New platform content: ‘The Unexpected’ Island learning module

Persona Life Skills e-learning now includes a new Island learning module, 'The Unexpected', in which students learn social-emotional life skills to help deal with unplanned life events.

2-Apr-21

By Dr Leila Khouja Walker, Chief Product Officer

In the Persona Life Skills social-emotional e-learning platform, 'The Unexpected' is a new Island learning module in which students learn how to deal with unplanned life changes. 

Students are taken on a journey of unexpected events to observe and reflect upon how they or others might respond, when faced with challenging situations.

Questions and activities in this Island help students develop three social-emotional life skills, through a personality insights lens:

• Stress management – managing my stress in different situations
• Being adaptable – adapting thinking, communication and behaviour to achieve positive outcomes
• Staying positive – maintaining a positive attitude and believing things will work out well

In the 'Get Your Bearings' warm-up, students are taken through a series of scenarios to prompt discussion and feelings relating to different unexpected events.

In the 'Explore' knowledge acquisition section, students learn to identify communication and behaviour associated with responses to such events by people with different mixes of personality styles, and consider what strategies they may use themselves in similar situations, as well as to support others.

As students reach the 'Viewpoint' plenary at the end of the Island, they are asked to reflect on their learning. They identify situations they find most stressful, and choose strategies they would use to help them get through the experience with the best positive outcome.

The Unexpected is part of the Discovery Islands curriculum – the Persona Life Skills life challenge learning modules, available with a subscription. 

Persona Education offers free access to its Persona Life Skills e-learning platform for secondary schools and colleges interested in developing their students’ social-emotional life skills, to boost wellbeing and employability. To request a live demo of the platform please get in touch – we would love to talk to you!

About the author: Dr Leila Khouja Walker has been working in the education sector for 25 years. An ex-teacher and pastoral deputy head, she is now a respected edtech and pedagogy thought leader, leading development of the personality insights life skills e-learning app Persona Life Skills, at the Bristol based edtech company Persona Education Ltd. www.persona-life.com