A session by Lisa Minogue-White from WillowDNA on Positive Psychology and ideas for application in online learning

1. Rewarding the whole journey: What
learning designers can learn from positive
psychology
LPi Webinar July 2015

2. A QUICK QUESTION (Thanks to
Martin Seligman)
What do you
want for your
children?

3. A QUICK QUESTION (Thanks to
Martin Seligman)
What do
schools teach?

4. A QUICK QUESTION
How is your
success
measured?

5. WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT
Work-related stress caused workers in
Great Britain to lose 11.3 million
working days in 2013/14

6. WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT
What were
the causes?

7. WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT
the amount of control individuals have at work or how much say they have over the
way they do their work
the support employees receive in the workplace, in terms of encouragement and
resources, from their employer, their line manager and their colleagues
how well relationships are functioning in the workplace, including prevention of
bullying and harassment, managing conflict and ensuring positive relationships
how clear people are about their role and whether they have conflicting roles
how well change is managed and communicated in the workplace, including both
large and small changes.

8. A QUICK INTRODUCTION TO
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

9. WHODUNNIT?

10. POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY – A
DEFINITION
Positive Psychology is the scientific study of human
flourishing, and an applied approach to optimal
functioning.
It has also been defined as the study of the strengths
and virtues that enable individuals, communities and
organisations to thrive.
Positive psychology institute

11. POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY – KEY
CONCEPTS
1. Positive resonance
2. Broaden and build
3. Flourishing – life satisfaction; learning, growing, and
making contributions to society
4. Resilience – positive psychology isn’t the pursuit of
happiness, its about building resilience to flourish in
all circumstances

12. POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND
LEARNING

13. Creating a complete learning environment
LEARNING VIRTUES
Cognitive learning
Affective
learning
Product Purpose

14. Emotional and academic learning
THE NEW BLENDED LEARNING
Positive psychology promotes
full integration of cognitive and
affective learning

15. Are we rewarding
completion or
contribution?
PRACTICAL EXAMPLE: BADGES

16. Mitigative Meliorism
-Focused on getting less of what we don’t
want.
-e.g. appendicitis
Constructive Meliorism
-Focused on getting more of what we do want.
-e.g. physical fitness
WHAT DOES YOUR LEARNING
FOCUS ON?

17. Rather than creating a diadactic ‘right way’,
they provide a scaffold
USING LEARNING PATHS

18. POSITIVE RESONANCE
Insight 1

19. POSITIVITY RESONANCE
Small positive moments
Traditional learning intervention are one big act of
motivation – online, we can help facilitate many
small positive moments

20. COMMUNITIES
• Give meaning to an
individuals contribution
• Exist for the value of their
members
• Value participation and
building collective value
• Provide an accessible way
for people to make meaning
from their talents

21. COMMUNITIES
“Online social learning
communities are
changing the value of
employer brands”
Forbes 2012

22. L&D as the facilitator, not the gatekeeper
UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF
L&D
The desire to control and
measure can suffocate
learning and innovation
Communities need
facilitators, not managers

23. POSITIVITY RESONANCE
Small positive moments
Portable learning enables you to break down key
learning points into accessible moments that build
habits

24. BROADEN AND BUILD
Insight 2

25. POSITIVE COURSE DESIGN
Instead of solving problems of immediate survival, positive emotions solve
problems concerning personal growth and development.
Barbara L. Fredrickson, The Value of Positive Emotions, American Scientist
(2003)

26. WHODUNNIT?
Broaden and Build
Really successful, high-performing teams had about
a six-to-one ratio of positive to negative statements,
whereas the low-performing teams had ratios of
less than one to one, meaning that more than half
of what was said was negative.

27. THE IMPACT ON PERFORMANCE
Physicians who felt good were faster to integrate
case information and less likely to become
anchored on initial thoughts or come to premature
closure in their diagnosis.

28. POSITIVE COURSE DESIGN
How can you build
in opportunities to
apply broaden and
build?

29. BROADEN AND BUILD
• Communities of practice – widens the discussion
and viewpoint

30. BROADEN AND BUILD
• Collaborative assignments – gives the
opportunity to ‘exercise a signature strength’

31. BROADEN AND BUILD
• Reward curation, sharing and feedback

32. FLOURISHING
Insight 3

33. BUILDING THE FUTURE
WORKFORCE

34. TELL THEIR STORIES
• Learning portals provide a home for the stories,
showcasing work and highlighting excellence

35. HELP YOUR PEOPLE FLOURISH
• Your people directory could be the key to
maximising your organisations value, through
helping people add value

36. The 2020 workforce
THE RISE OF ‘SOFT SKILLS’

37. RESILENCE

38. The ideal mindset isn’t needless of risk,
but it does give priority to the good
Shawn Achor, The happiness advantage
RESILENCE

39. Wellbeing programmes that focus on
resilience could be the most valuable
investment you make
CHANGE IS HERE TO STAY

40. • David Brooks, The Learning Virtues, New York Times Feb
28, 2013
• Health and Safety Executive
• CIPD, Building the business case for managing stress in the
workplace, 2011
• James O. Pawelski, Director of Education and Senior Scholar,
Positive Psychology Center, University of Pennsylvania Theory for
Practice: Positive Psychology and Leadership, 2006
• Shawn Achor, The happiness advantage: The Seven Principles of
Positive Psychology that Fuel Success and Performance at Work ,
Virgin 2011
• Bridget Grenville-Cleave, Introducing Positive Psychology: A
Practical Guide, Icon Books 2012
• Barbara Fredrickson, Positivity, Oneworld, 2012
• Martin Seligman et al, Positive education: positive psychology and
classroom interventions Oxford Review of Education 2009
READING LIST

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