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HUMAN RESILIENCE:
BY DESIGN

—



^{“Enjoy your day, in your life.”}
Tikvah Breimer, lead and founder StudioBlended

^{“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

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

Image: “Architectural Sketch by Cazú Zegers © Cazú Zegers – all rights reserved.”

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 academic staff can improve your own skills and capabilities to become more resilient.

The cutting edge of our Studio is a focus on the systemic pre-conditions in the curriculum design 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.

Made concrete

Human resilience is not one thing we do, it is a deep value intervowen in every single one of our design angles. That is how we make it concrete, and how curricula become truly sustainable, and resilient.

Curious about our philosophy for human resilience? 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 

There is so much focus out there on student centered education, but what about your teaching staff?

Imagine a course or degree that holds space for your most important asset, your teaching team. Not only their health and wellbeing, also their passion for their field, their expertise, their honest needs in quality of work. 

That’s where StudioBlended comes in - by design.

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.

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 (SUD)
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS), Erasmus University, Rotterdam

Join related studies / Our Audio Podcast

Prefer to read? Looking for resources? Transcript
Listen to A) dosage on: Acast Spotify Apple Listen to B) slow productivity on: Acast Spotify Apple
Release March 20 / June 21 ‘23 

The episode comes in two clips: A) dosage (technical effectiveness) B) slow productivity (human resilience), the transcript is combining both clips.

In this episode, we tackle the problem over so-called ‘overload’ in terms of content in your curriculum. Perhaps to your surprise, we will link it directly to how you prepare for the content in your curriculum design, whether it is a module, course, training or a degree.

We go even beyond that: with technique - you can design for your own human resilience during preparation; your balance, your enjoyment of the simplicity in curriculum design.



Prefer to read? Looking for resources? Transcript
Listen to A) technical on: Acast Spotify AppleListen to B) human on: Acast Spotify Apple
Release spring 2025 (forthcoming)

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
Big ideas
Paradigm shifts/decade strong
Simplicity and decluttering
Human resilience
Modular
Innovative and deep pedagogy
Assesment / evaluation
Time dimension
Evidence-based design
Financial health and resilience by (re)design
Multi- Inter- and transdisciplinary
Flexibilisation and personalisation
Blended



<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.

Resilient education that stands the test of time - by design.