by Eric Royer, Instructional Developer, Reinert Center
Data from the 2022-2023 Healthy Minds Study[1] indicate that mental health challenges remain a vexing problem for students, with more than two-thirds of student respondents reporting that they felt isolated sometimes or often, 41 percent reporting symptoms of mild to moderate depression, and 34 percent reporting feelings of stress and anxiety.
Student wellbeing is hard to visualize in distance courses since we’re separated from students by space and medium (as well as time if you’re teaching asynchronously). This means we lack the informal opportunities to check-in with students before and after class. We can’t call on them to see what makes sense and what doesn’t when recording online lectures. The feedback we provide to students is often delayed and sometimes hard for them to locate.
For students, it’s easy to feel alone as an online learner. It’s difficult to relate to subject matter materials when reading long walls of text. It’s tedious to collaborate with others when you’re not working in the same physical space. It’s also hard to keep up with coursework due to different due date structures and increased pressures on time management.
As you think about student wellbeing in your distance course(s), keep in mind that small, incremental changes to the design of your course can go a long way toward signaling to students that you care about their wellbeing as an online learner.
Let’s first consider due dates for student work. Setting a due date of 11:59pm on a Sunday for an assignment or discussion means that students are working on the weekend, likely at the last minute before that activity is due. To avoid a situation where students feel pressured to work on the weekends or late at night, consider when you’re asking students to submit assignments or participate in discussions (Spangler, 2020). This might mean moving discussion due dates to Thursday or Friday or making module quizzes available on Monday. Although a traditional weekly schedule may not work if you’re teaching an accelerated course, still consider when you’re asking students to submit their work. Having a due date set at 5pm is “kinder” than 11:59pm.
Another small, incremental change you can consider is to help students manage their workload by providing time estimates for completing course activities. Taking an online course requires more independent learning skills and time on task in comparison to on-ground course equivalents, which is something a lot of new (and even seasoned) online leaners struggle with. Assist students with managing their workload by telling them how much time they should spend on specific activities, whether that’s 20 minutes for a discussion post or 10 minutes reading an article. Consider including time lengths for recorded videos in your Canvas course site. Be transparent about how much time students will have on a quiz or timed assessment. For a better idea of suggested time allotments for common online learning activities, refer to this resource on Documenting Seat Time Equivalency for Online Courses, used as part of the Distance Course Review Process here at SLU.
Last, but certainty not least, help your students establish a rhythm for participating in your course. As Nilson and Goodson (2021, p. 45) point out, “explicit organization and clearly labeled segments reduce students’ anxiety, help them better understand the learning process, and facilitate their time management.” Think about a typical weekly module, starting and ending on Tuesday. What tasks are specific to the opening of this module? Are Tuesday and Wednesday “independent days,” where students are working individually on course readings, videos, and other content? Are Thursdays “discussion days,” where students are expected to contribute discussion posts on a topic? Are Fridays “exam” days where students take a weekly quiz or submit another activity? A predictable rhythm or weekly pace helps students better manage their time. This reduces guess work of “what should I be doing?” or “what’s next?” (Boettcher & Conrad, 2016).
If you would like to talk further about prioritizing student wellbeing in your online, distance course(s), please contact the Reinert Center or fill out our consultation request form. Please also consider sharing your perspectives and ideas in the comment section below.
References:
Spangler, S. (2020). Cinderella deadlines: Recording timelines for student work. Faculty Focus.
Nilson, L. and L. Goodson. (2021). Online teaching at its best: Merging instructional design with teaching and learning research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Boettcher, J. and R.M. Conrad. (2016). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
[1] The annual study surveyed roughly 104,000 undergraduate students at 100+ academic institutions across the United States.
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