By Nelly Sander, AAU Communication and Public Affairs
Photo: Natasja Bjerregaard Christensen, AAU

The Life Design method introduces students to a new way of thinking in their educational journey. The process creates a community where they can share their questions and concerns and find support from each other. At Aalborg University, two teams with a total of approximately 100 first-year students have so far participated in a Life Design course.

Many are in the same boat

The courses, each lasting a day, consisted of a brainstorming session where the students had to ask questions about something they were unsure about – or worried about – as new to the university. These were questions such as “Will it continue to be so difficult?” and “Will I ever reach my goal?” They wrote the questions down on paper and went around among themselves, sharing questions and answers.

AAU professor Thomas Ryberg, head of IAS PBL (Institute for Advanced Study in Problem Based Learning), is one of AAU’s anchors behind the initiative. Together with two colleagues, he participated in a so-called Life Design Studio at Stanford University in June 2024:

“An important part of a Life Design course is the many dialogues it opens up among the students, and it means a lot for students to learn that you are not the only one who worries and that it is normal to feel pressured or insecure,” he says.

Sometimes it's plan B or C that works

Associate Professor Trine Fink, who teaches at the medical school, was at the forefront of one of the two Life Design courses that have been implemented at AAU so far. She highlights another important advantage of the course, namely that the students learn not to have too fixed ways of thinking and to find alternative ways to achieve their goals:

"During the course, they become aware that there are more paths to success than the straight path that you had originally planned. Life paths can be winding, and the paths to the dream job can be many," she says.

The students drew up five-year plans in which they had to write down dreams about, for example, jobs, family, residence, including how they expected to be able to achieve the goals. This was supplemented by good presentations from teachers who talked about their own winding paths to get to where they are today.

Training of teachers

When Associate Professor Trine Fink looks at the student evaluations, she is confirmed that the courses have been a success overall:

"The students report that they can use several of the tools from the course to create a good learning environment in the study groups, which is of course extremely important at a PBL university like AAU, where there is a lot of collaboration between students," she says.

The Life Design method was developed at Stanford University. AAU plans to train a large number of teachers in the method during 2025, with the hope of helping even more students navigate their study time in a more positive and constructive way.

Contact

• Thomas Ryberg, professor and head of IAS PBL, tel.: 99 40 74 00, e-mail: ryberg@iaspbl.aau.dk
• Trine Fink, PhD, associate professor at the Department of Medicine and Health Technology, tel.: 99 40 75 50, e-mail: trinef@hst.aau.dk
• Nelly Sander, project manager AAU Communication and Public Affairs, tel.: 99 40 20 18, e-mail: nsa@adm.aau.dk

Translated by Cecilie Ellegaard Jacobsen, AAU Communication and Public Affairs