Empathy and compassion: towards wellbeing in learning development

Abstract

Wellbeing, empathy and compassion are increasingly discussed topics in relation to teaching, with one key question being the extent to which empathy and compassion in teaching can impact on student wellbeing as well as outcomes. Wellbeing is a broad spectrum of aspects, including health – physical, mental and emotional, life balance, happiness and fulfilment, and it is not always easy to pin-point which actions can make a difference to the students and their learning journey. This workshop aims to address some of these questions by giving attendees key information from a study skills professional on how they can integrate a compassionate approach into their teaching, followed by a facilitated discussion on this topic to enable attendees to form their own compassionate teaching plans. Using Mentimeter we will exchange ideas about the definitions of empathy and compassion and how they overlap and bring together a common goal in producing learning development sessions to a diverse range of students. 
 
 The interactive part of the workshop will continue by attendees being divided into four groups (virtual) and given a jamboard link where the groups will be able to comment on whether compassion and empathy in the hybrid teaching and learning experience in the past academic year, contributed to improved wellbeing in their students’ journey. The groups will comment on wellbeing in the social experience, learning experience, academic performance and overall improved wellbeing in the student experience. The tangible take-aways from the workshop will be a deeper knowledge of empathy and compassion and their role in student wellbeing.