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Have you wondered about ways to develop a sense of belonging among your students? Probably you have looked for activities that cultivate staff-student and student-student relationships early in the acdemic session?
My Journey activity is designed to break down barriers between students and educators, addresses imposter syndrome in first-year classes, and fosters a sense of belonging from day one.
In this resource, Ruth Weeks (Senior Manager, Learning Design) and Adam Bridgeman (Pro Vice-Chancellor, Educational Innovation) from The University of Sydney share their approach in creating an engaging, empowering, and inclusive learning environment.
Suitable for
- Ideal as a meaningful ice-breaker for new students
- Online or face-to-face
- Synchronously (preferable) or asynchronously
- Lecture or tutorial
- Introduce the activity at start of session
Time required
To build this activity you will approximately need 20 minutes, you may spend 15-20 minutes teaching students how to use it. Students are likely to spend up to 15 minutes on this activity.
Technologies
- Canvas discussion board
- Non-UTS supported technologies (alternatives) – Padlet
How to create the activity
Synchronous version
The educator first introduces themselves and talks through their own personal journey to university, showing their human side by talking through:
- the places they have lived
- schools and universities they’ve attended
- the important decisions made along the way, including the things that went well and the things that didn’t
- their memories of the beginning of their university experience – what they were worried, excited or confused about
Students then form groups of 2-4 (at a table or in a Zoom breakout room) and are asked to share their own stories at a level they are comfortable with, perhaps including their home town, favourite teachers, the reasons they chose their degree, things they like about UTS etc.
Asynchronous version
The two stages above are replicated in a discussion board, with each tutor starting a thread for their class with their journey as a short post, each student summarising their journey in a paragraph or two and students commenting on each others’ posts.
This version does not work so well as an ice-breaker but becomes a useful early writing task. The activity brings an element of authentic learning if GenAI tools are to be avoided.
Add journeys to interactive map
In the examples below, students added their information to an interactive map to show their journey. You can add yours on a map made for a recent conference. By capturing the journeys for the whole class, the final result shows the diversity of experience in the cohort. The application used in the examples was written using Google Maps Javascript API with some server side code to save the journeys. The code is available from the authors, who can be contacted via email at Ruth.Weeks [at] sydney.edu.au, and Adam.Bridgeman [at] sydney.edu.au.
Alternative options include:
- Mentimeter’s Where Are You From? template allows students to record their birthplace
- Google’s My Maps (Link to suitable guide) can be used to capture a number of places for each student (but requires them to log in with a Google account)
- Padlet mapping tool also allows for similar interaction using pin a location on the Map
Tips
- It is important that the educator sets the tone so that the activity is warm and safe – humour and honesty work well. Remember that students don’t necessarily want to hear about research, rather they may appreciate an opportunity to get to know you on a more personal level.
- This activity can work across many courses that students are taking as the conversations are always different.
- The activity is usefully followed up with a Values Affirmation exercise, in which they discuss or write about the values that are important to them (e.g. confidence, identity).
Example
- Journey to Sydney
- First in family journey
- My Journey (YouTube video)
References
Weeks, R., Thoeming, A., & Bridgeman, A. (2022). Transition as one step on a transformational journey. ASCILITE Publications, (Proceedings of ASCILITE 2022 in Sydney), e22138-e22138. https://doi.org/10.14742/apubs.2022.138
Walton, G. M. (2014). The new science of wise psychological interventions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(1), 73-82. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721413512856
Pownall, M., Harris, R., & Blundell-Birtill, P. (2022). Supporting students during the transition to university in COVID-19: Five key considerations and recommendations for educators. Psychology Learning & Teaching, 21(1), 3-18. https://doi.org/10.1177/14757257211032486
Gadsby, S. (2022). Imposter syndrome and self-deception. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 100(2), 247-261. https://doi.org/10.1080/00048402.2021.1874445
Attribution
Weeks, R., Bridgeman, A. (2022). “My Journey” in Reusable Activities for Teaching with Technology, LX.Lab, Institute for Interactive Media & Learning, University of Technology, Sydney.
“My Journey” by Ruth Weeks and Adam Bridgeman, The University of Sydney, available Adaptable resources for teaching with technology by LX.Lab, Institute for Interactive Media & Learning, University of Technology, Sydney are provided as open educational resources under Creative Commons Licence Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International.