The Science of Well-Being (Yale University)

Learning Resources
#21

This course received a 5 star rating from a facilitator!

goal
I’m excited to give people a space to meet with community and support their well-being during this Covid winter. Also, this will be my first public Learning Circle so I’m excited to introduce the concept to the public.

To what extent did you achieve your goal?
5

Did anything about the learning circle surprise you?
I was in awe of our group of learners: they were super engaged, willing to be vulnerable, offered each other empathy right off the bat, and many are planning to continue meeting.

Do you have any stories from the learning circle you want to share with the P2PU community?
It was inspiring to be part of a group of strangers who provided community for each other, shared wisdom and resources, and genuinely looked forward to our time together each week.

About how many people showed up for the first meeting?
6

About how many people showed up for the second meeting?
8

About how many people showed up for the last meeting?
8

How well did the online course work as a learning circle?
5

Why did you give the course 5 star(s)?
There is so much fantastic content and opportunity for deep discussion among the learners. I also appreciated the built-in weekly assignments (or “rewirements”), and the fact that more Covid-specific resources have been created to supplement the original coursework.

How likely are you to recommend facilitating a learning circle to a friend or colleague?
5

Why?
Learning Circles are fantastic opportunities to connect with community and learn something new. Highly recommended!

course
The Science of Well-Being

#22

We just completed a 4-week version of The Science of Well-Being at the Wichita Public Library. If you don’t have to compress it into a 4-week program, I don’t recommend it. But if you need to, here’s how we did it.

SCIENCE OF WELL-BEING FACILITATOR GUIDE.doc (22.1 KB)

Syllabus Science of Well Being Jan 2021.doc (28.3 KB)

1 Like
#23

Thanks so much for sharing these guides, Noelle!

I know a few groups have been interested in running this as a shorter program—could you share a bit about why you wouldn’t recommend doing it over 4 weeks?

#24

Sure. It’s important to know that, since I this wasn’t a skill-focused class, I didn’t expect participants to enroll in the course separately or do homework. We generally don’t discuss material or videos that we haven’t all viewed together.

So I tried to compress the program into four 90-minute evening sessions, which I’ve done successfully with another course, but this one just has too much content–and it’s all good, so there’s a lot to digest and talk about! Even if we’d done 120 minutes, it would’ve been an improvement, but when I do this one again, I’ll definitely schedule for six weeks. When I did this program for the first time in August (?) 2018, we did 2-hour sessions for six weeks on Saturday afternoons, and that worked great. That’s probably what I’ll do again.

If you do have to compress it, you can choose ahead of time which videos you want to watch, or do what I eventually did, which was use the polling feature in Zoom to allow participants to anonymously vote on which videos they wanted to watch. We watched the videos with the most votes first, second most votes second, etc. (Actually, there was no etc. We only got through the first two that night. :wink: )

I’d be glad to answer any other questions here or by email at nbarrick@wichita.gov.

1 Like
#25

This course received a rating from a participant!

Is there anything else that you learned or achieved during the learning circle?
I learned more about how the mind works related to happiness and predictions. I learned more about a group of people I hadn’t met before. I started a Bullet Journal. I learned about Coursera, and will go back to review all the information in the course. I also learned about the Multnomah County Library and Learning Circles.

Do you feel more confident about what you just learned in The Science of Well-Being ?
5

How do you intend to apply what you learned?
Yes, I have already begun to apply what I have learned.

How well did the online course work as a learning circle?
5

Why did you give the course 5 star/stars?
The content was great. The group was diverse, interesting, and well facilitated. I also achieved positive outcomes from the course that will affect me for the rest of my life.

How likely are you to recommend participating in a learning circle to a friend or colleague?
5

Why?
All of the above! I had a great experience, and it was FREE.

course
The Science of Well-Being

#26

Thank you for the comprehensive course facilitation guide.

I am curious about who (e.g., age range) participated in the course.

I am considering offering this virtually to a group of seniors. Has anyone considered asking participants to review most of the material on their own and using the LC time just for discussion? My instructions would be something like this:

Watch/read on your own; come to meeting ready to discuss:
• Exercises
• Insight
• Something with which you agree
• Something that you question or with which you disagree
• Something that you find hard
• Related experiences; examples of concepts from your own life
Do the quiz together

#27

I would like to compare the 6 week version to the longer 10 weeks. Four weeks seems very short for the breadth of material.

#28

From what I can recall, the bulk of the learning material does happen in the first half of the course while the second half is more about establishing and checking in with new behaviors learned in the material (meditation, gratitude, etc). I think if you wanted to discuss the concepts with your group in 4–6 weeks without the applied lifestyle changes portion, you could probably do that fairly flexibly. (Or, offer the group the option to stop joining after the learning/discussion portion or stay for an accountability group for as many weeks as they want.)

I haven’t attended a 4 week version of this course so I can’t speak to whether it’s too short or not, though my take from participating in a 6-week version is that it’s a lot of material to cram in to a few meetings, especially because the course creators are constantly sharing new supplementary materials (readings, lectures, podcasts). I thought it was a great course—wonderful mix of deeper knowledge + practical application about a broadly familiar topic—and I’m eager to see what you do with it!

#29

This course received a rating from a participant!

Is there anything else that you learned or achieved during the learning circle?
Confirmation that another book/program I like is rooted in the same science

Do you feel more confident about what you just learned in Family Learning Circle - The Science of Well-Being ?
3

How do you intend to apply what you learned?
Continue being in contact with family, now with shared jargon about increasing our wellbeing.

How well did the online course work as a learning circle?
4

Why did you give the course 4 star/stars?
It definitely did what it said on the tin but my mind wasn’t blown away with unanticipated benefits.

How likely are you to recommend participating in a learning circle to a friend or colleague?
5

Why?
Have already done so

#30

This course received a rating from a participant!

Is there anything else that you learned or achieved during the learning circle?
Met new people

Do you feel more confident about what you just learned in Brooklyn Neighborhood Learning Circle - The Science of Well-Being ?
3

How well did the online course work as a learning circle?
4

Why did you give the course 4 star/stars?
I got a lot out of it when I was able to attend

How likely are you to recommend participating in a learning circle to a friend or colleague?
3

Why?
It could be helpful

#31

This course received a rating from a participant!

Is there anything else that you learned or achieved during the learning circle?
That life will remain a mixture of complicated and doing

Do you feel more confident about what you just learned in Brooklyn Neighborhood Learning Circle - The Science of Well-Being ?
5

How do you intend to apply what you learned?
I am applying the gratefulness diary every day

How well did the online course work as a learning circle?
5

Why did you give the course 5 star/stars?
Because I learned something new every time we met

How likely are you to recommend participating in a learning circle to a friend or colleague?
5

Why?
Because we can all use a refresher sometimes