Contemplative Studies Centre
Evaluating the impact of contemplative curriculum and pedagogy.
The Research
This project with The University of Melbourne’s Contemplative Studies Centre evaluated the implementation and impact of a new subject titled ‘The Art and Science of Meditation’ for contemplative learning/pedagogy and psychological welling. The subject introduces students to a range of techniques of meditation, situated in their cultural and social contexts. Students are invited to participate in a range of meditation practices, and also to engage in scholarly analysis and peer dialogue regarding meditation and its potential applications in society.
The design of the subject aims to achieve not only academic learning objectives, but also objectives related to wellbeing, connectedness, and character development in the student cohort. Because the curricular and pedagogical approach in the subject are novel, we aimed to conduct this research project to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the implementation, and also the impact of the curriculum on students wellbeing, sense of belonging, engagement with learning, and character growth (e.g. mindfulness, open-mindedness, pro-socialness).
My Role
Through the role of Research Assistant, supporting the practical conduct of the project including:
supporting the production and submission of documents for ethical review;
managing participant recruitment and communications;
constructing surveys, piloting and conducting pre-/post- surveys;
arranging and conducting qualitative research interviews;
secularly managing and organising research data;
cleaning/sorting research data for analysis; and
arranging for transcription of interview audio.
More case studies
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Buddhist Teacher, Jess Huon
Designing online and in-person contemplative learning experiences and a hybrid business model.
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Openground
Marketing strategy and Website design for Australia’s leading MBSR and MBCT provider.