Well-Being by Design

Many factors contribute to an individual’s state of well-being – including their level of mental, emotional, and physical health. As a students’ state of well-being increases, so do their levels of energy and cognitive resources available for the enterprise of learning. As a result, as student well-being increases, so does their likelihood for academic success.

While we cannot solve all of our students’ problems or remove all of the stressors from their lives, we can help to cultivate environments in which students are more likely to experience increased well-being and (as a result) increased learning and academic success.

For example, you can provide opportunities for your students to be intentionally connected with each other and the greater campus community, campus health and well-being resources, and opportunities to give back and help others. Further, well-placed growth-mindset reminders for students that their academic success or failure does not define their worth as a human, nor determine their ability to succeed more broadly, can reduce negative stress, lead to increased ability to focus and perform, and generally contributes to increased academic success for students.

The syllabus provides a common reference point for instructors and students, and begins to establish the course learning environment. It can also be used to communicate that all students are welcome and valued in your class.

To that end, Well-Being by Design instructors will incorporate the following statement (or an adapted version) into their syllabus, and reinforce it on the first day either in-class or via an eLC announcement:

College can be a wonderful experience that inspires new ideas, activates your imagination, and connects you to new people. It can also be challenging. Everyone is welcome in this class, and everyone needs help and support from time to time. There will be times when you feel like you have it all together and other times when it feels like things are falling apart. It is part of my job to celebrate with students when things are going well and to help them when they are struggling. While I’m not a therapist, I can support you and connect you to resources when you need additional help. If you would like to talk, please reach out to me.

In collaboration with UGA’s Office of Student Care and Outreach, we’ve created slides for you to display for ~5 minutes as class gets started, once per week. These slides will showcase campus well-being resources and specific campus community events and opportunities, and will provide small opportunities for engagement and reflection for students. You will be able to access slide decks via eLC, and copy them into your own courses if you’d like!

Students with growth mindsets tend to embrace challenges that help them learn, are typically less afraid to fail, and are more likely to put in consistent effort to succeed or improve. Statements from the instructor before a big exam or assignment that promote a growth mindset can make a difference for students, impacting their interest and motivation, performance on assessments, sense of belonging in the course, and more.

Well-Being by Design instructors will provide these reminders for students alongside major course assessments (e.g., exams and assignments), both on distributed materials themselves, and either in class or via eLC announcements – before and after students engage in the assessments.

Pre-Assignment/Exam Statement (Sample)

This assignment/exam is not a judgment of your intelligence or value as a person. Assignments and exams provide opportunities to evaluate what you understand and where there is a need for more learning. Assignments and exams are just one of many methods for determining where strengths exist and where there is an opportunity for growth.

Post-Assignment/Exam Statement (Sample)

Remember, your grade on this assignment/exam is not a judgment of your intelligence or value as a person. Assignments and tests provide opportunities to evaluate what you understand and where there is a need for more learning. Assignments and exams are just one of many methods for determining where strengths exist and where there is an opportunity for growth. You can learn and develop your skills. Please view mistakes as learning opportunities – as a place to focus your attention and effort moving forward.

Well-Being by Design instructors will create learning groups of 4-6 students, inviting them to create shared note-taking spaces and to check-in outside of class time on a regular basis. We’ll provide technical support to help make it easy for you, and you can decide the extent to which you want students to report their involvement and/or if you want to incentivize students with bonus points (or regular points!) for their engagement with their peers. Research with a similar approach at the University of Washington has shown that connecting students with each other in this way – particularly in large classes – is not only an effective way to contribute to students’ success, but it’s also something that students are likely to point out as something they valued about your course.

A mid-semester check-in is a structured way to learn what is working about your class and where there might be opportunities for adjustments in your teaching before the end of the semester. You’ll receive actionable insights from students, while signaling to your students that you care about their well-being and learning.

Well-Being by Design instructors can sign up for a CTL-facilitated Mid-Semester Formative Evaluation, or invite students to participate in a mid-semester check-in survey (we have templates!). In either case, we’ll provide you with a summary of what your students have said, and help you think through your options for responding to students.