Taylor Your Life Fall 2020 Report

About the Fall 2020 Report

65 students enrolled in TYL sections in Fall 2020. This was the first semester the class was offered online, due to COVID 19.  Feedback about the class online included:

“I liked the breakout rooms a lot because we had the chance to dig deep with each other.”

“I think this class did the best job online out of all my classes! Felt like I got almost as much out of it as I would if it were in person.”

“I think calling on people to share/having people speak in the group setting keeps people really engaged! When we did activities and everyone had to share at least one takeaway, I found those to be the most engaging classes.”

“I really liked using docs/other group sharing software so we could interact with each others’ work while being remote.”

Key takeaways from student feedback post TYL for Fall 2020 include:

• Addressing Mental Health: While it was just one student who noted this concern, we think it is an important point. This student mentioned how the course should incorporate a focus on “mental health issues like post-grad depression”, recognizing that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated many student’s mental health issues, it is of upmost importance to create a safe place for students to share their experiences
• Homework Assignments: Students felt that the amount of homework for this class was too much given its only a 2-credit hour course. Some students felt that “the activities should be less creative and more to the point”. They related that they would “rater just learn the concepts then make projects out of them”. However, most students gave positive feedback on reflective activities. Notably 85% of students reported enjoying mind mapping, a very creative activity.
• Class Duration: There was suggestion to extend the class period. One student suggested to “extend the class period [because they] sometimes didn’t get as much out of a lesson as I could have because we moved so fast”. Although this is a registrar allotted time slot, this issue may be remedied by providing students with extra coursework if they went to deep dive into a concept more than class time allows. Alternatively, another student suggested to “offer this class twice a week with shorter class times”. Although students are not aligned on their opinions of the durations of class, it is important to highlight the overarching dissatisfaction with class time.
• Transition to Zoom / Online Sessions: Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic all TYL classes were online. The Taylor Center is continually working to make online learning more dynamic. Student responses such as this are greatly informative for future changes.

About Taylor Your Life

Taylor Your Life is a changemaking career development lab that teaches undergraduate students how to approach their future with the mindset and toolkit of a designer. 

Taylor Your Life (TYL) is a 2 credit 14-week social impact career development lab for undergraduate students to “Taylor” their life course by applying methods and mindsets of design thinking (human centered design) to career development. In the TYL journey, students identify multiple life paths, clarify their interests, focus and target their search, prototype and test changemaking careers, learn how to market and brand themselves to stand out from the crowd, map their community to effectively join the network of movers and shakers in their field, and design a life that makes a positive difference in the world and is “TAYLORed” to their unique life and personality.

About Life Design at the Taylor Center

Created by Julia Lang, Taylor life design courses teach students to “TAYLOR” their life through the application of methods and mindsets of design thinking (human-centered design) to career development. Taylor Center life design instructors come from varied academic backgrounds and teach students from every school at Tulane. To learn more about the Taylor Center’s approach to life design education, read Julia Lang’s Ten Frameworks of Life Design Education.

To receive updates about Taylor’s Life Design programming in your inbox, subscribe to our weekly newsletter below.