Supporting Empathy: Post-Secondary Learners
For post-secondary school learners, the ways in which you support empathy skills starts to grow in complexity. Read on to learn more about how you can incorporate empathy-related activities with your learners.
Thinking About Empathy (‘I’)
Experiential Learning
Engaging in immersive experiences through experiential learning can provide a glimpse into the lives of others. This could include volunteering at a shelter, participating in a community service project, or attending cultural events. It could also include virtual reality experiences or games to showcase empathy situations. By immersing your adult learners in different environments, individuals can develop empathy and gain a broader understanding of diverse perspectives.
Videos
Similar to younger learners, you can also utilize videos or other resources to catalyze deep discussions about empathy. This video from Simon Sinek, founder of the Optimism Company and author of Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action and Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t, is a great resource for adult learners.
Similarly, Joan Halifax’s TED Talk, Compassion and the True Meaning of Empathy, is another great tool. Take a look!
Feeling Empathy (‘We’)
Mindfulness
Mindfulness and compassion meditation can help adult learners drop into their bodies and feel their way through empathy skills. For example, you can invite learners to practice mindfulness and empathy-focused meditation techniques like this self-compassion meditation from Chris Germer.
*Self-Compassion Break with Chris Germer Transcript [PDF]
Engaging in mindfulness practices can help individuals develop a deeper sense of self-awareness and compassion towards themselves and others.
Practicing Empathy (‘Us’)
Service Learning Projects
Service learning projects can help learners develop compassionate empathy. Encourage learners to initiate and lead their own community engagement projects. This might entail organizing fundraisers, awareness campaigns, or workshops addressing social issues (Grand Canyon University, 2024). These types of activities help learners take responsibility and foster empathy by actively working to improve the lives of others.
Check out Ashoka’s video on Stories of Young Changemakers to help your learnerss understand how they can make a difference in their communities and the world.
