You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
A professor at the University of Iowa encourages students to change at least one habit over the course of the semester to promote thriving in and outside the classroom.
skynesher/E+/Getty Images
Colleges and universities are increasingly creating curricular and co-curricular opportunities for students to consider their health and habits to support retention and thriving.
Many of these classes are geared toward academic success—teaching students executive functioning skills or effective study techniques—but others address social-emotional learning topics such as helping students overcome social anxiety or loneliness.
Greater attention has been placed on the physical well-being of students beyond alcohol or substance use, such as sleep and regular exercise habits, as students express a need and want for additional health education in college. These courses can have a positive impact on students’ self-efficacy and change behaviors, but they can be difficult to scale across the institution or reach all students who want to change their habits.
Rob Rouwenhorst, a marketing professor at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business, offers a low-stakes assignment in each of his courses to motivate learners to better themselves in and outside the classroom.
The genesis: Around eight years ago, Rouwenhorst began a personal journey to improve his physical health and later read the 2018 book Atomic Habits by James Clear.
One of his assignments for marketing students was to complete a report on a book related to entrepreneurs or entrepreneurship, and one student selected Atomic Habits, which generated conversation among students about how they could take steps to change their behaviors.
For the rest of the term, Rouwenhorst added a zero-points question to weekly quizzes, asking students about the habit they wanted to create and how their progress was going.
“We did it the entire semester and I registered with those students on a level that was just different,” Rouwenhorst says, allowing them to connect and relate beyond the traditional professor-student dynamic.
This spurred Rouwenhorst to integrate habit-making as a regular part of his curriculum and teaching.
How it works: Every week, students in all of Rouwenhorst’s courses (from small M.B.A. seminars to 600-plus general education courses) are assigned to answer a three-part prompt in the learning management system.
Students identify the habit they’re trying to create, the frequency they will work toward the habit-building and the location or time of day they will complete. For example, a student can write, “I will practice Spanish on Duolingo for 20 minutes every morning,” or “I will lie in my bed for eight hours each night.”
Students earn points for completing the assignment, and Rouwenhorst reviews answers to get to know the students better. He also flags keywords that indicate a student may need additional help, such as “depression” or “fight,” to offer support and guide them to university resources if needed.
The impact: Since starting the assignment, Rouwenhorst has seen amazing transformations.
“I’ve had people lose 20 pounds over the course of 16 weeks,” Rouwenhorst says. “I’ve had people quit smoking. I’ve had people start running, and then this one guy, just like, two months ago he messaged me on LinkedIn, and within 11 months he ran the New York City marathon.”
While not every student turns their life around in 16 weeks, students generally find the assignments to be beneficial.
At the end of the term, Rouwenhorst surveys students, asking about the habit assignment, and an average of 90 percent of students say he should continue offering it.
“There’s always going to be, you know, a certain percentage that it doesn’t vibe with, but the fact that the vast majority of students want it done again floors me,” Rouwenhorst says.
Even graduate students, who are often at different stages of life or have families of their own, have found benefit to the experience.
Part of Rouwenhorst’s philosophy to continue offering the assignment is having a deeper understanding of the impact of higher education.
“My mission became, I’m trying to empower students to become the best version of themselves,” he says. “Now that’s through marketing and through the frameworks and all the other stuff, but it’s a little bit also this habit stuff.”
Do you have a wellness tip that might help others encourage student success? Tell us about it.
