Purposeful Teaching Fellowship

Flourishing is a term that dates back as far as Aristotle and is still being discussed and researched today. Though not the final say on what flourishing looks like in an educational setting, researchers Richard Ryan and Edward Deci describe flourishing through an educational lens below, and we will use it as a starting point to further explore what flourishing looks like and means in a course setting.

“By flourishing, we mean becoming motivated, vital, resourceful, and fully functioning adults. Flourishing individuals feel both empowered and confident in their learning and problem solving and feel a sense of belonging to their schools and their larger human community…

…The promise and hope of school is not only that they enable and enhance cognitive learning and growth in specific subject areas…, but also that they facilitate the development of high-quality motivation, engagement, participation, citizenship, and social-emotional well-being. The capabilities for engagement and self-regulation will likely be more serviceable in subsequent life than any particular facts learned in the schools…they should not discourage, demotivate, or kill the confidence of the students they serve or leave them feeling alienated, reactive, excluded from society, or more antisocial.” (Ryan & Deci, 2017 p. 354)

Course Alignment + Design for Learning + Design for Flourishing = Purposeful Course Design

• Puts student learning and emotions at the heart of every course
• Research-based practices in cognitive and skill development coupled with research on ways to promote student well-being and flourishing

Autonomy:
Different aspects include providing choices in learning (materials and practice), autonomy-supportive vs. autonomy-controlling environments, and structural elements like grading, evaluation, and mastery. Empirical research shows that the more students feel they have a choice in how they participate in the course, the more perceived self-worth, intrinsic motivation, and cognitive competence they have. Overall, students learn better.

Competence:
“Competence concerns the feeling of mastery, a sense that one can succeed and grow. The need for competence is best satisfied within well-structured environments that afford optimal challenges, positive feedback, and opportunities for growth” (Ryan & Deci, 2020 p. 1).  Competence supports curiosity, exploration, and manipulation—all critical components of learning.

Relatedness:

Relatedness, also referred to as belonging, has to do with people feeling socially connected, feeling cared for by others, and feeling significant among others. It also is connected to people giving to others and being part of larger social organizations. A lot of language around flourishing is about connection and purpose—both to other individuals as well as to values and communities.

In course design, social connection is often seen in focusing on building a community of learners through icebreakers and introductions at the start of a semester, facilitated discussions, and group work. However, what is often missing in traditional models is helping students connect the course to a larger purpose. How does it relate to the context of the curriculum? How is it relevant to you outside of class? How can you connect it to community-based or experiential learning like internships that you participate in? (Connecting to purpose also supports competence and autonomy!)