EDUC10057: Wellbeing, Motivation & Performance

1500 word midterm assignment (30%), 2500 word final assignment (60%)
(10% is for tutorial participation and attendance, but I don't really know how it works)

This subject has gotten excellent reviews on here so far, and I really wanted to add to them. I can't think of any aspects that could be improved, the subject was very well delivered and well organised.

The subject is based on the new and emerging branch of psychology called positive psychology. This field focuses on utilising scientific methods and intervention techniques to gain understanding of how humans flourish in life! It's so positive, and that really makes the subject enjoyable. Now, I know there are some negative attitudes towards this field of psychology, you might mock it for its blind optimism, for its inability to reflect the true nature of things which consequentially results in positive illusions. Positive psychology is a recent science, so it will have limitations. But nonetheless, it is a comprehensive field, and there's a lot of new emerging studies, so that's exciting. Especially recently, there has been some focus on the importance of negative events and emotions. In fact, I remember the first lecture, that's what the lecturer introduced us to at the start - negative emotions. So, this is a very practical subject, and you will acquire skills that will help you increase your wellbeing, relationships, and overall life satisfaction.

This is an education breadth subject, so it focuses on how knowledge obtained from the field of positive psychology can be applied to our everyday lives. The aim is to promote wellbeing and life satisfaction through the examination of theories, research and published literature. The practicality of this subject did make it much more enjoyable and relatable. Also, there will be a range of disciplines involved, which the lecturers introduce to give further insight, such as philosophy, psychology, sports science, sociology and biology. Referring to the subject name, you will learn about how to promote positive wellbeing, how to cultivate and maintain motivation, and how to increase performance i.e. to flourish in life.

Lectures
Lecturers were engaging and explained concepts and theories well. And no, they're not the bubbly and cheerful lecturers you might imagine you'd get. There is nothing much I can comment on about the lecturers, they were perfect, and so were the guest lecturers. Anyway, the lectures themselves were great. They go for two hours, so there was a lot cover. I recommend going in to the lectures, and not catch up from the recording. I found it was difficult to sit through the recording, and the lectures tend to involve activities and discussion. The coordinators did a very good job at making the lectures fun and stimulating. Lecturers presented quotes and historical figures to base their topic around, and videos to help us understand better. Topics covered in lectures include: positive emotions, neuroplasticity, mindfulness, workplace performance, scientific methods and research, gratitude, resilience, hope, motivation, flow, positive relationships.

Tutorials
Tutorials are similar to the lectures in my opinion. They follow on from the lectures and go into some more depth. However, in tutorials, we had the opportunity to try out some interventions, so it's more hands-on. There were a lot of students in the tutorials, so the discussion was more like a discussion in a lecture rather than an informal classroom one. Tutors were very helpful and insightful.

AssignmentsBoth assignments were essays. They were very straightforward essays to write, you just need to be adhere to the typical essay structure. Tutors emphasised that many students wrote their midterm essay in a question-answer format, when this is not what is expected. The assignments will ask you to do your own thinking and extended research. It's not much work to be honest, I completed both assignments a couple of days before the due date (this might not work for you though). I enjoyed researching and thinking about the topics because the content was interesting. Both assignments had set questions that we had to cover in our essay. The midterm 1500 word assignment involved a structured essay about positive psychology, so we had to use journal articles to define it and its key features, etc, and an examination of one positive psychology research area which involved analysing the research methods used in studies. The final 2500 word assignment involved a structured essay about our experience implementing a wellbeing building intervention. This was very fun. We just report our experiences using a positive psychology intervention and whether it increased our wellbeing, factors that influenced its effectiveness, etc. The assignments are very chill, and the final assignment is done well before exam period - so that's one subject you won't need to worry about during the exam period!

Yes

Dr Gavin Slemp, Associate Professor Lindsay Oades
(There were also a number of guest lecturers)

N/A

5/5

Positive Psychology: The Science and Happiness of Flourishing, 2nd edition (2013)
(You do not need it, but I do highly recommend it if you want to make the most out of taking the subject - you'll gain a more comprehensive view of the field. I was lucky enough to obtain the textbook from the library for the whole semester)

1 x two hour lecture and 1 x one hour tutorial per week

2015, Semester 1

H1 (87)

I LOVED this subject! Basically this subject is for anyone who wants to learn about positive psychology We mostly learn topics regarding PP, such as the different ways in which we can change negative mindsets to positive ones to broaden our thinking and build our skills in life - you'll be drawing on many theories and positive psychology principles, such as Hope, Gratitude, Motivation, Flow, Joy, etc and understanding how you can apply PP principles in life to achieve better outcomes. I thought I could always apply stuff I learnt and the content itself is quite easy to grasp and link together (so helpful when it comes to the essays!) and makes you look at things in a more positive light

The lecturers were amazing! Especially Natalie, who was also my tutor. She was just the most kindest and helpful tutor you could have and soooo enthusiastic too haha Tutorials were also really engaging and the fact that this subject's tutes were 1 hour (instead of the normal 2 hr tutes in Education subjects) made it feel less dreary (I did an education sub last year and the 2 hr tutes were way too long for the content covered!) so this subject has done well in avoiding that In terms of lectures, each lecture is 1.5 hours and there are recordings so even if you have clashes (like I did) you can always listen to the recordings and they'll suffice

The assessment part of this subject was also really organised! Before each assessment we had about 30 mins of the lecture dedicated to some guy coming down from Academic Skills Unit and giving us a sort of briefing about how we might structure our essays and how to use APA format correctly and avoid common mistakes. Although this lecture wasn't specifically content based, it did help to make things clearer by means of referencing and paragraph/sentence structures. Both essays do have a reflective component, where you need to personally assess and gauge the effect of PP and its principles both on your life and the implications it could have for communities and society. You do not need to be an "Arts" student to do well in the essays because the essays are more based on how you show your understanding of the content and use APA referencing correctly. If anything, the essays had more of a "scientific" edge (with the use of graphs and data in essay 1) and analysis of experiment research methods in the study about Hope/Gratitude/Strengths in essay 2.
Basically, WMP was a really well taught and organised subject. The use of resources such as youtube videos, TED talks and readings were really selected and inspiring and really linked up to what we were learning. As a Psych major, this subject really showed me a "side" of Psychology that I hadn't been exposed to before in much depth

Yes

Professor Lea Waters and Natalie Brain

N/A

5 out of 5

The prescribed textbook was "Positive Psychology: The Science of. Happiness and Flourishing (Compton and Hoffman)". I'd say although it was "prescribed", it really was more of a "recommended" text - I didn't buy it and neither did most of the other people in my tute. The lectures were quite detailed anyway and if you want further info, there's always the readings (and ted talks and youtube vids Natalie weaves into the lectures), So I'd say you don't *need* the textbook as such!

1 x 1.5 hour lectures and 1 x 1 hour tutorial per week. Lectures/Tutorials run for all 12 weeks.

Semester 1, 2013

H1 (85)