HUMAN RESILIENCE:
BY DESIGN

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^{“I never even knew that I needed teacher training. And now that I have had it with StudioBlended, I cannot believe just how much it changed my life - the technique, the pedagogy, the human resilience.”}

Patricia Samora, full professor architecture and urbanism, PUC Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil



<sup>“ I was in a moment in my carreer where I missed challenge, and so longed for something refreshing and for experimenting. And with the Studio(Blended) we started daring to do that.

So often, course coordinators are seen as just administrative and logistic coordinators, handling all the participants, schedules, lecturers, excursions, solving issues etc.

After 6 years of running the same course as a coordinator, I felt I was getting weary, and wondered: is there anything fresh and new, that I myself can still learn?

Tikvah first of all helped me to align and synthesize the content of the course with my PhD, so that I would work efficiently and feel energized again well into the coming years.

By starting to work with the Studio’s open-building framework for the big ideas of the course – and communicating with clarity to each and every lecturer which learning objectives I wanted them to focus on in their sessions – suddenly I was back firmly in the content seat. I am now the CEO of this course: advising the lecturers, how their session contribute to the whole of the body of knowledge of the course. I feel so much more acknowledged as a course coordinator that gives direction to the content of the course, and receive very positive reactions from all involved.“</sup>

Charmae Pyl Wissink-Nercua (she/her)
Specialist in Urban Land, Housing Development and Capacity Building
Course Manager, Sustainable Urban Development (SUDInstitute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS), Erasmus University, Rotterdam
Are you curious for more? Would you like to get in touch? Feel free to contact our lead directly for any questions or inquiries you may have. tikvah@studioblended.com +31 6 42 47 29 69

A tribute to the Italian/Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi’s glass house, Casa Atibaia, Sao Paulo Brazil
Photo: with permission, Ni.acki/Nicholas Préaud

Human Resilience

Typically, course/training coordinators are highly educated people who need a lot of autonomy, mastery, and purpose in their work to feel job satisfaction. At the same time they face enormous pressure to perform: to publish, to bring in finance for research or projects, to ensure high ranking of education at their institution. We have seen coordinators’ wellbeing suffer due to this pressure which often results in low staff retention at their institutions. At our Studio we include human resilience as a design quality. Elsewhere the focus is mainly on how to improve your own skills and capabilities to become more resilient. Our Studio focuses on the systemic pre-conditions necessary to become and remain resilient whilst designing, developing and delivering a course/training.

We believe that human resilience and technical resilience of your curriculum design, are two sides of the same coin. This design angle ensures the course/training developed and delivered is in step with its teaching staff, so that instead of being exhausted, cynical and losing confidence in their capacity to perform, the coordinator’s work enriches and enlivens them.

Our design studio

Human resilience forms an iterative part of our design studio with clients because the human resilience lens may require redesign, until a realistic curriculum design is developed for the teaching staff to deliver.

Our innovative approach to curriculum design makes a healthy value system around human resilience concrete by translating it into five tangible outputs:

1. A prototype schedule of the pedagogically required presence and absence of teaching staff during delivery (also online)
2. Identification of at least one time slot per week, for autonomy, mastery and purpose for a teacher (i.e. to read into their subject, build their network etc).
3. Design of impactful communication around feedback and (formative) assessment opportunities. Clear guidance on how to communicate this to students.
4. A technology protocol and communication etiquette for teaching delivery, aligned with your existing protocols.
5. A strategic plan for piloting and consolidating the essential material (i.e. what to develop first, content for second year etc).
6. A brain-based approach to your schedule, including insights from neuroscience, being a corporate athlete in the future of work, and rhythms to the days and weeks that create predictability and calm.



Curios? Feel free to contact our independent senior advisor and teacher trainer directly:
tikvah@studioblended.com

Key projects

<sup>“Tikvah made me feel like I am not alone in the challenges of overloaded curriculum, stressed course participants and lecturers, and overworked course coordinators in the struggle to achieve quality adult learning experience.

The tailormade consultancy trajectory she offered me is a simple yet very structured and enriching process which allows flexibility and creativity from my end to reflect on how I will apply the concepts of technical and human resilience in the course design.

The importance of rest (both for the lecturers and students), repetitions, clear communications about the course learning objectives to the lecturers are just some of the many take-aways I can bring home in this learning journey.”</sup>

Charmae Pyl Wissink-Nercua (she/her)
Specialist in Urban Land, Housing Development and Capacity Building
Course Manager, Sustainable Urban Development (SUD)
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS), Erasmus University, Rotterdam




Photo: Tikvah Breimer broadcasting during lockdowns in the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE).
Audio equipment and production by Paolo Destilo.

Listen to the 15 min. keynote by Tikvah Breimer (MSc MAEd MSc) during our event in the conference on the Future of Europe, February 25, 2022. Here, Tikvah Breimer explains how technical and human resilience are intertwided; two sides of the same coin.


Prefer to read? Transcript

Related publications

Report ‘Resilience and the (non)sense of teacher training in the South of Europe.’ Particpatory Action Research (PAR) in the Conference on the Future of Europe.

More design angles we use

Technical resilience
Human resilience
Modular
Evidence-based design
Financial health and resilience by (re)design
Innovative and deep pedagogy
Multi- Inter- and transdisciplinary
Blended
Bichronous
Designed to be green (and technological simplicity)
Nature and aspirations
Flexibilisation and personalisation
Simplicity and decluttering



Photo: Lina Bo Bardi architecture.

<sup>“During the pandemic, we had to learn how to use new pedagogical tools to work remotely away from the students. This new way of working seemed full of infinite alternatives and I felt too overwhelmed to look into it. What makes the most sense for my practice? How can I find time to learn new techniques given I already have an overloaded schedule? It is in this aspect that Tikvah’s advise and training was so effective for me. In my case, it felt like a revolution.

I never even knew that I needed advise and training on curriculum design. And now that I have had it with StudioBlended, I cannot believe just how much it changed my life - the technique, the pedagogy, the human resilience.

From my very first meetings with Tikvah, she guided me on a journey through my own routine.

In addition to a calmed agenda, I learned from Tikvah how to develop a clear, simple, and effective structure for the design of the courses I teach. I now have more quality time to dedicate to other activities, such as research and individual student guidance. My anxiety has diminished, and the students also realized that my courses are well organized and rooted in strong guidelines.

And it works because, instead of another "method", what Tikvah delivers is individually tailored consultancy. She first listens, then she suggests new paths and possibilities for implementing our work differently, without losing what each individual cares about most.”</sup>

Patricia Samora, full professor architecture and urbanism, PUC Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Episode Spotify, Apple
Prefer to read? Transcript
Example of our teacher training on human resilience.

We are here especially for you as unique professional, to come alongside you and partner with you, as you work on a (architecture / urban / development / policy / land / water / climate) curriculum, so that you can offer effective and resilient education in its simplest form.