For students and study groups

Find here some different ideas to how you can use the material as a student or in your study groups

All the material available on this website is developed for and with students. We have used the results from the research on stress and lack of well-being among students at CBS to get an idea of which topics matters most and what kinds of knowledge, exercises and material that are needed. We hope it can be useful for you in many different ways.

For the individual student – you are not alone in your challenges

If you are experiencing some kind of doubts about your study program, insecurities about a class, worries about whether you are doing things good enough, or anxiety around an exam or your general performance, then there is a very clear message for you in all the different material available on this site: that you are not alone in these kind of experiences and in fact it is natural and expected as a part of a learning environment. In several podcasts and videos students from CBS are sharing their stories with such doubts or difficult experiences, because they want to be honest and open about it and they want others to know that they are not alone. They have participated in our research and well-being initiative, because they want to help break some taboos and contribute to a culture where challenges also can be shared and not feared.

Explore the different material and pick the topics that speak most to you where you are. Furthermore, listening to what the research has shown and the experiences of different students will also help you understand your fellow students and class-mates better.

A simple reflection excessive

If you wish to make a small reflection process out of it to dive deeper into a specific topic, we suggest the following steps.

1. Choose a topic that interests you and find a related video or podcast or choose a random one and let yourself be surprised
2. Listen to the podcast or watch the video/s
3. Pay attention to which moods and emotions you notice while listening
4. Write down three central take-aways and new observations that came to you from the process
5. If you wish to go a bit further answer the general reflection questions that we have formulated to use in teaching

Exam anxiety and pressure of performance

Pressure from exam and grades was a topic that came up in many interviews with students, causing stress, worries and insecurities in different situations. We have therefore developed a lot of different material on this topic that students can explore on their own to get some inspiration and help to see it from different perspectives. This includes breaking with the myth that there is such a thing as an “ideal student.”

Pernille has made interviews with different business leaders in the podcast series “Kunsten at træde i karakter som menneske – klædt på til arbejdslivet” and in the podcast “En virksomheds perspektiv – myten om den ideelle studerende.” She asks them what they look for in new graduates and about the importance or weight of grades. They all share that grades is only a small part of the whole picture.

In the video library there are 9 videos specifically addressing exam anxiety, the pressure around exams and performance, and the exam situation itself. The video series is called “Exam and performance pressure and insecurities.”

Inspirational podcast on well-being topics

In the podcast (in Danish) “Kunsten at træde i karakter som menneske – klædt på til transformation” Pernille is interviewing musician Nicklas Sahl and actor Thure Lindhardt about their career paths, developing professional judgement, challenges with working in groups, and all kinds of doubts and insecurities that inevitably arises along the way. It is a very honest and humorous conversation that reminds us that we are all just human and in the same boat with our insecurities and that mistakes are important part of learning and growing.

A small reflection exercise
Listen to the podcast and reflect upon the following questions:
1. How was it to listen to the podcast?
2. What made the biggest impression on you?
3. What in the podcast can you best relate to?
4. What could you not relate to?
5. What will you take with you from the podcast moving forward?

Material overview

Types of material

Main themes

Stress & well-being
Inadequacy
Teamwork challenges
New Student
Performance pressure
– exam and grades
The myth of the ideal student

Using the dialogue cards in study groups

A good way to work with well-being and collaboration in your study group is to play a round of the dialogue cards. The feedback we have gotten from students who have tested the cards is that it enables, in an easy and light way, to have some conversations that normally can be difficult to have. The cards help facilitate the talk and ask the difficult questions, which means no one person is responsible of doing that. Moreover, the cards will also show you all in the group, how normal these different kinds of challenges are, including the difficulties in teamwork, but also that there are differences in the way people react under pressure. This can feel like a sense of relief and help you to realize that it is not so bad to talk about after all. The feedback we often get from students is that they experienced it as a relief and that it wasn’t difficult to have talks about “difficult” things.

To play the dialogue cards in your group simply download the cards as a PDF (it has both a Danish and an English version), and read the guidelines detailed under “User instructions.” The cards are build over three themes: Teamwork, Inadequate, and New to CBS (i.e. being a new student). Decide beforehand if you wish to cover all the three themes or less, and on the time you will put aside for the exercise. Choose a moderator who will read the cards aloud and keep track of the time.

If you want more perspectives or to see how playing the game can look like there are several videos in our video library with four CBS-students testing the cards. Either you can watch it before playing it yourself as a preparation or you can watch it after in the group to see how their reflections might be similar and different to yours.

Working with teamwork challenges in groups

Teamwork challenges are common among students, and in work life too. Learning how to collaborate constructively and how to manage differences within a group is an important human skill. We have developed different material that addresses this topic from various perspectives and give you some food for thought and practical advice too. Besides the dialogue cards theme of Teamwork, below is a short video and a podcast that address this topic:

Making a group process
1. Read the general reflection questions before you begin
2. Listen to the podcast and video
3. Contemplate for a moment each person alone on the reflection questions, perhaps write a few notes down
4. Go through the reflection questions in the group and give each other time and space to share
5. You can also choose to use the dialogue cards of “Teamwork” to facilitate this conversation
6. If you wish to go a bit further answer the teamwork reflection questions together

Teamwork reflection questions

Working in groups I am usually good at….
I want to contribute to the group is functioning well by practicing being better at…
If members of the group shall help me, it is important that they take care about…
I am aware that others might misunderstand me and my behavior when I…
The most interesting parts of our dialogue is to me…