This is important in order to avoid further marginalization of diverse cultural student communities along the human dimensions of race, ethnicity, indigeneity, sexual orientation, gender, socio-economic status, age, ability, and religious beliefs. Look for ways to support students financially this summer — particularly those who have lost paid practicum placements or jobs.
If you or your fellow faculty members have research grants or contracts, consider employing qualified students as research assistants. As a research assistant, students will aid in conducting ground-breaking research and gain meaningful experience.
Professors having positive relationships with their students during this pandemic helps improve the mental health of students. Apply your professional judgment. If you are unsure whether an action is appropriate and you have a concern, speak to your department head. Ananya Tina Banerjee is assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, and holds the position of interim director for the masters of public health -health promotion program.
Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Really captures the needs of students, professors simply writing an email or posting an announcement on the course website saying they acknowledge this is a challenging time goes such a long way — and especially makes it easier to reach out.
Glad this is a resource out there! These strategies are helpful for anyone trying to provide support and encouragement to others during these challenging times. Thank you! If every professors took the time to recognize how much of a difference they can make with lending an extra ear or added minute in conversation with students, they would feel a transformational learning experience. A little does go a long way in strengthening the education environment and students will feel the difference in care and compassion for years to come.
This author also highlights mental health first aid training and being aware of campus services, and anti-oppression training — a major takeaways for all educators! Career Advice How professors can help university students during the COVID pandemic By fostering positive relationships, professors can help improve the mental health of their students.
Provide virtual office hours Even if in-person appointments are not available right now, many professors are able to provide assistance over the phone or videoconferencing.
With any assignment, project, or grading criterion, explain your rationale to students, Higazi says. That goes a long way toward reducing frustration and misunderstanding. Acknowledge the moment. Higazi points to the day when a grand jury declined to indict police officers for manslaughter in the killing of Breonna Taylor.
Black students in particular had an especially rough time, she notes; simply showing up for class may have seemed a burden. And it would help for professors to observe in class how this and other events may be weighing on students.
While many faculty members may feel unsure of what to say, acknowledging what happened and how it may be hard for some people is enough. How have you adjusted your expectations or otherwise addressed what students are going through this fall? Write to me at beth. A new report out this week shows that faculty members remain concerned about equity issues this fall, even as they feel more confident in their ability to teach online. Researchers compared the data with those from an earlier survey, which concluded that extensive training over the spring and summer had helped faculty members feel better about teaching online this fall.
Seventy-four percent of respondents who were planning to teach fully online, for example, said they felt prepared to teach a high-quality course. Yet faculty members continue to have concerns that first-generation and lower-income students on their campuses did not have the tools or support needed to help them get through the semester, in either an online or hybrid format. Sixty-six percent said they were concerned about equity gaps between student groups at their college.
This is THE biggest hurdle we face. Making online classes is hard, but not as hard as making sure everyone has equal access. Faculty members also felt overwhelmed at times by the number of tech tools and online-teaching strategies presented to them. Many said they preferred to use tools vetted by their colleges, and found learning from their peers more valuable than some other forms of training. They also said they wanted more strategies for engaging students in large online classes and for helping students learn better in online courses.
Thanks for reading Teaching. If you have suggestions or ideas, please feel free to email us at beckie. Learn more about our Teaching newsletter, including how to contact us, at the Teaching newsletter archive page. The Review. Current Issue. Virtual Events. While in-person conferences do require more time from both the student and professor, a conversation lasting even 15 minutes can help. Personalized criticism from professors is a valuable resource, one that is too rarely used.
Whether through multiple drafts or in-person discussions, engaging with negative feedback can benefit students in any area of study. Numerous factors come into play: material, class size, other students and so on. However, I realized that one simple thing consistently makes classes better: when teachers make the students introduce themselves at the start of each class period in the first few weeks. Students introducing and saying a little bit about themselves like majors and hometowns really changes the dynamic.
In those classes, I notice that instead of sitting silently staring at screens, students actually talk to one another before class starts. They talk during class: students are more willing to offer comments, ask questions and disagree with one another. And they talk to each other outside of class , often about the material -- which means there is more outside learning.
Time is precious. But in small classes, introductions take just three to five minutes. Large lectures are more difficult, but TAs can effectively administer that process in discussion sections. Just taking time at the start of each class to have students introduce themselves can have invaluable effects in and beyond the classroom. Chlodagh Walsh, B.
On the first day of class, professors would outline the predetermined curves and tell us exactly how many students would receive A's, regardless how much we learned. One professor told us that, while we should be able to complete 80 percent of the exams using his lectures, we could not prepare for the more nuanced application of the material that constituted the remaining 20 percent.
The first class in my major was accompanied by a page syllabus that we were tested on. The professor graded us based on our class rank; if you did better than half of the person class, you received a grade of 50 percent. He set the grading practices to mimic the business world that we were set to enter: cutthroat and ultracompetitive.
The syllabus stated that if you aced an exam, the professor would take you out to dinner -- as far as I know, he has never had to follow through.
Most class participation was involuntary; the professor cold-called students unsystematically, so we shied away from wearing clothing that might draw his attention. I found a good hiding place, just outside his usual line of sight.
I had a different class in the same room a year later. It was another large, entry-level class that was subject to the GPA restrictions of the business school, which sets a maximum average class GPA of 3. So I was pretty surprised when the professor said she had hoped to see high test averages. She explained that our test scores were an indication of her teaching; if she were doing her job right, we should score well. She made me view my GPA as a reflection of not only my effort but also the quality of the instruction I was receiving.
The way she framed the class from the beginning emphasized our learning ahead of grades, which I came to understand are not synonymous. Since many people performed well, the letter grade differentials at the high end reflected the GPA regulations more than student competencies. I can understand the business school may have reasons to regulate govern grading, so I was not frustrated by that.
Instead, with the help of the professor, I learned to value the knowledge and skills -- the learning -- that I gained more than whatever direction my GPA moved after finals. Students admired this professor and volunteered topics to discuss at the onset of each class.
She invited us to her office hours and made us welcome when we came. The TAs spoke highly of her in discussion sections. The atmosphere was remarkably different than the lecture style I was used to and reduced the interstudent competition that other large classes encouraged.
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