Project Investigator(s): Sally Stewart, Associate Professor of Teaching, School of Health and Exercise Sciences; Jannik Eikenaar, Assistant Professor of Teaching, School of Engineering
Project Description
This project investigates the impact of supporting faculty members in adopting course-based interventions to improve student well-being. It follows our phase-one pilot that showed overwhelming positive results, consistent with current literature suggesting that student well-being is positively impacted by these interventions, and faculty members are more likely to adopt and maintain these interventions with direct support. In this second phase we will increase the number of participants (i.e., course instructors) and train pilot participants as champions to eventually take on direct
support roles. Collectively, we have incredible opportunity to positively impact student well-being and academic success.
Research Questions
1. How did faculty respond to the training for implementing well-being initiatives?
2. How effective was the training approach for faculty to implement well-being initiatives into their classes?
3. What impact did these course well-being initiatives have on students’ perceptions of a variety of health and academic factors?
4. What best practices for course-based well-being practices can be targeted for broader application?
5. What best practices for faculty training opportunities can be targeted for broader implementation?
Impact on teaching and learning at UBC
The results from our pilot clearly show that students noticed implementation of practices, felt supported and respected, had increased focus in class, decreased stress, better connection to professors and perceptions of success; appreciated the care; and felt better prepared for academic success. This second phase will further demonstrate impact of classroom interventions and instructor approaches, and develop instructor-training methods for an institution-wide approach. The project is very timely as it addresses the current virtual classroom learning environment and its critical impact on student well-being.