Platform content: Life challenge learning modules
The Persona Life Skills online social-emotional learning platform includes a growing library of Life Challenge modules in its curriculum – the 'Discovery Islands'.
Updated 16-Oct-24
By Dr Leila Khouja Walker, Chief Product Officer
Life is not a rehearsal. However, continuing to learn and apply new life skills as we grow supports us in making better future decisions in the life challenges we all face.
Persona Life Skills uses an engaging learning metaphor of exploring an archipelago of 'Islands' representing different life challenges, to help students develop 22 social-emotional life skills across six skillsets. Multiple research studies link these life skills with improved wellbeing and greater success in social, learning and workplace contexts.
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A growing Life Skills curriculum
Our online learning platform for schools and colleges (and homeschooling) includes a growing library of Discovery Islands – teacher-facilitated learning modules that reside in the online curriculum, aptly named the Archipelago.
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Each Island guides students to learn more about themselves and others through the lens of personality insights, and then use this understanding to develop and actively apply life skills in real life, often challenging, scenarios.
In any Island module, students navigate through a series of questions and learning activities where they acquire and practise newly acquired skills – learning to adapt their thinking, communication and behaviour to achieve more positive outcomes, for their own and others’ benefits.
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Island learning modules
Students step onto each Island and are taken on a journey with their Map (learning objectives), tackling a life challenge such as Social Media Chat, Preparing for Exams, Interview Ready or even Getting Along With Teachers.
On Island 4 – The Unexpected, students are faced with a range of scenarios that allow them to discover more about their own reactions to unexpected situations, and how others may react in the same way, or differently. Students explore these reactions from a personality perspective, gaining insights into how they and others think, communicate and behave. They then apply these insights by developing strategies to help them manage these types of situations better in the future. Life skills covered include stress management, staying positive and being adaptable.
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On Island 5 – Social Media Chat, students develop life skills relating to processing information, managing feelings and informal communications, through a series of activities enabling them to explore their social media communication safely, and apply new understanding about how this is affected by their own and others' mix of personalities. This learning equips students with the knowledge to communicate in a way that is beneficial both to themselves and whoever they are chatting with, leading to a more positive social media experience.
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Island 8 – Getting Along With Teachers helps students to understand that teachers have a key role to play in realising their learning potential, and that learning how best to communicate with them through understanding personality styles can significantly boost their learning. Students are encouraged to find ways to better communicate and adapt their behaviour with any particular teacher. Life skills covered include active listening, staying positive and being adaptable.
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Monitoring life skills progress
Before leaving an Island, students send a 'Postcard' to their teacher – self-reporting their progress against the specific social-emotional skills targeted in that particular Island.
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Students' reporting against our 22 Life Skills, as well as their individual progress on each Island, can then be viewed by teachers in Dashboard screens within the platform. This allows teachers to monitor activity and learning progress, and identify any need for intervention.
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Persona Education offers free access to its Persona Life Skills online learning platform for secondary schools and colleges interested in developing their students’ social-emotional life skills, to boost wellbeing, academic and employability outcomes. 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
