Hours vanish into scrolling. You overthink every decision. You're tired of performing. Something's missing. You're growing up in a time where everything demands certainty but nothing is certain. You've learned to optimize externally while losing touch with your internal compass - the only reliable guide when the future is unpredictable.

Western universities document record levels of student anxiety, identity confusion, and decision-making paralysis (OECD, 2023; Twenge, 2017). THUAS recognizes this challenge institution-wide.

This minor develops three fundamental relationships through experiential learning: with yourself, with others, and with the world. Not through lectures, but through doing, experiencing, feeling - which is integrated through sharing, reflecting, and connecting.

You'll practice dialogue and deep listening, movement and nature immersion, contemplative practices, creative expression, and peer witnessing. You'll develop decision-making capacity that integrates your whole self, authentic relationships, and resilience for navigating complexity - capacities no AI can replicate and every significant challenge requires.

This prepares transition-makers through human  capacities essential for navigating 21st-century complexity. Whether you're starting your career or
already in it, this minor develops the inner work that makes outer work sustainable and meaningful.

These outcomes align with the Inner Development Goals framework (OECD, 2023) and THUAS's commitment to developing transition makers.

Upon completion, you can:
1. Embodied Decision-Making - demonstrate embodied decision-making by integrating signals from your body (tension, energy, gut response) with emotional and cognitive information when making choices.

2. Multiple Perspectives - engage with diverse viewpoints and show how your perspective evolved through that engagement.

3. Authentic Relationships & Ethical Decision-Making - navigate vulnerability and boundaries in relationships while making choices aligned with your values.

4. Working with Uncertainty - demonstrate capacity to stay present with not-knowing and use discomfort as information rather than problem.

5. Reflective Practice - maintain ongoing reflection through divers modalities and show progression over time.

6. Interconnection & Context - recognize yourself as part of larger systems (relationships, nature, society) and show how that awareness shapes your choices and contributions.

These are HBO bachelor level (NLQF 6) through experiential pedagogy that develops applied professional competencies. A more elaborate explanation on linking the Dublin Descriptors is available on request.

Four attitudes are needed:
(1) genuine curiosity about self-inquiry, (2) willingness for vulnerability, (3) capacity to reflect on behavior and patterns and (4) openness to step into unknowns and productive discomfort.

Extra requirement for professional/work-study participants: experience in navigating professional settings and reflecting on showing up in work contexts.

Selection process
When more students apply than available spaces (max 16 per track), applicants are asked to do a short self-paced online module before registration deadline.

This includes a 10-minute video and participant invitation document. Based on this, students are given 6 questions to assess their own readiness and decide
whether to continue their application. Those who choose to continue enter a lottery for available spots. Optional 15-minute conversations available for
students unsure about fit.

Results announced within 2 weeks of registration deadline.

Recommended Resources:

Students choose resources that serve their learning journey. All materials are invitations for deeper exploration, not requirements.

1. Barbezat, D. P., & Bush, M. (2014). Contemplative practices in higher
education: Powerful methods to transform teaching and learning.
Jossey-Bass.

2. Brown, B. (2015, March). The power of vulnerability [Video]. TED
Conferences.
https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_the_power_of_vulnerability

3. Capra, F., & Luisi, P. L. (2014). The systems view of life: A unifying
vision. Cambridge University Press.

4. Gendlin, E. T. (1982). Focusing. Bantam Books.

5. Kabat-Zinn, J. (2005). Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. Hachette Books.

6. Lengelle, R., Pouw, P., Post, J. M., & Goren, S. (2022). Happy U: Zenmeditatie, loopbaanschrijven en een diversiteitsdialoog in DeHaagse Hogeschool. LoopbaanVisie, 1, 61-66.

7. OECD. (2025). Education for human flourishing: A conceptual framework. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/73d7cb96-en

8. Scharmer, O. (2025, March 20). Universities as innovation ecologies for
human & planetary flourishing. Field of the Future Blog.
https://medium.com/presencing-institute-blog/universities-as-innovation?ecologies-for-human-and-planetary-flourishing-84313c75c0d7

9. Van der Kolk, B. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.

10. Wheatley, M. (2017). Who do we choose to be? Facing reality, claiming leadership, restoring sanity. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Term: Semester 1 & Semester 2

Frequency: Offered twice per year (September start and February start)

Two parallel tracks with monthly integration:

1. Full-time student track:
- Monday 13:00-16:30
- Thursday 09:30-15:30
- Monthly Wednesday 19:00-22:00 (both groups together)

2. Professional/work-study track:
- Friday 09:00-17:00 (with shared lunch break)
- Monthly Wednesday 19:00-22:00 (both groups together)


Schedule notes:

- Monthly Wednesday evening brings both tracks together for integration, community building, and cross-pollination of perspectives

- Flexibility possible based on room availability and faculty constraints. Core requirement: one full day of contact hours per week, divided in one 8h day or
two shorter ones, plus monthly evening sessions.
Optional enrichment (not required, counts toward study load if attended):

- Week-long hiking intensive: 98 hours, post-semester, participant-paid
(€600-900)

How Assessment is constructed:

Biggs constructive alignment is applied. Assessment matrix (constructive alignment on LO’s) given in the next box of ‘Teaching Methods’. The Single Point Rubric (SPR) used for assessment is located at the end of this section.
Student Portfolio Guidelines are given at the end of this document.

Assessment Approach: Holistic SPR with Student Agency
Compass's six learning outcomes represent interconnected dimensions of transformative learning, not discrete competencies. A single activity like the
Boundary Walk simultaneously engages multiple outcomes—embodied awareness (LO1), authentic relationships (LO3), working with discomfort (LO4),
reflective practice (LO5). Holistic assessment honors this integration while maintaining constructive alignment (Mezirow, 1991; Kegan, 1994; Biesta, 2009).

Single-point rubrics provide quality narrative feedback rather than categorical scoring. Research shows SPRs increase student achievement through self-assessment (Fluckiger, 2010), maintain validity and reliability (Popken, 2020), and support deeper learning than traditional multi-point rubrics (Black & Wiliam, 1998). The educator's role shifts from categorical sorting to professional judgment calibration, which better honors the complexity of transformative learning.

Assessment is conducted through an iterative portfolio:

1. Portfolio 1 (formative) → Document early patterns; practice documentation and reflection; learn what constitutes quality evidence; students gain insight into how to document experiences and reflect
meaningfully → Educator 1-on-1 feedback conversation
2. Portfolio 2 (formative) → Document deepening + creative synthesis → Gallery Walk with peer + educator feedback
3. Portfolio 3 (summative) → Integrated reflection of journey (6 LO’s); review of rubric, identification of evidence across six dimensions → group conversation on journeys (peer insight) → student proposes
grade (1-10) with written justification → final 1-on-1 with educator who determines the grade. 

Students develop self-assessment capacity throughout the program (Portfolio 1&2 practice). For Portfolio 3, students self-assess using the holistic rubric and propose a grade with justification. The educator moderates and:
- reviews the portfolio and student's self-assessment
- uses own observations of the student across semester, the witnessing circles, the other 2 portfolio iterations and previous interactions
- then engages in dialogue with the student
- determines final grade.

This approach honors student agency (Boud, 2013) while maintaining educator
responsibility for assessment quality. Assessment is rigorous, triangulated (peer feedback, self-assessment, educator evaluation), and aligned with experiential
pedagogy principles.

To ensure consistency across educators, we conduct calibration sessions where assessors review sample portfolios together and discuss grading rationale. We
deliberately choose this approach over extensive quality descriptors to prevent assessment from becoming a checkbox exercise. These portfolios contain heartfelt, deep reflection journeys that ask to be engaged with using the embodied experience of educators.

 

Grading assessed via holistic SPR:
Grade Scale: 1-10, threshold for passing: 5.5 (‘6’ in practice because we use rounded grades)
Prerequisites: 80% active attendance + delivery of all three portfolio iterations

Only Portfolio 3 is assessed via the SPR and according to these scales:
● Below 6: Proficient criteria not met (evidence minimal, superficial, or
inconsistent in multiple dimensions)
● 6-7: Proficient criteria met (documented engagement with all six
dimensions meets portfolio assessment criteria)
● 8-10: Evidence of excellence (one or more dimensions show exceptional depth, risk-taking, visible transformation, or integration)
● Portfolio 3 assessed via SPR rubric

Continuous Formative Cycle:
● Weekly activities, assignments and explorations within and without the
program are followed by continuous reflection, sharing of inner experience, of observations, and peer/educator feedback.
● In addition there is an ongoing daily/weekly personal reflection practice

Planning:
● Weekly activities, assignments and explorations within and without the program (continuous experience, reflection, observation and feedback)
● Daily/weekly reflection practice
● Bi-weekly witnessing circles
● Journey Map v1: End week 6
● Journey Map v2: End week 14
● Group conversation week 18
● Final Portfolio: Week 19, with the final 1on1 in week 20

Resit Options:
o Re-submission with incorporated feedback, 2 weeks after semester end