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March 22, 2023

How online teaching can promote empathy and student success (opinion)

A obtaining from a report that I and a co-author performed on unexpected emergency remote instruction at Stanford University through the very first two several years of COVID-19 in the beginning stunned us. Due to the fact the report’s publication final October, however, we have given a dozen or so interviews and displays sharing that getting, and the responses have confident us that anything specific took place not just at Stanford but also at quite a few other faculties and universities.

The locating is this: regardless of on-line education’s track record for becoming impersonal, the distant training successes that emerged at Stanford through the pandemic could enable lay the groundwork for a new emphasis on empathy as a driver of educational good results, such as how most effective to integrate student voices into programs. Good interactions in between college students and instructors engage in a big position in understanding, and pupil very well-currently being is what allows pupils to display up in classrooms ready to study and engage. For that reason, instructors who empathize with their pupils and are able to cultivate thoughts of belongingness in the classroom will see that their learners are additional effective learners.

The latest reviews from our friends at Bowdoin Faculty, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technological know-how have achieved similar conclusions. They have all highlighted how the initial problems in deploying on-line equipment led immediately to an consciousness of the require for additional pupil-centered pedagogical tactics.

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Surely, crisis distant training proved demanding for faculties and universities. Our report at Stanford notes that we experienced an uptick in educational integrity violations. MIT’s research observes how isolating virtual studying environments were, Bowdoin’s identifies college student participation issues like monitor tiredness and “chaotic dwelling environments,” and Harvard’s signals how substantially college have necessary to rethink classic ways to teaching. As the reviews completely depth, those people difficulties to studying were accompanied by particularly severe impacts on lower-revenue and underrepresented minority students, a spike in pupil strain and mental health difficulties, and university student frustrations and issues over concurrent globe activities like Black Life Make any difference and the 2020 presidential election.

Continue to, all the reports suggest that the common perception that unexpected emergency distant training was a failure is, at very best, just one-sided. They concur that there is no likely back again to the pre-pandemic campus-sure learning working experience. In fact, alongside one another, the experiences level to a few strategies that faculties and universities can embrace a new chapter in better training: one that redefines the interactions that establishments and college users have with their learners.

Listen to what students want, but acquire it with a grain of salt. Whilst students have viewpoints for and from on the internet understanding and its efficacy, the proof suggests that most want it to adhere close to because of the ease it affords. For occasion, college students at Stanford and MIT say they relished the elevated flexibility for the duration of the interval of unexpected emergency remote instruction, like the potential to show up at on the internet place of work several hours and check out recorded lectures online when they had to skip class because of to disease. Some Stanford students are even petitioning their professors for the privilege.

That mentioned, digital accessibility to mastering elements by itself doesn’t essentially equate to enhanced mastering results. For occasion, the latest literature implies that though pupils say they want recorded lectures, they tend not to observe them. Instructors almost never give tips on how to use them proficiently, and students could be additional very likely to disengage and multitask though looking at them, which can further hinder discovering. Recorded information can increase comprehension, but only when effectively scaffolded and only when learners see it as a supplement to—not a substitute for—synchronous instruction.

In other terms: just since pupils like specific facets of on the net teaching does not suggest they are best for their learning. College students require techniques that obstacle them to the right degree in buy to improve mastering, a strategy University of California, Los Angeles, psychology professors Robert and Elizabeth Bjork simply call “appealing troubles.” We know a great deal about what students appreciate (or do not) about on the internet finding out, but not a total lot about the facets of on the internet finding out that greatest help pupil discovering results. Establishments that place body weight on the latter, rather than the former, might have extra good results.

The meteoric use of ChatGPT by school in school rooms (and by learners on their assessments) is just a person illustration of technological progress in AI that could possibly support or hinder pupil understanding, depending on the method of shipping and delivery. A recent poll of Stanford learners exposed that 17 percent used the resource on their slide quarter 2022 final tests. Institutions this kind of as the University of California, Santa Cruz the University of Pennsylvania and the College of Massachusetts are by now crowdsourcing new evaluation techniques for AI generative resources, acknowledging the need to have for technology literacy and deciding how latest training strategies can be adjusted to account for their responsible use whilst marketing class studying results.

Build a society of empathy in instructing and learning. The pandemic underscored that educational group setting up does not occur the natural way in online environments. It has to be intentional. During crisis distant instructing, instructors could no extended think that informal social spaces this sort of as the time top up to the commence and quickly pursuing an in-particular person lecture, when college students customarily method instructors and a single another with concerns, are adequate to develop local community. College student relationships with school transformed, way too, as prospects for networking and cultivating relationships had been shed.

Individuals incredibly significant worries to scholar effectively-currently being demanded considerate methods. Lacking in-individual chances for engagement, students turned to digital classroom communities for help. Although individuals attempts did not usually prevail over the reduction of face-to-face connection, they delivered learners with a new and usually thriving way to communicate with their professors. The Bowdoin report notes that in the course of the to start with wave of the pandemic, 58 percent of pupils mentioned they relied on digital workplace hours, with 95 percent reporting “being glad or quite contented with this source.” Furthermore, at Harvard, 82 percent of college are taking into consideration “adding instruments and techniques from remote educating to their in-individual lessons,” suggesting that digital resources are listed here to stay.

The four reviews on the period of crisis remote educating highlight empathic training, which includes producing a feeling of shared relationship and knowledge amongst pupils and school, as a single solution to addressing these troubles. At MIT, people instructors who have been equipped to create a culture of “community, properly-being and belonging” in their virtual classrooms noticed enhanced academic outcomes.

For occasion, the MIT physics section piloted a peer mentoring method in tumble 2020 for college students enrolled in an introductory physics class who struggled on their initially midterm in hopes of improving upon “the self-efficacy and STEM identity of these learners, which is to say their nicely-being and feeling of belonging.” The plan offers tutorial assistance in addition to developing community inside the physics division, “in which the university student mentors are associates with college and staff members in the (academic) mission of the section.” Owing to its success, MIT has now expanded the system to 5 courses.

On top of that, at Stanford, the college delivered education and assets for instructors on cultivating inclusive finding out environments in their classes by means of resurrection of its (then) defunct Training Commons, a faculty-facing on line instructing and learning repository devoted to delivering curated information, including instructing guides, articles (like how-tos, functions and instructor interviews), as perfectly as antiracist pedagogies to aid empathic teaching techniques.

As the pandemic improved the psychological pressure on a era of school college students who were being now reporting file ranges of depression, anxiety and stress, the experience with emergency distant schooling drove property how increased instruction institutions will have to give a lot more aid for their learners. College student mental health and fitness is an unexpected emergency, and instructors, no matter whether they want to be or not, are 1st responders. School associates can perform a essential job as empathic listeners by presenting standard check out-ins, referring pupils to institutional psychological health products and services when suitable and becoming aware of the psychological toll on-line discovering may perhaps be getting on pupils.

At Stanford, for instance, versatile psychological wellbeing services—such as digital remedy and coaching appointments and very well-staying coaches who leverage empathic counseling to support pupil mental health—provide clinical and holistic scaffolding outside of the classroom.

The MIT report notes that instructors can enrich empathy in virtual lecture rooms in a number of easy means. For occasion, instructors can look at utilizing “start of class welcoming procedures,” which include 5-moment scholar test-ins that request pupils to describe them selves with “a slide or a 1-moment video clip, allowing them to be creative in deciding on and outlining photographs with metaphorical or particular importance.” The report highlights that this “creates a area and time where by college students can share their struggles and joys [and] contributes to their effectively-being and belonging.” Learners who experience protected in the classroom are extra likely to engage in innovative issue-resolving and dialogue.

Invite learners to be co-designers of understanding. Through crisis remote instruction, pupils have been empowered to consider handle of their individual discovering in a way that they weren’t beforehand. At Bowdoin and Stanford, the pandemic facilitated the rise of teaching support constructions that engaged learners in new roles as educational technologists and training course co-designers. That transpired to start with out of necessity, due to a absence of instructors and designated studying designers to changeover programs from in-human being to on the web and afterwards due to the fact of students’ know-how in producing on-line communities. College couldn’t be just about everywhere at as soon as and/or they desired serious-time assist in designing breakout rooms, monitoring a Zoom chat or redesigning an evaluation. As a final result, students—some for the extremely very first time—were provided a glance at the rear of the tutorial curtain and provided an prospect to supply feedback on syllabus and study course design.

The Stanford Introductory Seminars system also developed a new function for college students in spring 2020 regarded as course progress assistants (CDAs), responsible for supporting college with system structure and implementation in modest, dialogue-based elective producing classes for to start with and 2nd-yr students. As opposed to training assistants, CDA roles are explicitly not permitted to get on obligations that would customarily be delegated to a TA, such as “grading, analyzing pupil operate or having the put of an absent teacher.” Instead of serving as matter make a difference experts, CDAs are educated to present back-conclude logistical, technological and pedagogical help for on the internet programs, serving to to boost equitable digital classroom environments and serving in an advocate function for pupils.

Online discovering illustrates the electric power of educating as a team sport, showcasing the collective energy of instructors and training assistants, study course designers, academic technologists, and students in crafting a significant understanding environment for their friends. The “sage” does not want to go away the phase somewhat, they need to be welcoming an ensemble cast.

And pupils say that their classes are improved for it. For occasion, university student electronic ambassadors who engage with college members on class design at Stanford report emotion a lot more connected to the program information, their instructors and their peers. They are also much more fired up about academe and educational know-how as achievable profession paths.

Pandemic remote educating, even though imperfect, was, frankly, a miraculous experiment. Educators became additional informed of the wants of their pupils and, normally running on the fly, did their finest to handle them. That perform is continuing, with a new push to identify what will ideal help students’ studying transferring ahead. How can we market empathy in all of our courses—online, hybrid and in particular person? We have now embarked on intentional on the web training and studying layout that normally takes into account the full of the college student knowledge.

February 10, 2023

Impact of online learning on sense of belonging among first year clinical health students during COVID-19: student and academic perspectives | BMC Medical Education

Online student cross-sectional survey

Demographic characteristics

A total of 179 out of the possible 663 students (27{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} completion) completed the online survey in June 2020. Median age of students was 19 years (IQR 18–28 years) and there were approximately three times as many females as males (Table 1), reflective of the undergraduate health sciences cohort (70{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} female). Student numbers were also reflective of the broader enrolment numbers in the programs (i.e., occupational therapy is the largest program). Just over half (53{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f}; n = 94) of students had no prior experience in undertaking a Bachelor degree, and 76{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} of students had not completed any online courses prior to enrolment.

Table 1 Demographic characteristics

Quantitative results to the sense of belonging questionnaire

In terms of students’ sense of belonging to the university, the majority felt ‘quite’ or ‘extremely’ happy with their choice of university (74{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f}) and felt ‘quite’ or ‘extremely’ welcomed by the university (68{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f}). While most students felt respected by both staff (70{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f}) and students (60{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f}) at the university, students reported less connectiveness (23.5{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f}) to the university. Only 20{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} of students reported they felt they were understood as an individual, and only 13{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} felt they ‘quite’ or ‘extremely’ mattered to others at the university (Table 2).

Table 2 Online learning and Sense of Belonging to the University [1]

Table 3 shows how the online learning experiences impacted on students’ perception of the course; 27{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} of students felt ‘quite’ or ‘extremely’ connected to staff while 16{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} of students felt ‘quite’ or ‘extremely’ connected to other students. While 49{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} of students rated 4 and above for the level of respect that they received from other students and their contribution towards the subject, students who had prior higher education felt less respected than students who had no prior higher education (p = 0.03). When asked how the online subject had contributed to understanding, knowledge/skills in their chosen health profession, about half of the students rated the online subject highly (rating 4 and above). Students who had prior higher education indicated higher ratings of understanding and knowledge/skills compared to students without prior higher education (p = 0.07 and p = 0.03 respectively). There was also a significantly higher proportion of students with no prior higher education who identified the online learning experience as either ‘quite’ or ‘extremely’ likely to impact their intention to continue with their current course (p = 0.001).

Table 3 Impact of online profession-specific subject on perception of the course

Qualitative results

Qualitative findings provided insight into experiences of staff and students during the rapid, unplanned transition to online learning. Student questionnaire responses included two open-ended questions expanding on enablers and barriers to sense of belonging. These yielded 145 enablers and 254 barriers to students’ feeling a sense of belonging. Data were subjected to qualitative content analysis by two authors and categories are presented in Additional file 1.

Three focus groups were conducted: two student sessions, each with two students enrolled in Speech Pathology and Paramedicine, and one academic session with five participants. Four full time academics and one casual academic participated from a total population of nine eligible academics. Using the processes described in the methods, focus group analysis was compared with the survey content analysis and the authors identified synergies between them. Findings were then integrated under a global theme, underpinned by organising and basic themes. The following themes reflect triangulation between academic and student focus group data in addition to survey responses.

Global theme—navigating belonging during the COVID-19 crisis: a shared responsibility

“We are in this together…making the best of this”

This theme explores sense of belonging creation during this period as a shared process, where participants perceived they worked together to get through the crisis. Students and academics encountered many challenges as they transitioned to online learning but despite hard times, were able to engage positively. The global theme revealed students and academics were navigating belonging during the COVID-19 crisis, and this journey was a shared responsibility. Both groups were working to achieve positive student engagement that would in turn create a sense of belonging in first-year students. A strong commitment of working hard to make the best out of this was mutually acknowledged.

Students perceived academics had done “a really good job at making sure we belonged…in those first few weeks that we were on campus but even more so probably while we were in Zoom” (Student-Astrid-Focus Group). Academics perceived students were actively engaged in making online learning work and were collegial and collaborative.

The shared experiences about navigating belonging during the COVID-19 crisis, have been captured under four organising themes: dimensions of belonging, individual experiences and challenges, reconceptualising teaching and learning, and relationships are central to belonging. Within each organising theme, basic themes were identified that provide depth to the organising theme (Fig. 1). Additional files 1 and 2 present a summary of the quotes obtained from the open-ended surveys and focus groups respectively, that contribute to the themes in Fig. 1.

Organising theme: dimensions of belonging

This theme outlines that belonging is a multidimensional experience with several facets underpinning participants’ experiences. Students and academics identified several dimensions of belonging in relation to first year students’ experiences, as illustrated by two basic themes that sit under the organising theme: what it means to belong, and layers of belonging.

Basic theme: what it means to belong

This theme explores the idea that belonging at university is underpinned by feeling valued and connected. Academics and students agreed that having a sense of being valued by the university and a desire to have an active connection across all aspects of university life was important for students.

Belonging as a student was gained through a connection with the “vocation” (Student-Claire-Focus Group) or the course and career, and with people who will “be there” (Student-Claire-Focus Group) for them. Furthermore, support of academics was critical to gaining a sense of belonging. It was noted by academics and students, that when students feel they belong at university, they are actively engaged in their learning, and this sense of belonging in turn shapes their overall identity. Students can then “actually sort of relax and become themselves” (Staff-Brooke).

Belonging to their cohort, their course, their future profession, and their university was important for students. One academic noted that the “concept of acceptance” is part of the sense of belonging and goes “both ways” (Staff-Brooke).

Both academics and students agreed that the rapid change to online learning due to COVID-19, meant that developing a sense of belonging was challenged.

Basic theme: layers of belonging

This theme identified layers of belonging reflected in participants’ experiences. Peer, academic and professional layers each contributed to an overall sense of belonging and key examples are provided below.

Peers

Belonging to peers was described as “having that connection to someone that’s going through exactly the same thing as what you’re going through” (Student-Astrid-Focus Group). Students were concerned that when learning moved online that this sense of belonging would be jeopardised by less opportunities for in-person interaction.

Academics

Being connected to academics was perceived by students as directly impacting learning, with one student commenting: “…when they’re not connecting with the teacher, they’re not connecting with the content, they’re not connecting with the feedback. That’s when you develop this sense of feeling like you just don’t belong” (Student-Emily-Focus Group).

Academics perceived it was also important for students to develop a sense of belonging to the university community.

Profession

Belonging to a profession was identified as an important feature of belonging by academics and students. Studying a degree with a clear professional identity facilitated first year students to feel they belonged compared to those undertaking general health science degrees which may have multiple pathways and career options less directly aligned to first year studies.

One academic actively encouraged first year students to belong to their professional association as a way of fostering belonging in first years.

Organising theme—Individual experiences and challenges

This theme outlines that while there are similarities in participants’ experiences, individuals have unique contexts and factors shaping their experiences. Academics and students reflected upon personal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on their teaching or learning and how they responded as individuals to the ensuing challenges. Two basic themes emerged: Challenges of transition and recognising different learning preferences.

Basic
theme
—challenges of transition

This theme explored the significant challenges of transitioning to online teaching and learning. For some students, the transition to online learning offered potential benefits of flexibility and reduced travel time. Two of the four students in the focus groups opted for online learning opportunities available in other subjects of study prior to the pandemic to efficiently manage their study and external commitments. Nonetheless, the pandemic brought a raft of personal challenges that diminished these expected benefits. Covid-related changes to family employment, reduced access to childcare support and non-optional home schooling presented new concerns.

Clearly, students missed the opportunity to focus attention on their learning needs when balancing childcare demands and home-schooling during lockdowns.

Unlike a conventional online courses where students choose or plan to be online, the sudden, unexpected, and unplanned move to online study was prefaced by a short period (four weeks) of in-person class time. This initial in-person time was identified as being key to relationship building.

Academics identified positive experiences and challenges during the transition to online learning. The rapid change presented a problem to be solved and individuals could “embrace it and to work effectively…as a team” (Staff-Jane). Quickly strategizing and responding to the demands of online learning required team knowledge, experience, and support. Hence, enhanced team culture was a further positive for academics, being “present for each other” (Staff-Brooke).

Basic
theme
:
recognising different learning preferences

This theme identifies experiences of online learning influenced by personal attributes, individual expectations and learning preferences. Such key factors impacted students’ capacity to maintain focus on academic goals after the rapid change to online learning. Some students reflected that barriers were not solely a feature of online learning environments, reporting that competing priorities, including work commitments and limited contact time with staff as pre-existing challenges to belonging. However, some students directly attributed their limited engagement and reduced motivation to the online learning environment.

Students suggested that active engagement “comes down to personality” (Student-Astrid- Focus Group). If a student was not shy they were comfortable to come forward and participate online. Some students perceived clear links between personal discipline, engagement, commitment, and achievement in online learning environments.

Further, students perceived effective (and ineffective) online group functioning reflected personalities of individual members, with some groups/personalities seen as being able to organise whilst other groups lacked leadership and cohesion.

Students who perceived themselves as active engagers reported being drawn towards other students who demonstrated motivation to interact and learn. Other students perceived their personalities or learning preferences were misaligned with the expectations of belonging in online learning environments and focussed upon tasks rather than connection.

Academics recognised student diversity and a need to reflect and re-evaluate expectations of students in online environments. They accepted that some students may be quietly engaging and learning to belong, but this was harder to observe in online compared to in-person learning environments.

Organising theme—relationships are central to belonging

This theme identified the relationship between all parties as a fundamental aspect of creating a sense of belonging. Two basic themes were influential in shaping perceptions of how relationships and connections contribute to belonging: collaboration with peers is fundamental, and effective and regular communication with staff is necessary.

Basic
theme
—collaboration with peers is fundamental

This theme revealed collaboration with student peers was a key element of creating a sense of belonging. The degree of social interaction with student peers and opportunities to create friendships contributed to feelings of belonging. Accordingly, students found it problematic when peers neglected to turn cameras on during classes, making interaction very difficult. Visualisation of peers and use of cameras in online classes impacted students’ opportunities to get to know each other.

Challenges posed by online learning were further highlighted in the student survey through a focus on non-academic aspects of university and campus life. Typically, university campuses offer interactional opportunities through clubs, sport, and shared spaces to learn and socialise. Campus life, students suggested, may facilitate learning and personal development. Absence of this type of interaction was linked to barriers in developing friendships and consequently a lesser sense of belonging as reflected in Additional file 1.

Basic theme—
communication
with academics is necessary

This theme outlined that communicating with academics was a key component of creating a sense of belonging. With less opportunities for peer support, there was stronger reliance on the academic-student connection, although students reported positive and negative interactions with academics during online learning.

Positive interactions and individualised communication with academics enhanced student sense of satisfaction and belonging. Furthermore, students in the focus groups reported a feeling of trust and a bond created by a shared challenge. Survey responses echoed this sentiment, noting that academics were “non-judgmental and supportive” (Student Survey 18) and created a sense of camaraderie. However, when students perceived impersonal communication from academics, they felt less connected or believed that teaching had become a “transaction” (Student-Astrid- Focus Group). Perceived levels of enthusiasm and engagement from academics influenced student’s perceptions of connection and belonging.

Students identified the online environment as a barrier to communication with academics. While systematic and university level communication was perceived as a useful source of information, students prioritised individualised communication from academic staff as key to belonging.

Academics concurred that effective communication was challenged in online environments, missing non-verbal cues and responsivity that characterises a classroom environment. Although the online learning environment provides an opportunity for academics to connect professionally with students, there were students who left their cameras off, with one academic noting they didn’t push this issue because there are many reasons for students choosing this option.

Organising theme: reconceptualising teaching and learning

This theme reveals how academics and students reconceptualised their expectations and modes of teaching and learning, to manage the crisis. It was not easy for academics or students, and many strategies were employed to make it work, with two basic themes emerging: challenges to online teaching and learning, and strategies to engage and connect.

Basic theme:
challenges
of online teaching and learning: “how do I make this work?”

This theme outlined many challenges faced by both academics and students during a rapid change to online mode. With the rapid change to online learning, academics asked themselves, ‘How do I make this work?’.

Managing workload

Academics reported their workload increased significantly, and they “found it a juggling act” (Staff-Louise) to meet their teaching requirements. Administrative loads consequently increased when reduced in-person contact with students led to more electronic communication. Academics needed to up-skill in online teaching in a short time frame and perceived this responsibility as all encompassing.

The rapid switch to online learning attracted significant academic workload, implementing and adapting content to see how material “might play out in a Zoom environment…[where]…everything takes longer” (Staff-Natalie).

Some students noticed a temptation to disengage from online learning, which meant balancing their workload and study demands became a challenge as they also faced significant workload and stressors in their personal lives due to COVID-19.

Class dynamics

Academics and students spoke about the change to classroom dynamics. The online environment was noted as being one in which it was difficult to read the room to see how students were progressing with their work. Others tried to use humour to enliven a class, only to have the Zoom frame freeze, killing the mood they were trying to create. Hence, staff felt teaching online was less conversational, flexible and responsive compared to face-to-face. Moreover, academics missed hands-on practical elements; a big shift for some programs.

Technological challenges

Academics learnt new skills quickly, but often these skills would be challenged when technology failed. Some academics reported a sense of vulnerability due to technological ineptitude but acknowledged that making mistakes in front of students could humanise the experience. Academics also acknowledged that some students did not have adequate technological resources to meet changes in their learning requirements when classes were placed online.

Basic theme: strategies to engage and connect

This theme reflected the strategies academics and students employed to remain engaged and connected. Academics worked hard to enhance online learning and hoped to connect with students and engage them in activities. Students too were active and appreciated academics’ efforts to facilitate engagement and connection. Underlying many of the strategies adopted by academics was a deep concern for student welfare during this time. Therefore, many academics aimed to ensure students were engaged and connected with each other and with the academic team. Academics built in small group opportunities during online teaching so students could connect, learn, and socialise.

Staff also spoke about informing students they could contact staff for support. One staff member described crossing the divide and actively discouraging a ‘them and us’ dynamic between students and staff.

A variety of teaching tools were identified by staff to build connection and promote engagement. Such tools included interactive quizzes, ice breakers activities, integrating reflective practices into activities and ‘drop in’ sessions. Staff also encouraged students to establish social media groups or other group experiences outside the classroom. Some staff members arrived early to zoom classes and left late to enable students to connect informally.

Students appreciated staff attempts to provide these activities. Students found these initiatives helpful, recognising staff placed effort into knowing students personally and focussing on student wellbeing and achievement. Students cited examples of provision of extra resources, mini-lectures, additional question and answer sessions, and fast response times to student queries. Students also initiated their own engagement strategies, including using group and personal messaging over platforms such as Facebook messenger.

January 29, 2023

Suspect in stabbing of Indiana University student has history of ‘severe mental illness,’ says defense attorney

CNN
—

The girl accused of stabbing an Indiana College scholar “has a long history of extreme psychological illness” and was “seeking assist controlling her problem up to and which include the day of the alleged assault,” in accordance to her defense attorney.

Billie Davis, who is White, allegedly stated she was inspired by race when she continuously stabbed the university student, who is of Asian descent, on a city bus in Bloomington on January 11th, according to court docket files and a college student team.

Davis and the target experienced been riding independently on the bus, and when the target experimented with to exit, Davis bought up from her close by seat and allegedly stabbed the sufferer in the head with a folding knife, leaving puncture wounds, a probable lead to affidavit says.

In a assertion emailed to CNN, Kyle Dugger claimed people close to the suspect describe no racist attitudes or background.

The 56-12 months-previous has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery, and battery by indicates of a lethal weapon, in accordance to on line court data.

“I would warning the community not to jump to conclusions about a person’s views or beliefs based on police promises from a single interview, and recommend even more caution when the interview was taken from a individual in custody who may perhaps be dealing with psychosis,” Dugger wrote.

In a court docket filing last week, Dugger stated he would find an madness defense and prove Davis is “incapable of helping in the planning of her defense for the reason that of mental sickness.” On the web court docket records show the court docket has questioned Davis to undergo mental wellbeing evaluations.

Duggar also asked the court docket to timetable a competency listening to. Two courtroom-appointed psychiatrists will examine no matter whether Davis was insane at the time of the alleged incident and if she’s proficient to stand demo, Dugger wrote in his emailed assertion. The decide will make the final decision about her competency, possible in about 3 to six months, he stated.

The insanity protection will be made a decision by the jury, Dugger wrote. “When insanity is elevated as a protection, the jury can return a verdict of responsible, not responsible, not guilty by purpose of insanity, or responsible but mentally unwell,” he reported.

If an personal is discovered not guilty due to insanity, prosecutors will transfer to have the specific fully commited to the condition Division of Psychological Health and Addiction, according to Dugger.

“The reality about why lousy things come about is not often uncomplicated,” Dugger wrote in his statement. “It is considerably much easier to demonize a human being who does some thing we really don’t realize than it is to consider to get the job done out the authentic causes primary to possible tragedy.”

December 6, 2022

The crisis of student mental health is much vaster than we realize

December 5, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EST

Lucy Wegener, then 13, center right, an organizer with Arizona Students for Mental Health, listens to attendees at a vigil on Sept. 10 in Chandler, Ariz. (Caitlin O’Hara for The Washington Post)

Comment

The change was gradual. At first, Riana Alexander was always tired. Then she began missing classes. She had been an honors student at her Arizona high school, just outside Phoenix. But last winter, after the isolation of remote learning, then the overload of a full-on return to school, her grades were slipping. She wasn’t eating a lot. She avoided friends.

Her worried mother searched for mental health treatment. Finally, in the spring, a three-day-a-week intensive program for depression helped the teenager steady herself and “want to get better,” Alexander said. Then, as she was finding her way, a girl at her school took her own life. Then a teen elsewhere in the district did the same. Then another.

“It just broke my heart that there were three different people who were going through what I was, and they never got the chance to heal,” said Alexander, 17, now a high school senior.

After that devastating stretch in May, families and classmates in the Chandler Unified School District mourned the three 15-year-olds. They would enjoy no more summer vacations, no birthdays or graduations. The losses ignited a debate about what schools should be doing to support students in despair.

Nationally, adolescent depression and anxiety — already at crisis levels before the pandemic — have surged amid the isolation, disruption and hardship of covid-19. Even as federal coronavirus relief money has helped schools step up their efforts to aid students, they also have come up short. It’s unclear how much money is going to mental health, how long such efforts will last or if they truly reach those who struggle most.

“The need is real, the need is dire,” said Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, who recalled hearing just that day from the district’s mental health partners that calls about suicidal thoughts had quadrupled. “We’re living through historically unprecedented times,” he said.

More than 75 percent of schools surveyed in spring said their teachers and staff have voiced concerns about student depression, anxiety and trauma, according to federal data. Nearly as many schools cited a jump in the number of students seeking mental health services.

But mental health is not the only pandemic priority. Schools are spending vast sums of their coronavirus relief money on ventilation upgrades, expanded summer learning, after-school programs, tutors and academic specialists.

The federal spending plans of 5,000 school districts nationally show that more than one-third intend to bring new mental health professionals into schools, and about 30 percent plan to fund social-emotional learning efforts, according to an analysis by FutureEd, a think tank at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy.

“This is an incredible increase in the amount of money being spent and the number of districts pursuing it,” Phyllis Jordan, associate director of FutureEd said. But it is still, advocates say, not nearly enough.

“We simply don’t have enough people in our profession to meet the need.”

— Kelsey Theis, president of the Texas Association of School Psychologists

In many areas, even when money is in hand, hiring is not easy. As this school year opened, nearly 20 percent of schools reported vacancies in mental health positions, according to federal data. Schools often said they employed too few staff to manage the caseload but also complained about difficulties finding licensed providers, the data showed.

“We simply don’t have enough people in our profession to meet the need,” said Kelsey Theis, president of the Texas Association of School Psychologists. When families seek private therapists, “sometimes there’s a wait list of months and months before they get help,” she said.

In Maine, waiting lists grew so long last year that school counselor Tara Kierstead began looking out of state for therapists who had openings — a solution that was not practical for many families.

“It was the hardest I’ve ever had to work to get resources to people,” Kierstead said. “I know some kids who were never seen.”

Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy called out the “devastating” effects of the pandemic on youth mental health in a public advisory last December. Earlier that year, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association together declared “a national state of emergency” in children’s mental health. They pointed out that young people of color were especially affected and linked the struggle for racial justice to the worsening crisis.

A year later, this October, they sounded the alarm again. Things are not getting better.

Not long after the pandemic started, researchers began to document declines in child and adolescent mental health. The numbers are stark.

Hospital emergency room visits spiked for suspected suicide attempts among girls ages 12 to 17, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From February to March 2021, the number jumped by 51 percent compared with the same period during 2019. For boys, the increase was 4 percent. Early research from MIT suggested the suicide rate for people aged 10 to 19 increased in 2020, compared with before the pandemic. More recently, CDC provisional data for 2021 showed an increase in the national rate from 2020 to 2021, especially for people ages 15 to 24.

In other research, the CDC found nearly 45 percent of high school students were so persistently sad or hopeless in 2021 they were unable to engage in regular activities. Almost 1 in 5 seriously considered suicide, and 9 percent of the teenagers surveyed by the CDC tried to take their lives during the previous 12 months. A substantially larger percentage of gay, lesbian, bisexual, other and questioning students reported a suicide attempt.

Family upheaval, meanwhile, was widespread, particularly in the early pandemic: Nearly 30 percent of students said an adult in their home had lost a job, and 24 percent said they went hungry for a lack of food.

There are no directly comparable pre-pandemic studies, but Kathleen Ethier, the CDC’s director of the division of adolescent and school health, said student well-being is significantly better for teens who report feeling connected to their schools — a problem for a population that, nationwide, was kept out of them for so long.

“There is 20 years of research showing that it not only has an impact on how young people do while they’re adolescents, but it has 20-year impacts on all kinds of measures of health,” including emotional well-being, suicidality and substance use, she said.

It also left many children grieving. More than 230,000 U.S. students under 18 are believed to be mourning the ultimate loss: the death of a parent or primary caregiver in a pandemic-related loss, according to research by the CDC, Imperial College London, Harvard University, Oxford University and the University of Cape Town. In the United States, children of color were hit the hardest, another study found. It estimated that the loss for Black and Hispanic children was nearly twice the rate for White children.

Too much need, too little help

In Maryland, Julia Horton, 16, recalls that, as her struggles worsened last year, she fell asleep in class a lot and did not turn in work; her grades dropped. Looking back, she said, “it is very obvious it was a cry for help.” Some teachers were compassionate, but others less so. “A lot of teachers talk about understanding mental illness, but they don’t act upon it,” she said.

Her school in suburban Montgomery County had two mental health professionals within its wellness center, county officials said, but Horton — like many students — had no idea. She talked to a counselor she liked about getting more time for assignments but it did not help. Her mother ultimately found her an excellent therapist to help Horton with her depression and anxiety, but she wonders about other teens who may not be as fortunate.

Montgomery County school officials said they inform students about mental health services through community messages, their website, student forums and advisory period lessons — though school board member Lynne Harris said messaging should be more robust and focused on platforms students use most.

In Philadelphia, Mikayla Jones, then 15, took care of her father in spring 2020 when he caught covid-19 and she had little contact with teachers and friends during remote learning. She wanted to talk to a therapist, but her mother couldn’t find one with an opening and she’d never heard of any mental health specialist at school. “I feel like this should not be something that’s possible,” she said. Now a 17-year-old senior, Jones is starting a club to advocate for mental health support across Philadelphia’s schools. “All youth deserve someone to be there for them.”

Philadelphia officials said counselors were meeting with students virtually or in person during the pandemic to assess their needs and help decide next steps. Still, the high school senior never found a therapist. The first meeting of her mental health support club will be later this month.

Told about the school system’s comment, the teenager said: “If the school does not communicate the availability of counselors, and their role as counselor has been repeatedly labeled as ‘college counselor,’ then how will we know that they are there as a mental health resource?”

Shortages of mental health professionals have been the norm in schools. Professional organizations recommend one school psychologist per 500 students, but the national average is one per 1,160 students, with some states approaching one per 5,000. Similarly, the recommended ratio of one school counselor per 250 students is not widespread. The national average: one per 415 students.

National research from 2019 showed that students of color have not received equal access to school counselors. At that time, 38 states were shortchanging students of color, students from low-income families or both, according to the study done by the Education Trust.

As the pandemic has persisted, students have spoken out — in Nebraska, Arizona, Connecticut and Washington.

In Seattle, students who formed the Seattle Student Union to promote racial justice decided this year to push for mental health support in schools. Chetan Soni, a 17-year-old who co-founded the union, said there are too few mental health professionals to meet rising student needs. The district told him it doesn’t have the money, he said.

Seattle teachers, who went on strike in September, included a call for more mental health support for students as one of their bargaining points. The strike settlement included part-time social workers at most schools — a sign of progress, Soni said, but not enough to help all. “Students are suffering from the pandemic and so many other things too,” he said.

His school, Lincoln High, is fortunate in having a school-based health clinic, run by Neighborcare Health. But just one therapist works there, said Rachel Gordon, the company’s school-based mental health clinical manager. Nearly all therapists based at Seattle’s schools have full caseloads and wait lists, Gordon said. Many run group therapy sessions as a way to serve more students. “We’ve seen increases in anxiety, disordered eating, suicidal ideation, OCD and many other mental health challenges,” she said.

In rural Montana, the squeeze was different: Altacare, a for-profit provider, decided to halt services in the state this year amid recruitment difficulties and funding issues. Districts scrambled to cover for the loss, but many could not, and state officials were limited in what they could do. “Unfortunately, they were serving a lot of the very small rural schools that were already struggling,” said Mary Windecker, executive director of the nonprofit Behavioral Health Alliance of Montana.

The shortages meant that Montana kids who needed residential care, for the most serious mental illnesses, were mostly being sent to other states, she said. “Not because we don’t have beds for those children but because we don’t have people to staff those kids,” she said. “Imagine a six-year-old with a serious emotional disturbance being sent as far away as Georgia. That’s happening.”

One result of all these deficiencies: More students are acting out. Last school year, nearly 40 percent of schools nationally reported increases in physical attacks or fights, and roughly 60 percent reported more disruptions in class because of student misconduct, according to federal data. Las Vegas officials reported several alarming attacks on teachers. In Louisiana, fathers at a Shreveport school showed up to help keep the peace after a particularly heated week of student fighting.

National test scores also plummeted to levels not seen since 1999, according to recent data — setting off a wave of alarm among educators, many of whom consider the mental health crisis a contributing factor.

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School administrators across the country are clear-eyed about students’ worsening mental health, many of them strategizing about school initiatives that might help.

“We know that when kids are mentally well, they’re much more likely to attend school and do well in school,” said Sharon Hoover, co-director of the National Center for School Mental Health.

In Maryland’s Montgomery County, the state’s largest school system has expanded school-based wellness centers that provide mental health services: Five are open, a sixth will debut in January and 19 others are being phased in.

In Georgia, Hawaii and a host of other states, schools rely on telehealth services to help meet the gap. They often involve contractors — such as Hazel Health — that respond to referrals from teachers, school counselors or parents; services are often covered through government funding or payer reimbursements.

Some school systems have adopted student mental health “check-ins” to get a quick read on student well-being. Others created calming rooms for students or found ways to build mindfulness, yoga or meditation into student life.

“We know that when kids are mentally well, they’re much more likely to attend school and do well in school.”

— Sharon Hoover, co-director of the National Center for School Mental Health

A growing number of schools now offer therapy. Many have forged partnerships with community providers who treat students in person on campus. Health or wellness centers that are located inside of schools numbered roughly 3,000 before the pandemic.

“School-based health centers fill a void, particularly in low-income communities,” said Robert Boyd, chief executive at the nonprofit School-Based Health Alliance. “In rural communities, sometimes it’s the only provider around.”

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More broadly, school systems are expanding social-emotional learning intended to help students understand and regulate their emotions, develop positive relationships and face challenges. These lessons may be embedded in classes (say, a discussion of empathy related to characters in a novel) or they may come directly through an activity about, for instance, decision-making. In some parts of the country, social-emotional teaching is tangled up in the culture wars, particularly when material deals with gender and racial equity.

In California’s Natomas School District, Superintendent Chris Evans brought in an administrator with mental health expertise seven years before the pandemic. Each school already had a psychologist. But as the pandemic began, social workers were hired for each school, too — a decision that no one regretted. “About one in every two of our students,” Evans said, “accessed some form of mental health resource.” Suicide assessments more than doubled last year, to 191, compared with 71 before the pandemic.

A big worry in many areas is what happens when federal aid runs out. The school board in Natomas voted this spring to retain the new hires even after the money is gone, Evans said.

Other efforts flowed from legislation. At least 12 states have adopted some form of “mental health days,” which excuse student absences for mental health purposes. In Illinois, students are now allowed five days per year under a new measure approved by the legislature.

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Critics see the excused days off as counterproductive for students who have already missed too much school, but supporters say the laws recognize the stressful reality of many students’ lives and elevate the stature of mental health so that it is comparable to physical health.

Twenty states also require mental health education in schools — which Barb Solish, director of youth and young adult initiatives with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said will reduce stigma and increase literacy so students recognize symptoms and learn how to get help for themselves or their friends.

Mental health in schools is expected to get a big boost, too, Solish said, from the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which allots more than $1 billion over five years to support school-based mental health services. More than $500 million is slated for a grant program to hire and retain providers in schools, and another $500 million is for building a pipeline of future professionals.

Riana Alexander and other students in Chandler, Ariz., showed up at school board meetings for several months, distressed about the string of suicides that left three 15-year-olds dead. At a meeting in June, many of them acknowledged their own mental health difficulties as they pressed the school district to do more.

The father of a teen who took his life joined them, his voice breaking in grief. “I don’t have the answers,” he said. He vowed to work with the students as they seek change and called them brave.

Then his voice stiffened.

“It’s a shame they have to come in here and ask for this,” he said.

Two months later, another teenager took her life. She was 16. School had been open less than three weeks.

“This is a crisis,” Sofia Borczon, a 10th-grader, told the board at another meeting. She’d had mental health struggles for four years, she said, and never felt there were necessary resources. “Kids are dying — and they have been for years.”

She and others — part of Arizona Students for Mental Health, which was founded by Alexander — asked for mental health “first-aid training,” so that everyone would know more about how to help kids in need, and for “student action boards” to elevate mental health concerns at schools. They wanted to lead a town hall meeting, so their peers could be heard too.

Chandler officials told The Washington Post the requests either take time to implement or might conflict with best practices. Eventually, Chandler’s prevention coordinator started to meet with the students, and the school system held a mental health event in October, with speakers and resource information.

Chandler schools spokeswoman Stephanie Ingersoll said the district has suicide prevention training for all teachers and staff, going beyond what is required by the state. At a meeting in August, the school system outlined a list of other initiatives. The district plans to begin teen mental health first aid training, but only for students 15 and older who have parental consent, Ingersoll said, and offers mental health first aid for staff within its training department. “We hope there is an understanding that implementing anything new takes time,” she said in an email.

Alexander said the school system’s recent efforts are a step forward, but lack urgency and are not enough. She and others testified before a state committee on teen mental health.

In September, the students gathered with classmates for a Saturday evening vigil to remember students who died recently by suicide and those who preceded them. It was World Suicide Prevention Day — a month after the most recent Chandler student took her life.

“Mental health is hard,” Alexander told those gathered. “It’s hard to talk about it, it’s hard to struggle with it, it’s hard to open up about it. But struggling in silence isn’t the way and it’s not the answer. There are people out there who have gone through or are currently going through exactly what you are. There are people out there who love you and there are people out there who care about you.”

If you or someone you know needs help, visit 988lifeline.org or call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.