Yale’s Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning is proud to announce the launch of “The Science of Well-Being for Parents,” a free online course exploring science-backed strategies for happier parenting. Produced for Yale Online, this captivating course is offered at no cost through the Coursera platform and on YouTube. Taught by Dr. Laurie Santos, the Chandrika and Ranjan Tandon Professor of Psychology at Yale, the course confronts modern-day challenges for today’s parents, including time management, academic pressures, technology and social media, and the importance of self-care. Since its launch on May 1, the course has enrolled over 12,000 learners in its first month.
In a 2024 public health advisory, the former U.S. Surgeon General highlighted the significant mental health challenges facing parents today. These pressures underscore the critical need for honest advice around parenting in the twenty-first century – which this new course aims to provide. “Parents are facing stressors they’ve never faced before,” Dr. Santos said. “It’s made an already challenging job even harder, and to top it off, this is the first time in human history we have parenting influencers giving updates all the time, making many parents feel like they’re not doing enough.”
This self-paced, asynchronous course includes seven 45-minute modules packed with research-backed lessons, questions from real parents, and expert advice that’s both practical and grounded in science. “The Science of Well-Being for Parents” builds on Dr. Santos’ widely popular online courses, “The Science of Well-Being” and “The Science of Well-Being for Teens,” which have attracted over 4 million students globally, representing one-third of all enrollments in Yale’s online offerings through Coursera.
“From the beginning, our goal was to bring parent voices to the forefront,” said Belinda Platt, Senior Associate Director of Digital Education and course producer. “We surveyed thousands of parents and asked them to share their most pressing parenting challenges. These insights shaped the structure of this course, helping us to build something grounded in science and relevant to their day-to-day lives.”
Left to Right: Dr. Laurie Santos, Belinda Platt, Ronice Awudu
The course was filmed on location at high schools and universities across the United States, marking the first time the Poorvu Center remotely directed outside teams to produce course content. This approach brought Yale’s presence directly into classrooms and communities nationwide, many of which had previously implemented Dr. Santos’ Teen course and were already familiar with her curriculum.
“Editing questions from real parents across the country was the most fulfilling part of this course for me,”explained Video Editor Brian Smail III. “They’re proof that you never stop learning, and the course is much richer because of their perspectives.”
The Poorvu Center is a hub for teaching and learning at Yale, providing a wide array of resources and support for students and faculty across the university. The Center brings Yale’s teaching to the world through various online Degree and Non-Degree programs, including individual courses available to the public free of charge. To learn more about “The Science of Well-Being for Parents,” read the Yale News article here.
Director of Communications, Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning