course_overview

Romantic Relationships 101 - Course Overview

Course Description

This 3-hour text-based course provides adults with the essential knowledge and skills for building and maintaining fulfilling romantic relationships. Designed for complete beginners, the course covers the 80/20 of relationship skills in an engaging, slightly irreverent tone that makes learning both practical and enjoyable.

Course Structure

  • Total Duration: 3 hours
  • Format: Text-based with interactive elements and suggested infographics
  • Modules: 10 lessons, each 20 minutes long

Course Contents

Introduction: Welcome to Romantic Relationships 101

An engaging overview of what learners will achieve, highlighting practical applications and connecting course content with learners’ personal lives.

Lesson 1: Understanding Yourself and Your Relationship Patterns

Identify your attachment style, core relationship needs, and triggers to build self-awareness as the foundation for healthy relationships.

Lesson 2: Finding and Recognizing Compatible Partners

Learn to distinguish between essential compatibility factors and superficial preferences, recognize relationship green and red flags, and avoid common partner selection pitfalls.

Lesson 3: Effective Communication in Relationships

Master active listening techniques, express needs clearly using “I” statements, and adapt your communication style to prevent misunderstandings.

Lesson 4: Healthy Conflict Resolution

Transform disagreements into opportunities for deeper connection by understanding conflict styles, managing emotional flooding, and developing repair strategies.

Lesson 5: Building Emotional Intimacy

Create emotional safety through vulnerability, respond effectively to bids for connection, and balance closeness with healthy autonomy.

Lesson 6: Nurturing Physical Intimacy

Understand the full spectrum of physical connection, communicate effectively about needs and boundaries, and maintain connection through different relationship stages.

Lesson 7: Supporting Growth and Independence

Learn to support your partner’s development while maintaining connection, establish healthy independence, and navigate life transitions as a team.

Lesson 8: Maintaining Long-Term Relationship Satisfaction

Implement strategies to prevent relationship stagnation, create meaningful rituals, and build resilience for navigating major challenges over time.

Lesson 9: Capstone - Integrating Relationship Skills

Apply all relationship skills as an interconnected system through a comprehensive Relationship Vision and Action Plan.

Supplementary Materials

Each lesson includes practical tools to support application: - Checklists: Track progress and ensure comprehension of key concepts - Cheat Sheets: Quick-reference guides for implementing skills in real situations - Templates: Customizable frameworks for applying concepts to your specific relationship

Learning Approach

This course emphasizes practical application over theory, with each lesson featuring: - Clear, actionable steps for skill development - Interactive exercises for immediate practice - Real-world examples that illustrate concepts - A focus on “good enough” performance rather than perfection

Course Files

  • introduction.md: Course introduction
  • lesson1.md through lesson8.md: Core lessons
  • lesson9_capstone.md: Final integration lesson
  • supplementary_materials.md: All checklists, cheat sheets, and templates

Suggested Graphics

Throughout the course, we’ve suggested visual elements to enhance understanding: - Relationship toolkit illustration (Introduction) - Relationship self-portrait template (Lesson 1) - Compatibility compass visual (Lesson 2) - Communication bridge diagram (Lesson 3) - Conflict resolution roadmap (Lesson 4) - Emotional intimacy cycle (Lesson 5) - Physical intimacy pyramid (Lesson 6) - Growth-supporting relationship trees (Lesson 7) - Relationship garden visual (Lesson 8) - Relationship skills integration web (Lesson 9)

Feedback and Evaluation

Each lesson includes self-assessment opportunities through checklists and reflection exercises. A survey link will be provided at the bottom of each lesson for learner feedback.