Student Wellbeing: Edumundo at Microsoft

On the 13th of April, the Student Well-being event was held at Microsoft's headquarters in Amsterdam. The event was organized by Edumundo to inform educators about how education can play a role in a student’s well-being. There were 9 speakers present with many interesting topics and conversations emerging. Below is a summary of all the speakers.

Jeroen Strijbosch

Jeroen Strijbosch is a learning specialist at Microsoft. He talked about Blended Learning and how the role of teachers is changing in education. He addressed the question of how Social-Emotional Learning can be integrated into education. This is an important topic since Corona has caused major changes, which have been putting lots of pressure on the well-being of students. Namely, students experience problems such as loneliness, decreased motivation and study delays as a result. Through Social-Emotional Learning, students develop an ability to manage emotions, set and achieve goals, build relationships, make responsible decisions, and express empathy. Considering everything, Social-Emotional Learning is very important and that is why there are several tools available for this in Microsoft Reflect.

Fons Trompenaars

Prof. Dr. Fons Trompenaars is the author of several books, including the Edubook Culture & Intercultural communication, and discussed how cultural dilemmas can be resolved to improve student well-being. For example, he addressed the Seven Dimensions of Culture and how two opposing perspectives can have an influence on a situation. Fons Trompenaars also puts an emphasis on how these aspects play a role in teamwork during a project. Considering everything, it is important for teachers to understand not only the cultural differences, but also the reasons behind them.

José van Zwieten

José van Zwieten is an education expert and author of the Edubook Study & Career and Resilience: Life Skills for Vitality and Happiness. José spoke about how positive psychology can impact well-being. In fact, there is a great concern about students’ well-being. For example, 46% of students surveyed indicated a 6 or lower for their overall well-being. One example of why positive psychology can have a positive effect is that by establishing positive relationships, well-being will be improved, for which she provided some exercises.

Aylin Akdeniz & Enya Hoogewoning

Aylin Akdeniz and Enya Hoogewoning are two students who talked about their experiences and problems with well-being. In this, Corona has had a significant impact on their gloom and depression, from which they are sometimes still experiencing the aftermath of it. Furthermore, the two students talked about what they see happening right now from their own experiences. For example, right now the housing crisis and inflation are playing an important role in many students' lives. This makes it necessary for many students to work alongside their studies to finance their studies, rent and some other extracurricular activities. This puts a lot of stress and pressure on their lives, especially since they also must perform well for their studies. The students concluded that more information should be available regarding where help is available. Also, there should be more study career guidance hours available as well as a more accessible dean. Finally, more understanding of each other is necessary to improve students’ well-being.

Vicky van Amerongen

Vicky van Amerongen is a personal coach at Young & Unlimited and she talked about how students can reconnect with themselves, which helps them to gain freedom and happiness. To achieve this mission of Young & Unlimited, Vicky discussed how educators’ influence and involvement can contribute to this. One way to do this, is to understand what is going on in Generation Z, such as the protected upbringing, the mentality that everything can be made and the 1% illusion. Next, understanding the consequences is important, such as loneliness and emotional exhaustion. The main question that emerges is "How can I deal with this as a teacher?". The conclusion is that recognizing signs, creating connections, and looking for the root causes with the right intention, contributes to Young & Unlimited's mission.

Rosa Surachno 

Rosa Surachno is the author of the book “Generation Egg”. She talked about the issues and challenges Generation Y is facing in today's time. The upbringing of Generation Y/Z was compared to the upbringing of previous generations. Furthermore, social developments, such as digitization and freedom of choice, also play a role in students' well-being. Next to that, the taboo on failure, its consequences, and changing norms and values also have an influence. Thus, Generation Y/Z needs: an environment where mistakes are allowed, a listening ear, someone to ask about his/her needs, the opportunity for students to engage with each other, and classes where collaboration and creativity are the focus.

Marcus Hoen

Marcus Hoen talked about what we can learn from the business world regarding vitality. Marcus shared his experiences as a Manager of Fit Prevention at NS and as Manager of Employability and Inspections. During his time at NS, he learned how employees were trained to prevent suicides. For example, by making it difficult, by recognizing and addressing it, and by working together. Furthermore, putting the emphasis on energy and fun within the workplace, is very important for the employees’ well-being. This was explained by The Job Demands-Resources model. 

Reinier Gerritzen 

Reinier Gerritzen, educational developer and author, ended the day with argumental statements about student well-being in the Netherlands. Reinier is author of the Edubooks Study & Career, Project Management and Professional Conversation Skills.

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