Content

Mindfulness has many proven benefits – and some of them are highly relevant to learning
and productivity. Studies show that mindfulness leads to higher levels of creativity,
motivational self-regulation, cognitive flexibility, and tolerance of ambiguity. Mindfulness
has a place in academia, and fostering students’ mindfulness will benefit them greatly.
But how can instructors do this without moving in a spiritual direction – crossing over
boundaries of what belongs in the classroom – or spending too much time on it? How can
instructors help students be more mindful without meditating with them or making them
uncomfortable?
In this 100 % online course, we will answer these questions. Our one-hour virtual kick-off
meeting will activate your prior knowledge and lay the foundation for the next element of
the course: 4-5 hours of self-study, spread over four weeks, with instructional videos,
texts, and an accompanying task. The course closes with another one-hour session in
which we will discuss questions and challenges, deepen your insight into the topic, and
make sure you are ready to apply the lessons to your own teaching.
Outcomes:
Participants can define mindfulness and explain its relation to learning. They are capable
of explaining to students why mindfulness is beneficial, and they use various implicit as
well as explicit methods in order to raise students’ mindfulness levels in the classroom.
Content:

• Mindfulness according to Jon Kabat-Zinn and Ellen Langer
• Self-regulated learning
• Conditional language
• Learning journals
• Self-compassion
• Further methods for fostering mindfulness