Every year, undergraduates at the 糖心少女 start their college experience, often in cavernous classrooms, learning alongside dozens, if not hundreds, of their peers. Research shows that taking these courses 鈥� some prerequisites and other classes on popular topics 鈥� can make students feel isolated, scared and not up to the task.

To confront loneliness and promote student well-being, the 糖心少女is piloting a two-year project called 鈥淔ive for Flourishing鈥� that provides instructors with five simple academic interventions to support students and help them succeed. Sponsored by the , the and the Provost鈥檚 office, Five for Flourishing鈥檚 initial cohort 鈥� 13 instructors of large classes from all three 糖心少女campuses 鈥� will use the strategies to help welcome students, show compassion and support them in their academic journeys.

鈥淎ddressing mental health and well-being on a college campus requires a comprehensive approach,鈥� said , director of the Resilience Lab, whose mission is to promote well-being among 糖心少女students, faculty and staff. 鈥淭his is an intervention where we can activate the learning environment for undergraduate students in large classes with minimal effort by the instructors and make a difference.鈥�

Inspired by similar, but more intensive programs at other institutions, Philip Reid, vice provost of Academic and Student Affairs, and Marisa Nickle, senior director of Strategy & Academic Initiatives, saw an opportunity for the UW鈥檚 students. What emerged is a simple turnkey program that provides instructors with interventions to work into their curriculums.

“We know that students, especially incoming first-year students, can experience anxiety and stress at times,鈥� Provost Tricia Serio said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e so excited to offer our instructors a program that welcomes students and helps set them on a path to succeed in the classroom and on campus, while acknowledging that they may be navigating these challenging feelings.鈥�

In 2020, the Resilience Lab published an for instructors that outlined a number of interventions to support student well-being. By contrast, Five for Flourishing is designed to be a streamlined, simple tool for instructors to add to their teaching plan.

Here鈥檚 how it works: Five for Flourishing begins by adding a message to course syllabuses that welcomes students, creates a sense of belonging and normalizes asking for support, even when students are stressed by factors outside the classroom.

Next, Five for Flourishing provides a quarter鈥檚 worth of welcome-to-class slides specific to each 糖心少女campus that point to wellness resources, cultural happenings, ways to participate in democracy, and opportunities for students to connect with one another.

Instructors will encourage students, especially before and after exams or big assignments, to adopt a growth mindset 鈥� the notion that these academic tasks aren鈥檛 a reflection of their self-worth or intelligence, but rather a method to determine a student鈥檚 strengths and areas for additional learning.

鈥淭his builds on a lot of research on the misperception that intelligence is fixed,鈥� said , director of the Center for Teaching and Learning. 鈥淭he reality is that intelligence isn’t fixed and that people can grow.鈥�

Research also shows that when students connect with one another, they鈥檙e more likely to do well academically and socially, which in turn makes them more likely to graduate. Five for Flourishing instructors will place students in small groups and invite them to discuss course material, build their professional communication skills and experience group problem solving. The students鈥� only assignment is to take notes on their discussions and share those with the instructor.

鈥淭his builds on the idea that prompting students to get together in really low-stakes environments helps establish a secondary support network that they can tap when they run into trouble,鈥� Moon said. 鈥淚t overcomes the idea of just going into class and looking straight ahead and not looking sideways.鈥�

Finally, Five for Flourishing instructors conduct a mid-quarter check in with their students to ask what鈥檚 working well and what could be better, what鈥檚 helping them to learn and what鈥檚 hindering their success.

鈥淢any of the professors at 糖心少女have real compassion and care for students, and this project helps them to channel that compassion and care in really productive ways,鈥� Moon said.

Every student will be asked to complete a survey at the beginning and end of the quarter. That data will inform how to adjust and continue to scale the program. Instructors will also receive a small stipend for participating.

, a teaching professor in the School of Engineering and Technology at 糖心少女Tacoma, is in the inaugural Five for Flourishing teaching cohort. He鈥檚 already been using similar academic interventions for all his classes, including high-enrollment courses like popular games programming. Building upon his existing tools, he鈥檚 excited to see these student supports scale up and reach more undergraduates.

鈥淓very single faculty member that I’ve had a chance to chat with, all of them care so deeply about student experience, that is also what I care about,鈥� Marriott said. 鈥淪preading this out to more faculty, after we have some data and feedback, is going to be awesome.鈥�

In Seattle, also plans to use Five for Flourishing in her Intro to Medical Anthropology course, with 225 students, and Comparative Study of Death, with 80 students. While she too had compassionate components to her teaching, she appreciates the framework of Five for Flourishing, the training she鈥檚 received, and, as a scientist, she鈥檚 looking forward to seeing the data from the student surveys to see what is and isn鈥檛 working as intended.

She鈥檚 seen students who struggle with anxiety and loneliness, students who are afraid to walk into class, or are balancing long commutes, family demands and academics. Programs like Five for Flourishing establish universal accommodations to uplift and support the entire student body.

鈥淭he University, in doing this Five for Flourishing, is setting a stone, a ground stone, to say to our community, 鈥楲ook, we do have a problem here, and this is one way to solve it,鈥欌�� Saravia said.

Helping students understand that they are not alone will have benefits for their entire lives.

鈥淔eeling lonely has social impacts. If you feel lonely, you’re less engaged. And if we are less engaged, we have less possibilities of a thriving democracy. If we don’t know how to talk to one another, how to find common ground, or how to set boundaries, or how to see a problem together, how to even think about it together 鈥� If we don’t have that, we are in trouble as a society,鈥� she said. 鈥淚’m very hopeful that Five for Flourishing will give all of us a strong start to change that and to inspire students to learn from one another, to see each other. I’m hopeful, too, that engagement with one another will build community, and teach them to have effective engagement with the world.鈥�