Challenging your Own Path: a Process-Oriented Approach

AIM OF SESSION 

Too often, we check goals and decisions only at the beginning… but projects evolve, take different turns, and pausing  gives a great opportunity to revisit such goals and decisions from the beginning in order to align and to increase their success.  

Halfway through a project, this session invites students to slow down, question assumptions, share what is going well, and discuss their challenges. Holding more information and experience than at the start, students are able to re-orient, adjust strategies, and make more informed decisions to move forward. 

The value of this session lies in offering a collective pause, where doubt becomes curiosity and questioning opens space for new perspectives. Skills practiced include: reflective thinking, critical questioning, collaborative dialogue, reframing assumptions, and making informed decisions. These practices directly contribute to BUas’ Climate & Sustainability Education ILOs where students learn to analyse the interdependencies of issues related to a topic (ILO 1), and to reflect on and develop their own role, personal and professional, in tackling societal challenges (ILO 2). 

BACKGROUND 

This educational material suggestion is used as part of the Performatory, a specialization within the Social Innovation track at BUas. The Performatory is deeply connected to real-world contexts, where students co-create projects with teachers and external partners. Instead of traditional lectures, students engage in diverse learning spaces, and Challenging Your Own Path is one of them. 

The bachelor track in Social Innovation is a three-year track within the Leisure & Events study programme. One of its core elements is the “expedition” ,  a learning journey built around real-life projects and interventions. Midway through this journey, students and teachers gather for Challenging Your Own Path: an event where they reflect together on what is working, what could be reframed, and which new strategies might now be possible that weren’t in the beginning.  

By design, the event fosters student ownership and connection. Students present and question without heavy supervision, which builds openness, vulnerability, and engagement, the very essence of Challenging Your Own Path. For teachers, it offers a way to see what is happening at the Performatory without formal reporting. For guests, it provides the opportunity to learn more about different topics and consider how they might apply to their own practice or business. 

Here are two testimonials from participating students in one such event: one focused on sustainability & greenwashing and one on education wellbeing: 

• Greenwashing project: “I gained new perspectives on the topic and found people I can talk to. I also realised that framing it as ‘greenwashing’ can feel too negative and closes dialogue. Through this session, I could better see the patterns in different types of ‘washing,’ pay attention to impact and intent, and connect the dots more clearly.”
• Education wellbeing project: “It was useful to find practical tools to continue my journey. I got new insights, like questioning whose responsibility wellbeing in education really is — only teachers? I want to explore a more systemic approach. I also want to reach out to the new connections I made today.” 

FACILITATION 

The signature of Challenging Your Own Path lies in creating a collective and collaborative moment where students (together with teachers and “outsiders”) step out of the rush of doing and into the space of questioning. The facilitator’s role is not to provide answers, but to hold a safe, creative environment where reflection, curiosity, and dialogue can flourish. 

Important elements to take into account when designing this event: 

• The physical space should be designed for openness and exchange of ideas (e.g., circles, movable chairs, breakout corners).
• Students are encouraged to reflect not only on outcomes (the results they want to achieve), but also to pay attention to what the process is telling them: which might even change perspectives on what the results should be.
• Questions are framed with curiosity rather than judgment, inviting new ways of seeing and challenging established ideas in order to form new ones. 

Reflection prompts: 

• What was useful today?
• What insights did you gain?
• What three next steps could you take (including one concrete action within the next week)?