Debrief and Share

We’re trying to create as many opportunities for you to brainstorm, debrief, and share as it relates to teaching and learning in the aftermath of our campus tragedies. In addition to the face-to-face gatherings that we’ll continue to schedule, here’s another. If you have an experience in class or in the hallway that you think colleagues can learn from, please share it. Let’s document these notable experiences and make them accessible to others. If you were caught off guard by a student’s question in class, if you found an effective way to raise sensitive issues with your students, if you learned something about students’ concerns that will inform how you proceed in the coming days, write about it and send your “story” to us so that we may share it with others.  Even a paragraph or two that captures what was a significant event for you could be helpful to others.  We have so much to gain from our collective experiences. 

Please email what you wish to share to: npolk@vt.edu with the subject line: Teaching Post-4/16.

   
Bring a Buddy to Class

The prospect of returning to a classroom and facing students after last week’s tragic events is incredibly disconcerting to most of us. But, during one of the brown bag conversations, a group of faculty asked:  “Well, why do it alone?”  And, from this conversation a wonderful idea was born—a buddy system.  It’s such a simple idea to implement, yet it can be so effective on many levels and it would be mutually rewarding.  If you are at all concerned about that first day or those first few days back, consider pairing up with one of your colleagues by agreeing to attend some part of (or all of) each other’s classes.

As a matter of fact, we think this is such a good idea that we encourage you to consider this design as a way to support others in your department, as well.  For instance, this is probably a very difficult time for our new and junior faculty, our international faculty colleagues, and our teaching and graduate assistants.  So, do keep them in mind as you build your buddy systems.         

A Touch of Humor. A Touch of Humanity.

CEUT has been granted permission to post the following recent Ben Lansing cartoon. Faculty have suggested it as one tool for welcoming students back to their classrooms. If you have use for it in your classroom, you may use it if the image is not altered and credit is given to the creator.

Select Readings

Here are five resources, chosen from the many that we have reviewed. We hope that they may provide guidance as you and your students navigate the rest of the semester.

DiPietro. M. (2003). The day after: Faculty behavior in post-September 11, 2001, classes. In C. M. Wehlburg. and S. Chadwick-Blossey (Eds.), To Improve the Academy: Resources for Faculty, Instructional, and Organizational Development, Volume 21,  21-39. Reprinted / posted with permission of Anker Publishing (www.ankerpub.com ).

Huston, T. A., & DiPietro, M. (2007). In the eye of the storm: Students perceptions of helpful faculty actions following a collective tragedy.  In D. R. Robertson & L. B. Nilson (Eds.), To Improve the Academy: Resources for Faculty, Instructional, and Organizational Development, Volume 25.  207-224. Reprinted / posted with permission of Anker Publishing (www.ankerpub.com ).

Kardia, D., Bierwert, C., Cook, C. E., Miller, A. T., & Kaplan, M. (2002, Jan-Feb). Discussing the unfathomable: Classroom-based responses to tragedy. Change 34(1), 19-22.

Managing Traumatic Stress: Tips for Recovering from Disasters and Other Traumatic Events. American Psychological Association.

Tips for College and University Students: Managing Your Distress in the Aftermath of the Virginia Tech Shootings. American Psychological Association.

In a nutshell . . .

A tragedy has a strong emotional and cognitive impact on students, even if the students are not directly affected by the catastrophe.  While mental health guidelines have been developed to help college students deal with the loss and disruption caused by tragedies, faculty are likely to be unsure about what to do in the classroom. 

DiPietro (2003) examined faculty responses to a national crisis by requesting Carnegie Mellon University faculty to report what, if anything, they had done in class after the 9/11 attacks and the rationale for their response.  Findings indicated that:

– A number of instructors (11 %) had not addressed the attacks, even in this high-end, self-selected sample of people eager to share what they had done.

– Some instructors were unsure about what their role should be; other instructors felt a strong need to do something but were confused about what would be appropriate or advisable and, consequently, did nothing.  Men and international instructors reported the most confusion about what to do.

– Wanting to provide a sense of normalcy/routine was the most frequently cited rationale for not mentioning the attacks in class.

The survey form, itself, provides a range of ideas for addressing a campus tragedy in the classroom, from minimal reactions, such as briefly acknowledging the event and moving on, having a moment of silence, mentioning the campus counseling service, or passing out telephone numbers to the Red Cross or other charities, to more extensive ones, such as having a class discussion to the events and students’ reactions to them, or incorporating a discussion of the incident in the curriculum. 

A finding that may surprise many of us is that an instructor’s response need not be complicated, time intensive, or even personalized in order to be effective and appreciated.

Huston & DiPietro (2007) investigated the most common instructor responses following a tragedy and which of those responses students found most helpful.  On one campus, in the days immediately following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, students reported that only 62% of their professors mentioned the attacks at all, while the remaining 38% went on with the course material as though nothing had happened.

– Many students typically found an instructor's complete lack of response frustrating or disappointing. A few students did not care whether their instructors did or said anything, and a few said “doing nothing” was appropriate. But most students wanted their instructors to show some acknowledgment.

– In most cases, students found the instructor’s efforts to address the attacks quite helpful, regardless of whether the instructor’s response required relatively little effort (e.g., asking for one minute of silence), or a great deal of effort and preparation (e.g., incorporating the event into the lesson plan or course topics). 

– The only response that was truly “unhelpful” was when faculty acknowledged that the attacks had occurred but said the class had to go on, with no mention of extra help.  Students were often frustrated when faculty said “there is nothing we can do.”

– Students indicated that faculty were more likely to mention the attacks in discussion and studio courses and least likely to mention them in large lecture and project classes.  Types of responses varied by classroom size and environment. 

The general conclusion from the students’ perspective appears to be “do something, just about anything.”  Beyond acknowledging a tragic event, faculty would be well-advised to take the extra step of recognizing that students are distressed and to show some extra support, such as offering to grant extensions for students who request them.  Cognitive research indicates that working memory capacity is reduced in times of enhanced stress so students are less capable of learning new material (e.g. Arnsten, 1998). Offering extensions or the opportunity to review the material later is one way to accommodate students’ decreased capacity.

A repeated issue that appeared in students’ comments was that they appreciated when an instructor responded in a unique and humane way, so faculty should not feel pressured to homogenize their responses.

Teaching in Times of Crisis

from Vanderbilt Center for Teaching

Introduction

Whether local, national, or international in scope, times of crisis can have a significant impact on the college classroom, especially if students have a personal connection to the crisis. The anxieties students—and teachers—bring into the classroom in response to a crisis at hand can affect student learning.  Individual crises, such as coping with the loss of a family member or recovering from a difficult break-up with a significant other, can affect an individual class member’s learning and performance; but communal crises, such as the unexpected death of a fellow student or teacher, the shock of 9/11, the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, or the tragedy of the shootings at Virginia Tech can affect everyone’s academic well-being.

Providing Students with Resources

If you notice signs that students are experiencing emotional distress in your class during such times of communal crisis, you may wish to address the crisis openly, but you also may feel unqualified to do so. If you are unsure of your ability to provide emotional support in regards to the crisis but feel the need to show that you are aware of its impact on your students,  acknowledge the crisis by providing your students with resources for dealing with it. For example, you could:

•     Ask a professional [counselor] to come talk to your students.

•     Be lenient in terms of when assignments are due.

•     Adapt your syllabus for the week following the crisis to accommodate a reduced workload.

•     Facilitate, if your students wish, a way to help those most affected by the crisis by collecting money, donating goods, or volunteering to help at the crisis site.

Remember that it is not necessarily your role to help students through the crisis, and, in fact, it may be counter-productive for the students if you bring up emotionally difficult issues without providing appropriate support and assistance.

Discussing the Crisis with Your Class
If you would like to talk with your students about these issues directly, you might consider contacting [Cook] Counseling Center for ideas on how to approach such a conversation. The information below may also be useful in discussing a crisis with your students.  There are a number of factors that can affect how a conversation about a crisis might go; as Deborah Shmueli, a professor at Haifa University in Israel, has suggested, some things to take into consideration are:

•     Students’ perceptions about how the crisis has affected them personally

•     Students’ perceptions about others whom they consider to be affected

•     Issues deemed important to each person or group

•     Institutional, financial, and other impediments to successful communication

Taking these factors into account, researchers and practitioners who study communication make the following suggestions for difficult conversations:

   1. Consider how much time the conversation might take: Teachers who wish to create safe places for communication need to consider how much time a difficult conversation will take and how much time they can provide for that conversation within the semester. Since a single conversation may not be enough to address the issue fully, teachers should be willing to be flexible, extending the conversation into future class sessions or over the course of the semester, as needed. The teacher should allow enough time for each conversation so that students who have difficulty opening up to the class or who need time before they can begin talking about their experiences may also be included.

   2. Acknowledge both verbal and nonverbal communication: In a discussion or conversation, silence can make a teacher feel uncomfortable, but silence and other non-verbal behaviors can be just as vital to a productive conversation as words are. It is tempting to fill silence with variations on the question asked, but doing so can inhibit students’ abilities to think through the issue and to prepare to share their thoughts with their classmates. If students repeatedly need extremely long silences, however, the teacher should invite conversation as to why students do not feel comfortable sharing with their classmates.

   3. Let students set the ground rules: Allowing students to set the ground rules not
only can help students create a space where they feel safe to share their thoughts, emotions, and ideas, but can also help students find power at a time when the crisis has left them feeling powerless. Ground rules should be set before the conversation begins and reiterated every time thereafter that the conversation is continued.

   4. Encourage students to be empathetic listeners: In conversation people are often thinking about what they want to say in response rather than fully listening to the individual who is talking. In addition, if the crisis at hand is difficult to handle emotionally or if classmates feel defensive, empathic listening becomes all the more challenging. Pointing out such dynamics to students can at least encourage them to think about their positions as listeners.

   5. Allow freedom of participation: If students feel uncomfortable, allow them to leave. If they feel coerced into the conversation, then they are likely to withdraw from the conversation or guard closely what they say.

   6. Balance the power in the classroom as much as possible: Ensure that no one student or group of students has more rights than others and take care that all receive equal respect.

   7. Provide a predictable forum: For continuing conversations, provide a format and space that is familiar and predictable for your students so that they feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts and experiences.

Reactions to a Traumatic Event . . .

No one who experiences a traumatic event is unaffected by it.  Shock and denial are typical responses shortly after the event.  As the initial shock subsides, reactions vary from one person to another.  Stress responses may last a few days, a few weeks or a few months, and occasionally longer depending on the severity of the traumatic event.  However, there is much one can do to facilitate recovery.  Acknowledge your feelings and talk about them and your experience with others.  Spend time with family and friends.  Stay active.  Do things that are productive and constructive.  Maintain or reestablish a normal routine.  And, be patient with yourself and trust in your ability to get through the challenging days ahead.  Should the traumatic event be so painful, and the reactions to it so disturbing and disruptive, professional assistance may be necessary. 

Common reactions to stress include:

* Definite indication of the need for medical evaluation.

Additional resources and information have been provided by ValueOptions.  The online presentation “Recovery Strategies” and the video “Self-Care After Tragedy” seem particularly useful.    http://virginiatech.healthandperformancesolutions.net/

When classes resume, and with only two weeks remaining, one natural instinct is to think that we can simply work/learn faster and more efficiently and hence get everything done.  Resisting this instinct is probably good advice anytime, but especially so given the circumstances of stress, fatigue, and anxiety.  Why?  Most of the cognitive activity underlying academic work can be highly susceptible to disruption under conditions such as our students are facing now.

A few simple and non-technical points are presented here to illustrate the care we must take with the demands our academic assignments may present.  These can be chunked into the categories of attention, memory, and strategic control.

• Human attention is one of the filters/bottlenecks influencing any activity that is cognitive in nature.  Active attention is required for all but the most automatic of actions we take, and such attention is best thought of a limited resource.  When there is competition for that resource, such as when thoughts and feelings are focused elsewhere, performance suffers.  Implication: Be alert to the probability that some students under stress will not be able to stay on task during class activities, assignments and test or exam taking.

• Most complex learning of the type we experience in academic courses places significant demands on basic memory processes.   As students attempt to build knowledge, they must actively relate and integrate new information into existing memory structures.  Moreover, they must do this in a manner that renders specific information retrievable from those structures.  The key to success goes well beyond simply spending more time on task; rather, the focus needs to be on quality processing.  People under unusual stress simply may not be capable of the generative work that needs to be done to learn and remember effectively.  Implications:  Consider modifying your expectations of the effectiveness and quality of student learning, especially if you are not providing additional time and scaffolding for the outcomes you are expecting.

• Perhaps the most important idea about learning and cognitive processing is the idea that it involves strategic control by students.  When difficulties arise, such as failing to comprehend difficult texts, effective learners maintain conscious awareness of how well things are going, and they employ learned strategies to accommodate to the difficulty.  Under unusual stress, students may fail to recognize their own learning issues, and they may experience reduced ability to employ corrective action even if such strategies are within their normal learning repertoire.  Implication:  Be more alert to checking for understanding and providing cues to support next steps that would facilitate learning.   

The main conclusion here is the need to modify expectations to meet current conditions and to provide additional time and support for student learning. 

Further Considerations for Course Design, Teaching, and Grading
We face difficult decisions about how to proceed with resuming and completing our courses, and there are no comprehensive, “one-size-fits-all” approaches. A few things are clear. First, it is important to acknowledge what has happened (see the above resources). Second, students will likely find it difficult to pick up where they left off and proceed apace with the original course plan. As you plan for what is best for your students, consider a few questions:

• To the best of my knowledge, what is realistically possible for my students to learn under these conditions?
•  If I continue to proceed as originally planned, are students currently capable of learning at the level and pace of the original course design? What might be a meaningful level of engagement and performance for students at this moment?
• Might it be an option to scale down some projects or activities, such as reducing the length of papers or presentations, or the scope of exams?
• How might I assess student learning in ways that are fair, but not necessarily the same for every student? That is, might I provide a range of options to meet the needs of students? Might I allow students to choose from among options? Please refer to the "University Procedure for the Spring 2007 Academic Semester," currently located on the University website.
• What are the implications of my options? Try to think ahead to what may happen as a result of your choices.
• How can I communicate clearly with students about the choices that I am making for the rest of the course?

You may also wish to consult The Virginia Tech Faculty Handbook, Section 4.0, which covers Instruction-Related Policies. <http://www.provost.vt.edu/facultyhandbooks.php> See in particular Sections 4.6, “Course Grading” and 4.6.1, “Syllabus and Performance Expectation.” According to the Handbook, you are entitled to change your course plan and grading scheme. However, please watch for any administrative announcements about proceeding with academic plans, which we will also post here. 

In appreciation of the support from colleagues at other institutions

The message of solidarity among institutions of higher education across the nation and around the world resonates across our campus, and it is uplifting.  One gets a good sense of this in the impressive display of banners and other creative expressions of support at Squires Student Center.  We invite you to share the emotion through these photos.