Syllabus Design
EDAC 635: Syllabus Design (Group 1)
Social and Emotional Wellness for Students
Introduction:
Social and Emotional Wellness (SEW) is the process of understanding yourself and utilizing the skills necessary to express and appropriately manage emotional responses.
This course on social and emotional wellness was designed for students to learn how to be more successful in the classroom environment. This course applies to all adult learners who are seeking to develop their social and emotional wellness skills. In this course, we will be learning about social and emotional wellness, what it is, how it applies to student wellness, and how to utilize social and emotional wellness to improve your outcomes as a student.
This course will be taught by five different instructors who are both specialists in their field of study and in developing courses that understand the importance of emotions in learning. Each facilitator will teach a sub-topic that is important to social and emotional wellness during a three-week unit, these topics will include, self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. Through these sub-topics, students will have the opportunity to apply and demonstrate their knowledge during discussion-based learning, in-class assignments, and group projects. By the end of this course, learners will develop or improve upon skills to advance their social and emotional wellness, this will lead to better outcomes towards student success.
Course Rationale
As facilitators, we wanted to design our syllabus to be inclusive of emotions. Emotions are biological, physiological, and instinctive feelings surrounding an individual’s mood, circumstance, or relations (Oxford Learners Dictionary, n.d.). According to Mackeracher (2004) powerful and prolonged emotional responses are common in adults who are engaging in the learning process. As facilitators, this demonstrated to us that this embodiment of strong and extended emotional responses needed to be acknowledged, and learners need to be taught the skills necessary to be emotionally intelligent, manage their stress, anxiety, and motivation. When emotions are recognized and acknowledged by the facilitator, peers, and learner it promotes a positive learning experience and ultimately helps support the student’s development, leading to more successful outcomes.
Emotions in learning
There are three main factors that play an abundant role in the emotions and learning that we as facilitators wanted to incorporate into our syllabus. Those three main factors are arousal, emotion, and stress. If educators can get learners of all ages to understand the “why” they are learning this content, then educators can have learners make a strong emotional connection with the content. This will then drive arousal up that will help with the physiological state of the learner and be able to handle stress while adapting to changing scenarios in their education. However, learners cannot get too high or too low in their arousal levels and try to maintain a positive emotional outlook on the content that they are receiving.
Being able to incorporate these concepts into our syllabus really helps drive our students to make connections to their own learning, past, present, and future. Once a learner is able to make that positive connection the more they buy into the concepts that teachers are trying to convey to them. Having students have a real connection and positive experience is irreplaceable in the world of education. This is why educators wanted to incorporate emotions and learning. Students that make a positive connection and understand why they are learning the content will drive them to succeed and buy into the content instead of running away from it because they do not understand how it will help them in the future.
Emotional intelligence
Emotional Intelligence is recognized by Mackeracher (2004) as a demonstration of five components of emotional intelligence as it relates to learning: knowing your emotions, recognition of others’ emotions, managing your emotions, motivating yourself, and management of relationships (Mackeracher, 2004). As facilitators, we sought to include the practice of emotional intelligence into our syllabus because when a learner is taught, encouraged to use, and receives knowledge in a way that recognizes the influences along with the social components that the learning incorporates it will lead to more successful outcomes.
We chose to incorporate emotional intelligence into our course and syllabus by supporting learners in individualized goal-setting plans at the start of the course, including and acknowledging emotions and emotional responses during all the lessons, activities, and discussions. Facilitators will also teach and demonstrate positive coping skills, empathy, flexibility, and support students in utilizing positive problem-solving skills. Facilitators will hold a safe space for learners to express their feelings to others while engaging in open discussion forums and team-building activities to support building relationships. Facilitators will always recognize and be inclusive of learners' varying emotional states, and motivation levels to create a supportive learning environment.
Stress in learning
The act of learning new information is inherently stressful. Anytime we are presented with a novel situation or piece of information that challenges our already established sense of reality, there is the potential for our bodies to react with stress response (Mackeracher 2004). Physiologically, a stress response typically involves elevated heart rate and breathing rate, sweating, and increased blood pressure; any one of these physical responses could be detrimental to learning, and taken all together they can impede learning entirely. Somewhat counterintuitively, then, it is interesting that controlled levels of stress can actually have beneficial effects on student learning goals. It is important for the facilitators of this course to not only be aware of the opposing negative and positive impacts stress can have on the learning process, but also to foster healthy coping strategies in their students.
The Social and Emotional Wellness for Students course will provide students with ample opportunities to practice managing stress in a safe environment. The facilitators will lead the students through different hypothetical stressful scenarios and discuss various methods for coping with the ensuing feelings. The students will have a chance to discuss the potential benefits and detriments of their natural stress responses to help them learn the differences between using stress and coping with it. “Wellness Wednesdays” will be used to provide the students with a designated safe space for them to discuss sources of stress and what strategies they are using to manage that stress. By encouraging the students to discuss their stress with and in front of their peers, we hope to help them build a support network that will persist beyond the completion of this course.
Anxiety in learning
Adult learners tend to have higher expectations of their own performance and expect perfection, leading to more anxiety about their performances and self-worth if they are unable to perform at that high level (Saddington, 1992). For this reason, we have implemented a contract grading system. This system grades students on the labor they put into the course rather than their proficiency in the course content, allowing them the freedom to try new things in the classroom. It also counteracts adult learners’ proclivity to have unreasonable expectations of themselves. Using this grading system, adult learners will learn to appreciate the work they are doing in the class over-focusing on the grades they are getting in the class. Another way we will reduce anxiety over grades is by returning assignments quickly so students will not ruminate over whether or not they performed well.
Adults learners who have had previous disempowering experiences in the classroom will be more likely to experience anxiety because they will worry it will happen again (Saddington, 1992). “Wellness Wednesday” will be used as a weekly check-in that encourages learners to share their experiences throughout the semester. Demonstrating that the facilitators care about the emotional worlds and experiences of the learners through this weekly check-in will work to correct the residual anxieties brought on by previous disempowering experiences. In addition, the Zoom policy states that students do not need to turn on their cameras if they are not comfortable and they can participate via the chat function in Zoom. This policy will prevent facilitators and students from getting into a power struggle over requiring students to participate in a certain way that could result in a disempowering experience. In fact, allowing the student to decide how to participate will provide them with a corrective experience that shows they are empowered in this classroom. As facilitators, we will check in with ourselves when we are noticing emotional dysregulation so that we do not inadvertently create more disempowering experiences for our students.
“Wellness Wednesday” will also be used to build community and create a relaxed atmosphere in the classroom. When students have the chance to get to know one another’s inner worlds, they are less likely to feel anxious speaking in class. “Wellness Wednesday” will, therefore, reduce anxiety, thereby increasing working memory (Vytal et al., 2013). Increasing working memory will help students with accomplishing tasks during our Zoom classes throughout the semester. Another means of reducing anxiety will be through mindfulness techniques. Students will learn mindfulness techniques in the content of the class, and we will incorporate them periodically in the class to help students return to a state of calm.
Because some anxiety can increase motivation to study or complete a task and provide a sense of readiness to accomplish difficult tasks (Gkonou, 2020), we will challenge students in our class discussions to dig deep into the content and make meaningful connections between their lived experiences and the topics we are discussing.
Motivation in learning
Mackarcher (2004) emphasizes the importance for students to feel like they are capable of achieving their desired outcome. This feeling cultivates intrinsic motivation which allows them to remain invested and engaged in a learning experience. One valuable tool in this process is feedback from the instructor that provides an explanation on how the student’s behavior impacts the progression toward their goal(s). Effective feedback includes clear suggestions that target specific changes in behavior that will impact learning. It is also important for the student to reflect on their thinking and/or behavior and how it impacts their success and satisfaction. This course will provide learners with the opportunity to set learning goals and the instructors will provide meaningful feedback to support student achievement. Learners will also be encouraged to reflect on their emotions and behaviors in order to identify areas where they can grow. There will be journaling assignments with writing prompts to support this process. These learning activities have been designed specifically to cultivate and sustain motivation for learning in adult students.
Adult learners experience unique demands on their time and energy from other sources, like their family, work, and/or other responsibilities. This may cause the learner to become distracted or worried about another responsibility which can then lead to a lack of focus and motivation for the learning experience. This can have a significant negative impact on how the learner views themself as a student and their ability to achieve academic success. In this course, students will develop strategies to deal with stressors and make sound decisions. The flexible deadlines and emotional support embedded throughout the course provide a culture of acceptance to promote growth as students experience a conflict.
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Social and Emotional Wellness for Students
Ball State University
Graduate School
Fall 2021
Online: Synchronous and Asynchronous
Meetings are online, synchronous, and asynchronous
Dates: August 23, 2021 – December 12, 2021
Finals Week: December 13, 2021 – December 17, 2021
Class Zoom Link:
Meeting ID: 123 123 1234 Password: SEW
**All Open Virtual Office Rooms are via Zoom and are drop-in. You will be held in a waiting room until the instructor is available to speak with you. Email for an appointment outside set office hour times.**
Description of Semester End Activities:
Final Project: Self-reflection paper: Due 12/17
Instructor/Course Evaluation:
1. Mid Course Reflection during week 9. Link found in Canvas.
2. Final Course Reflection during week 16. Link found in Canvas.
Grading Contract:
Our goal is that you leave this class with more experience in emotional wellness and with better ways to navigate the work of emotional wellness. And emotional wellness is just that, work. Therefore, instead of grading by standards of proficiency, we will be grading your work as complete or incomplete. If you submit your assignments and meet the requirements of each assignment, you'll earn full points. If you don't submit an assignment, you'll earn 0 points. If you submit an assignment but don’t meet the requirements, you’ll receive a 0, and will have one week to resubmit for full credit. Your grade will be determined by dividing the number of points you earn by the number of points possible in the class. If you complete all of the work for this course, you will receive an A. We hope that this contract allows you to relax and focus on the actual work of emotional wellness.
Grading Scale Breakdown:
Each week is worth 10 points.
The final Self Reflection paper is worth 20 points.
Total possible points earned: 180
Letter Grade by Points Breakdown:
Highlights:
One highlight of our syllabus is our contract grading policy which directly relates to both the purposes and objectives we have for the class and the content of the class. Contract grading emphasizes the students’ work over the students’ performances since every student will enter our class at different points in their emotional wellness and won’t necessarily need to exit the course at the same level of emotional wellness (nor would that be a reasonable expectation).
Another highlight of our syllabus is Wellness Wednesday, which is a recurring discussion board check-in where students respond to a facilitator’s questions and to each other. This was designed to build relationships, community and allow learners to practice and demonstrate emotional intelligence. Wellness Wednesday also provides an opportunity for self-reflective practices where students are able to see themselves better in relation to others. Self-reflection allows students to see things from a new, often different perspective. This gives students a better appreciation of their relationships and the value that each of them brings.
Wellness Wednesday will be monitored closely as it is important for this discussion board to be a safe and inclusive space for learners. Wellness Wednesday will encourage learners to recognize and share their feelings in a respectful way that demonstrates kindness and empathy towards others. Inappropriate posts will be followed up on immediately by facilitators and redirected using educational methods that will aim to provide behavioral modification.
Additionally, our Zoom policy will make students feel more comfortable and secure while still providing them with an opportunity to participate in synchronous Zoom classes. Not having to turn their cameras on and being able to communicate through the chat feature will reduce anxiety and potentially lead to more vulnerable conversations.
Process:
To complete this task, our group used the Canvas group function and created a discussion board. From there we discussed different topics we could teach. Since we didn’t have much in common in terms of what we typically teach, we chose to go with a topic we were each somewhat familiar with (Emotional Wellness). We also thought it would make sense to teach a topic related to the theory we wanted to demonstrate.
Our facilitator Jennifer created the google doc and laid out the key sections and policies. This was helpful as it gave us a template to work in. Next, Roxanne broke the topic down into units so there would not be any overlapping in topics, and our course would be inclusive of all the main points of emotional wellness for students. Our group continued to communicate using the discussion board, however, after a while this became challenging and burdensome so we began to use the google doc’s comment function to leave comments on our syllabus.
Each group member chose a unit and was free to select assignments and readings for our units, most of which we found by googling the topic of our units. Each person edited the google doc for their unit, their part of the rationale, and their part of the summary table. To produce the final syllabus project we all contributed to proofreading and editing to make sure our project was cohesive and inclusive of all our main points.
Summary Syllabus Design Table:
References
Abdaal, A. (2021, April 19). 7 essential self-management skills: Definition, examples, and tips. Ali Abdaal. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://aliabdaal.com/self-management-skills/.
Abudi, G. (2012). Using emotional intelligence to build and strengthen working relationships. Northeast HR Association. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.nehra.com/page/emotionaliq/USING-EMOTIONAL-INTELLIGENCE-TO-BUILD-AND-STRENGTHEN-RELATIONSHIPS.htm.
Auyeung-Chen, R. (2017). Building connections: How to be a relationship . youtube.com. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBmMZFMPf18.
Bricker, J. (2014, December 22). The secret to self control. YouTube. Retrieved October 21, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTb3d5cjSFI.
Castillo, B. (2020). Self management skills | the life coach school. The Life Coach School. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=797MaRP7c-Y.
Celestine, N. (2019). Self-Consciousness-scale. Positive Psychology. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FXhlzoJkYK_Y7y1V6k-W2rrAuKZkodnc/view?usp=sharing.
Celestine, N. (2019). 3 Mindfulness Exercises. Positive Psychology. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yc1nrsaU3Gi0A3GFo8-S7ESlYDripUz5/view?usp=sharing
Dann, J., & Dann, D. (2012). The emotional intelligence workbook. Hodder Education ; New York.
David, S. A. (2017). Emotional agility: get unstuck, embrace change, and thrive in work and life. Penguin Life.
Eurich, T. (2017, December 19). Increase your self-awareness with one simple fix | Tasha Eurich | TEDxMileHigh. YouTube. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGdsOXZpyWE.
Felten, P., & Lambert L. M. (2020). Relationship Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Gilliam, J. (2019). Signature strength questionnaire (SSQ-72) - SBR: Strengths-based Resilience. https://strengthsbasedresilience.com. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://strengthsbasedresilience.com/assessments/ssq72.
Gilman, S. (2015). Good boundaries free you | Sarri Gilman. youtube.com. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtsHUeKnkC8.
Gkonou, C. (2020). Test anxiety in adult learners. Cambridge University Press.
Henry, K. (2011). What is self-management? Know Your Own Health. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac13iuGByRQ.
Kahn, J. (2017). The importance of empathy. LifeHacker. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzPMMSKfKZQ.
Khan, S. (2019). How to Write a SMART Goal. Khan Academy. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.khanacademy.org/.
Lawson, K. (2016). The trainer's handbook (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Leslie, J. (2014). Introduction to self-management - transforming education. Transforming Education. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://transformingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Introduction_to_Self-Management_Handout_Final_CC.pdf.
Miller, A. (2016). Self management. Scribd. Retrieved October 21, 2021, from https://www.scribd.com/document/508963854/self-management.
Obermayer, J. (2015). Let's talk about self-management. Youtube. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjdvqFZkdMM.
MacKeracher, D. (2004). Making sense of adult learning (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division.
Manson, M. (2021, May 25). The guide to strong boundaries. Mark Manson. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://markmanson.net/boundaries.
McClure, B. (2020). Social Emotional Learning Video Lesson Week 9. Lessons for SEL. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reM8uQVqgoM.
Meyer, E. (2018). The importance of self-management skills - glassdoor blog. GlassDoor. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/guide/self-management/.
Munro, I. (2021). What is self-management, and how can you improve it? BetterUp. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.betterup.com/blog/what-is-self-management-and-how-can-you-improve-it#:~:text=Self%2Dmanagement%20is%20our%20ability,a%20conscious%20and%20productive%20way.&text=Self%2Dmanagement%20means%20you%20understand,need%20to%20fulfill%20that%20responsibility.
Peixoto, P. (2019). Self management techniques - emotional intelligence. WholeWorker. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Nrk3GaW1pU.
Saddington, J. A. (1992). Learner experience: A rich resource learning. Empowerment through Experiential Learning: Explorations of Good Practice. Kogan Page Ltd.
Suess, J. (2015). Power to the people: Why self-management is important. EDUCAUSE Review. Retrieved October 21, 2021, from https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2015/9/power-to-the-people-why-self-management-is-important.
Tiwari, S. (2020, April 27). Importance of Self Management Skills: Get Ahead In Your Job. YouTube. Retrieved October 21, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSm81SS4pIQ.
Vytal, K.E., Cornwell, B.R., Letkiewicz, A.M., Arkin, N.E., & Grillion, C. (2013). The complex interaction between anxiety and cognition: Insight from spatial and verbal working memory. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 93. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00093
Group 1,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reviewing your syllabus design assignment over social and emotional wellness for students. I found your project to be relevant and insightful pertaining to your topic. The topic of social and emotional wellness is a very important aspect of engagement. Your group did a very good job of creating course material specific to this subject. The most interesting aspect of your project is the course structure. As an adult learner, I find it very comforting when the course objectives align with real-world situations and course content. I can easily see this syllabus being applied on a college campus for a general studies course. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you very much for your kind comment Felix, we worked hard to make this course model a real college course that was inclusive of all the emotions that derive from learning.
Delete~Roxanne
Hey Group 1,
ReplyDeleteYour Syllabus looks great and I enjoyed clicking through the resources you linked. I had completely forgotten about SMART goals! I am glad you had that at the very beginning of your class as it was an excellent way for students to start the class. The first video in Unit 1 was awesome, I enjoyed watching her talk about self-awareness and learned a lot. Unit 2 is perfection. Everything about this unit on Self-Management is fantastic. I love how you started with the definition and "what" it is, then spent the next week on strategies and the "how", and the final week on applications and the "why".
The assignments for Thanksgiving week are also great in how they relate to the present real-life context for many of the students. Unit 5 is also fantastic. I really liked "The Art of Choice" video you chose and found it very insightful. I think the self-reflection paper was the perfect way to end the course. Last, I found the "Grading Contract" very interesting and agree that it could reduce stress and anxiety so students can really focus on the excellent content you chose for your course.
Hey Group 1,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed going over your design. You were very detailed in your design. I enjoy starting a class that has everything planned out to a T and also uses real life context. It's great to do assignments that relate to the real world. You did a great job and if this was a real class, I would be excited to take it.
Hello Group 1,
ReplyDeleteI liked looking over your syllabus design and what you did for each unit. One thing I picked up on a lot is how you wanted to create a safe environment and relationships with the facilitator and the peers. This is so important because the more comfortable and at ease someone feels in the environment the more they are will to discuss and learn from each other. It really reminds me and connects with my groups relationship in learning. As you mentioned in your highlights and I really enjoyed was the "Wellness Wednesday" that you have recurring every week. As you stated it allows the individuals to begin to know each other, but also form that safe environment and participate in that. I also like how you each decided to take a unit and choose the material you wanted for it.
A question, as individuals did you end up looking at what others chose? As I was looking through the information it seems like as a group you decided on the material all together rather than each individually.
Very Well done!
Hello, all,
ReplyDeleteThanks for putting together this syllabus. Your ideas are well-developed and relevant. I thought your approach to assignments and anxiety was particularly well thought-out. You mentioned limiting assignments and having "low stakes" assignments, which I thought was an excellent approach. My daughter is a freshman in college this year and she has a professor who didn't grade the students' first paper but gave them feedback of what grade they would have received if they had been graded. It was incredibly useful in reducing her stress level.
I'm curious about how you will approach the extrovert / introvert continuum in your syllabus. I can see that you've allowed for folks to determine their level of participation via Zoom. That's helpful. As an introvert, I often find "get to know you" activities overwhelming and I see that you've got several group discussions scheduled and was just wondering whether you'd thought about how the introverts would process those.
Thanks again, great project!