Goal Planning with WOOP

Students who know why they are in college and what they need to do in order to graduate are much more likely to finish college. Anything faculty can do to make sure that students have clear academic goals and support their goal planning can help, and it's not only the responsibility of counselors or academic advisors to suppor that planning. You don't have to teach in a specific program to help students become more goal-oriented and reflective learners. 

Why Spend Class Time on Academic Goal Planning?

For students, academic goal planning provides opportunities:

  • to reflect on their learning / metacognition
  • to learn what to focus their time and energy on
  • to personalize and internalize course outcomes 
  • to learn academic skills, especially important for students from non-traditional and systematically marginalized backgrounds

For faculty, academic goal planning provides opportunities:

  • to communicate outcomes and priorities with students
  • to reflect on alignment between activities and assignments and course goals
  • to learn about students' personal, educational, and professional goals 

 

WOOP

The logo for WOOP (Wish, Outcome, Obstable, Plan) with the letters "woop" and a thinking cloud above.

One approach to this kind of academic goal planning is the WOOP (Wish, Obstacle, Outcome, Plan) system. Developed by Gabirele Oettigen, author of the book Rethinking Positive Thinking, the approach provides a framework for teaching goal planning. You can learn the details from the free resources on Oettingen's website Links to an external site. or listen to the Hidden Brain podcast interview Links to an external site. with Oettingen.   

Here's the basics of the four WOOP elements:

Wish

  • What is the dearest wish you would like to fulfill? Pick a wish that is challenging but reasonable.

Outcome

  • What would be the best outcome of fulfilling your wish? Imagine a fulfilling outcome or result. 

Obstacle 

  • What is your main inner obstacle that holds you back from fulfilling your wish? This should be something in your control (such as a feeling, belief, or habit). 

Plan 

  • What can you do to overcome the obstacle? Consider thoughts, actions, and behaviors.

One of the most important elements of WOOP is the addition of thinking through the obstacle - what could potentially get in the way - and the plan - what people can do to navigate the obstacle. The following image was shared at the TLC event on the topic.

The sentence reads "If (fill in the blank with an obstacle), then (planned thoughts and behaviors"). It is followed by an arrowed line that navigates around an obstacle.

 

Using WOOP with Students

There are a variety of ways to use WOOP in your classroom. One approach is simply to develop an assignment that asks students to set goals in your class - from how they will work on your assessment, to completing work in a timely manner, to improving how they will do on future assignments. Another approach is adding reflection elements to established assignments. You can add reflection questions to the end of exams or essays, like:

  • How did you prepare for this assignment/exam/essay? How much time did you spend preparing?
  • Where did you struggle? What was the biggest obstacle for doing as well as you had hoped?
  • How will you change your preparation on the next assignment? What will that look like? 
  • If you need to spend more time preparing, how will you make that happen? 

And, the WOOP My Life Links to an external site. website has additonal resources and downloads that could easily be used and adapated for your classroom, including the WOOP Kit.

You may also be interested in reviewing the Exam Wrappers page for more information.