Activating the Okanagan Charter: Engaging Faculty to Support and Enhance Student Wellbeing

1. Activating the
Okanagan Charter:
Engaging Faculty to
Support and Enhance
Student Wellbeing
Patty Hambler & Levonne Abshire
University of British Columbia
Healthy Minds |
Health Campuses

2. Facilitators
Patty Hambler,
Director, Health
Promotion &
Education
Levonne Abshire,
Health Promotion
Strategist

3. Health Promotion & Education
Vision - A flourishing community where
students develop their capacity to lead healthier
lives.
Mission - Create and facilitate opportunities for
students to be part of a healthy university
community, to learn health-based skills, and to
develop their leadership for a healthier campus.

4. Health Promotion & Education

5. Brief Encounters
• Find a partner.
• Introduce yourself, your institution & role.
• Ask your partner one of the questions on the
back of this card.
• Answer each other's question in 30 seconds
or less.
• Swap cards and find a new partner.

6. Why engage faculty members?
Call to Action 1:
Embed health into
all aspects of
campus culture,
across the
administration,
operations and
academic
mandates

7. How universities can enhance
student mental wellbeing
Chi Baik, Wendy Larcombe & Abi Brooker (2019)

8. Faculty members’ role
My teaching impacts student wellbeing:
UBC 2018 Teaching Practices Survey

9. Asset-Mapping Case
Study: UBC

10. Asset Mapping Approach
Asset mapping provides information about the
strengths and resources of a community and can
help uncover solutions.
Once community strengths and resources are
inventoried and depicted in a map, you can more
easily think about how to build on these assets to
address community needs and improve health.
Source: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research

11. Asset Mapping at UBC
Faculty member
champions
Engaged
Faculties
Administrative
and student
service units
Student leaders
Leadership

12. The Charter in Action

13. Teaching Practices & Wellbeing
• Leveraging campus funding source: Teaching &
Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF)
• Engaging faculty champions from Medicine,
Psychology
• Inviting educational leadership from CTLT,
Faculties of Arts & Science
• Involving student researchers and student
leaders

14. 14
Our
Question
This project was funded by the
Teaching and Learning Enhancement
Fund, UBC

15. Our Findings

16. Moving Forward
• Goal: Start a campus-wide conversation at UBC about
wellbeing in learning environments (e.g., reflection tool).
• Carry forward our findings to 2017-2020 large project on
Academic Tenacity
o How do different educational practices in different
settings impact the student experience on three
dimensions: social belonging, self-regulation and
growth mindset?

17. Wellbeing Liaisons Program
• Leveraging academic leadership &
engaged faculty members
• Capitalizing on Faculty interest in
student wellbeing
• Supported by student service units

18. Wellbeing Liaisons Program

19. Wellbeing Liaisons Program
Wellbeing Liaison Toolkit on Canvas

20. First Year Educators’ Symposium
• Partnership between:
– Faculty champions
– Health Promotion & Education
– First Year Experience team
– Centre for Teaching, Learning &
Technology
– Learning Commons

21. Key Takeways:
“Building community and sense of belonging for students could dramatically improve
their experience”
“There are many barriers for students transitioning to university. The barriers range
from us not being aware of issues students have and our ability to communicate in a
meaningful way to students.”
“I was reminded of what it feels like to be a first year student and I will keep that in mind
when I try to engage or help my students in different ways.”

22. Asset Mapping YOUR
Campus

23. Process
1. Define community boundaries
2. Identify and involve partners
3. Determine what type of assets to
include
4. List the assets of groups
5. List the assets of individuals
6. Organize assets on a map
Source: http://healthpolicy.ucla.edu

24. Define Community Boundaries
Are you looking at one campus or
multiple campuses for your institution?
Are you focused on one particular
Faculty or the entire campus?

25. Identify and Involve
Partners
Who else could you work with on your
asset mapping when you return to
campus?
Is there anyone here today you can
work with from your institution?

26. Determine What Type of
Assets to Include
Source:
www.renewablecities.ca

27. Faculty
member
champions
Student
leaders/
groups
Student
service
units
Administrative
units
Faculties/
Academic
Programs
Leadership
Researchers
Other
Community Engagement Wheel

28. Source:
www.renewablecities.ca

29. Source:
www.renewablecities.ca

30. Wrap-Up
Reflect. Meet someone new. Share:
1. One thing you can act upon yourself.
2. One thing you will work on with a colleague from
your unit/department.
3. One thing you will work on with a colleague
outside of your unit/department.

31. A student perspective
The last word...

32. Faculty Engagement Resources
• UBC Wellbeing Teaching & Learning Resources
toolkit: https://wellbeing.ubc.ca/teaching-learning-resources
• Teaching Practices & Wellbeing Teaching and Learning
Enhancement Fund project at the University of British
Columbia, including instructor reflection tool, video and
student testimonials:
https://blogs.ubc.ca/teachingandwellbeing/
• List of SFU Teaching Practices that Support Well-being
http://www.sfu.ca/content/dam/sfu/healthycampuscommuni
ty/WLE-Tools/WLE-Printouts_v5.pdf
• Chi Baik, Wendy Larcombe & Abi Brooker (2019): How
universities can enhance student mental wellbeing: the
student perspective, Higher Education Research&
Development, DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2019.1576596

33. Asset Mapping Resources
• Renewable Cities:
https://www.renewablecities.ca/rc-wp/wp-
content/uploads/CommunityMappingWorksheet_
100-RE-Cities.pdf
• UCLA Center for Health Policy Research:
http://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/programs/health-
data/trainings/Documents/tw_cba20.pdf