Dit vak wordt alleen in het Engels aangeboden.
Admission requirements
This course is an (extracurricular) Skills Module, open to students from all faculties, as well as students from the TU Delft and Erasmus University Rotterdam. Third-year bachelor’s students can apply, as well as master’s students. Students will be selected based on their motivation.
Please note that the Skills Module, being an extracurricular course, cannot be used in the elective space of your regular programme.
Topics
Climate change, Transitions, Sustainability, Life design, Personal development, Job market preparation
Disciplines
Career development, Transition Management, Governance, Sustainability
Description
Do you want to join the growing movement of people building towards a sustainable, inclusive and just future on a liveable planet? In this chaotic decade of the Transition Twenties, you might feel lost and overwhelmed and wondering how you can contribute towards a better world, when so many signs are pointing in the wrong direction (melting glaciers, continued CO2-emissions, deforestation). Yet we believe everyone has an opportunity to make a difference. Therefore, this course will help you find your path as a change maker in your future career.
In this course you will learn:
how to visualise the brightest future possible;
what drives you to be part of the Great Turning towards a liveable planet;
how you can find and connect to people and organisations already doing this work;
how societal transitions work;
how and where your unique set of talents can contribute to the transition of your choice;
how you can deal with obstacles and set-backs on your way;
how you can prototype your career as a change maker.
This is probably a completely different course than you are used to, as we will combine transition thinking, experiential learning, personal development exercises and job market exploration. If you seriously engage with this class, we promise you will build the self-knowledge, confidence and resilience to take ownership over your changemaker journey. Throughout the class, you will support each other as you will be working in small groups, guided by a peer mentor.
Disclaimer: This is a very personal course. While many students experience personal growth in life design courses, this course is not a substitute for professional mental health guidance. If you are struggling with mental health issues, please seek out professional help. You can also find additional support options on the Healthy University page of Leiden University.
Course objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, you will learn:
how to visualise the brightest future possible;
what drives you to be part of the Great Turning towards a liveable planet;
how you can find and connect to people and organisations already doing this work;
how societal transitions work;
how and where your unique set of talents can contribute to the transition of your choice;
how you can deal with obstacles and set-backs on your way;
how you can prototype your career as a change maker.
Programme and timetable
The sessions of this Skills Module will take place on Tuesdays, from 17.15-19.00.
Session 1: 17 September, 2025 (17.15-19.00)
Introduction & Active Hope:
By getting to know your classmates and your peer mentor group, you will build the foundation to support each other on this journey. Furthermore, you will learn about the three different stories that are simultaneously at play in our society: Business as Usual, The Great Unravelling and The Great Turning. Understanding when you are part of which story can help you deal with climate stress. The Active Hope spiral also offers a way of translation worry and fear into action, helping you to take your first steps on the change maker path.
Session 2: 24 September (17.15-19.00)
Transition dynamics & the X-curve:
Transitions are shock-like structural societal changes that take 1-2 generations, so it’s important to be able to zoom out and put your own efforts in perspective. The X-curve offers a valuable tool to understand transition dynamics, so you can figure out where you might fit in the larger scheme of the transition. As the X-curve will function as a red thread throughout the course, it will also help you connect the other class activities to the overall change you would like to contribute to.
Session 3: 1 October (17.15-19.00)
Personal vision:
Having a clear idea of what you want to change and why¸ will help you sustain motivation in your later career. That’s why we will help you with identifying the topics you are drawn towards, articulating your change making beliefs and visualising what the best possible future might look like.
Session 4: 8 October (17.15-19.00)
Connecting and accelerating:
Change is seldom the result of a single individual, so in this class we will use LinkedIn and AI to find organisations that share your vision and are already doing the associated transition work. The people who work there might help you further on your way, so we will also see how you can approach them to learn more about their story.
Session 5: 15 October (17.15-19.00)
Informational interview training:
Having a conversation with people who already have a change making job is probably the best way to figure out your own next steps. So in this class you will learn how you can have a fruitful conversation with them. You will get the tools, practice and confidence you need to enter the change-making world.
Session 6: 22 October (17.15-19.00)
Strengths & Energy:
The better you know what your talents are and what energizes you, the easier it will be to figure out how you can contribute to the bigger scheme of a societal transition. You will gather data to reflect on, so you can decide how to build your way forward from those.
Session 7: 29 October (17.15-19.00)
Reframing limiting beliefs:
If you can reframe the doubts and limiting beliefs that everyone has from time to time, you will be much more likely to sustain your work of contributing to a better world. Practicing with reframing limiting beliefs will help you develop a habit of standing guard at the door of your own mind.
Session 8: 5 November (17.15 - 19.00)
Speciality session: throughout the course, you work on a topic you would like to dive deeper into, for instance self-care, personal growth or maximizing impact. In this session you will share what you have learned, while also learning from the others.
Session 9: 12 November (17.15 - 19.00)
Zooming out:
In this session you will share what you have learned about the transition dynamics in your chosen system. Additionally, you will reflect on the steps you might take to explore your path further.
Session 10: 19 November (17.15 - 19.00)
Recruiter session:
What are recruiters or hiring managers looking for when they have a job opening? What are skills to develop? And where do they expect job growth in the future? To answer all of your questions, we will invite for this session guest speakers who are in hiring positions. This way you will be well-prepared when you will start applying.
Session 11: 3 December (17.15 - 19.00)
Final presentations:
To keep building your way forward and to show how far you have already come, you will reflect upon your growth during the course and share your plans for the both the short and longer term.
Location
Lipsius building, room 1.47
Reading list
Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, Designing Your Life. How to build a well-lived, joyful life (edition doesn’t matter)
Other literature will be announced via Brightspace
Course load and teaching method
This course is worth 5 ECTS, which means the total course load equals 140 hours:
Class meetings: 11 x 2 hours = 22 hours
Preparation for class: 11 x 5 hours = 55 hours
Interviews: 3 x 6 hours = 18 hours
Participation in event: 4 hours
Personal reflection portfolio: 20 hours
Job market research: 4 hours
Transition analysis: 17 hours
Assessment methods
The assessment will be based on a final portfolio, comprising all the exercises done throughout the course and reflections on those. The class will be evaluated in a pass/fail manner.
Brightspace
Brightspace will be used in this course. Students will be enrolled to the Brightspace module by the organisation of the course.
Application process
Submitting an application for this course is possible from Monday 19 August 2024 up to and including Sunday 8 September 2024 23:59, using this link.
Please note: students are not required to register through uSis for this course. Your registration will be done centrally.
Contact
Dr. Bram Hoonhout (b.m.hoonhout@ha.leidenuniv.nl)