Dr Rita D'Alton-Harrison, senior tutor in the department of law and criminology has collaborated with Dr Richard Hawley in the department of classics to produce a prototype for a wellness App known as the 'Professional Self-Toolkit'. The App is intended to act as a holistic digital support network for students.
Dr Rita D'Alton-Harrison, senior tutor in the department of law and criminology has collaborated with Dr Richard Hawley in the department of classics to produce a prototype for a wellness App known as the 'Professional Self-Toolkit'. The App is intended to act as a holistic digital support network for students and was showcased at the 'Wellness UK Digital Conversations' on 14 December 2020.
The Project is designed to respond to several significant factors in the current Higher Education (university-level) sector worldwide. First among these is the ever-growing concern for supporting university student wellbeing at all levels of study, from undergraduate to doctoral level, which has in turn led to its discussion in pedagogic scholarship.
The Project took the innovative step to integrate ‘wellness’, ‘academic study’ and ‘careers advice’, which are usually divided off into independent ‘silos’ for student support. It demonstrated that students who consciously focus active reflection upon their own identity both personally and academically can develop what is called their unique ‘iBrand’ and so take responsibility for their self-development, self-confidence, and self-empowerment. The App also provides a valuable and individualised resource for staff supporting students, with their academic study, wellbeing, or career preparation.
The Professional Self-Toolkit has the stated aim of helping students to find resilience, positivity and balance throughout their academic studies and can be easily adapted to other educational settings and also within the challenging, competitive and often isolating world of work.
This project was made possible as a result of funding from the College's Teaching Innovation Fund. Rita and Richard recently presented on the pedagogy and scholarship aspects of the App at the Wellness UK 'Digital Conversations' session in December. More information is available here.
