Poster Presentation 6th World Congress on Positive Psychology 2019

A Flipped Classroom Unit Supporting Student Self-Optimisation (#723)

Sue Morris 1 , Jacquelyn Cranney 1
  1. School of Psychology, UNSW, Sydney, NSW, Australia

A blended course was developed to introduce university students to the psychological science of self-optimisation, incorporating the concepts of self-management, resilience, and wellbeing. Self-optimisation includes: developing self-knowledge about the thoughts that can undermine optimal responding; developing a capacity to work toward achieving meaningful goals; and psychological flexibility in the face of setbacks. Using a flipped classroom delivery, students completed individual and collaborative online pre-practical tasks prior to each face-to-face class, consisting of readings and related activities (eg online quizzes; reflective application of principles), surveys, and self-management tasks such as goal-setting. The tasks were extended in practicals through interactive activities such as collaborative study design. Resilience-building included positivity, interpersonal skills, self-knowledge, emotional flexibility, and academic competencies. Assessments targeted both self-development and collaborative production of videos to disseminate evidence-based self-optimisation strategies. Providing such engaging, positive, and interactive experiences helps students to adopt successful learning approaches, particularly during their transition to university. Overall evaluation has been positive, and data on both long- and short-term outcomes of the unit are presented. A related text book (Morris et al., 2018) has been developed to broaden the reach of this approach to other university and senior school students.