the skills to enhance student wellbeing through my teaching practices | 5.4 | 8.0 |
| I am knowledgeable about teaching practices that promote student mental wellbeing | 4.5 | 8.6 |
It seems that these 20 instructors are already using many of the teaching practices that promote student wellbeing – they just didn’t aware that’s what they were doing! Since they were already using many of the teaching practices we shared during our presentation and on our handout, our challenge to them was to identify one or two new ideas they could incorporate into their teaching to move from good to great to exceptional.
Now it’s your turn: you are probably incorporating many practices that promote wellbeing into your teaching. In the comments, please share the techniques that you are already using and any new ideas that you are inspired to try!