Post-Pandemic Adjustments for Professors and Students

The end of the spring semester is still a few weeks away. But this week I found out that I have four students registered for my first-year seminar for the fall. It’s only the first week of new-student orientations, and the chances are good that I’ll reach my full enrollment of 26 by the summer. But I’ve already started anticipating the adjustments that we all need to make as we transition back to campus.

Some of my concerns about returning to campus are specific to the pandemic—variants, distancing, masks, and more. However, some of my concerns are ones I have every year. How will I establish good relationships with my students? How do I facilitate a good classroom culture? How will I handle cold-calling? Still other concerns are general ones that have been initiated or enhanced by the pandemic experience. For example, I’ve spent a lot of time this past year learning how to develop my online “presence”—through videos, chats, polling, ice-breaker exercises. Now I have lots of choices about what new strategies and techniques will follow me back into the classroom.

The way I’m dealing with this adjustment is to opt for staying “remote” in the fall—teaching in real-time but over Zoom. In this way, I can slow down the process and (I hope) be more intentional when I do return in the spring. But most courses on my campus are scheduled to be taught in person.

Our campus will be welcoming back many sophomore students who have never been on campus. These students are anxious (according to a survey at my school) about a lot of the post-pandemic adjustments they’re going to be making. Students have what can be termed “delayed-release” first-year-related issues. For example, some students are anxious about making friends, not being able to keep up with lectures (they cannot pause or replay when in the classroom), being able to focus with all those other people around and even finding their classrooms for the first time. Some students are anxious about taking exams in person; for example, some will be disconcerted by seeing others get up before the end of the test and leave. Such a situation can make them feel like they’re not as smart.

Some of the concerns that returning students have are purely pandemic-related or pandemic-enhanced. I have heard many discussions among faculty members this past year that suggest their students have suffered more than usual, and that they have been developing a variety of ways to address the issues. For example, professors have been more flexible about due dates, class participation, and other aspects of the process.

It’s important to remember that, just like professors, many student concerns are those that many students have always had—in any year. Examples include study skills, note-taking, test-taking, drug-taking, dating, oral presentations. It will be interesting to see whether the pandemic has facilitated the process of helping students with these types of concerns. However, efforts in that direction have been underway since before the pandemic. For example, there are books, articles, courses, and websites devoted to helping students make the transition to college (see references below).

One major theme that is included in many of these resources is the notion that college is different from high school. I introduce the theme even before the semester starts, in an email in which I welcome my students to our course and to college. Here’s a version of what I write to my students in my letter:

Your official job title is “College Student.” Although this sounds a lot like “High-School Student,” it is very different. For example: In high school, your teachers shared some responsibility for making sure your assignments were completed and for saying in class everything that would be on tests. As a “college student,” you now have full responsibility for completing your assignments, learning from reading, and in other ways acting professionally.

The “Owner’s Manual” takes this another step further, asserting that there are over 50 differences between high school and college. Books like Teach Yourself How to Learn help students with metacognition—a critical skill for academic success.

On campus, resources for students include first-year seminars, “college success” courses, writing centers, math tutoring centers, learning assistants, counseling centers, career centers, experiential learning centers, scholarship offices, academic advisors, peer mentoring programs, and others.

Students should realize three major things. First, they have already paid for access to all these campus resources via their tuition. I tell students that they have an entourage, who get paid to help them succeed. Second, these services are not only for students who are failing. They are for students who want to move from adequate to excellent. As I tell my intro psychology students on the first day of class: If you want to do better on your next test, don’t wait until you’ve already taken one—see me now. This leads to the third realization: One of the biggest differences between high school and college is that in college, students need to take the initiative to seek out and access the services they want.

Anxiety Essential Reads

The Hallmarks of High-Functioning Anxiety

How Long Do Panic Attacks Last?

One final thought: I’m hoping that when professors and students return to campus they do so intentionally and actively. We’ve all gotten used to sitting in front of our screens. Let’s hope we (re)discover ways to take advantage of the supports and opportunities that involve more varieties of human contact.