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It is a challenging time for colleges across the United States, particularly given that instruction has shifted to remote learning for many institutions of higher education. In the wake of the pandemic, faculty and students at many colleges are finding that their classroom is wherever they are with their laptops—or, in some cases, smartphones. It has become inevitable that the threats posed by the coronavirus or other persistent stressors prominent become integrated into class discussion and lecture. Students are living and breathing the stressors and fears that come with the virus daily, as are the instructors who are educating them.
I have found it extremely helpful to directly confront many of these issues in the classroom and integrate them into the pedagogy for my courses. For instance, in Abnormal Psychology, we have grappled with the implications of how Americans’ mental health is being impacted by the continued threat posed by the virus, in addition to the stressors many are experiencing surrounding the upcoming presidential election. The ways that social media may be triggering anxiety for users has been a consistent theme this semester, as well as how to grapple with the fallout of the disruptions to our regular routines because of social distancing. I have found that integrating the current cultural moment into class discussions has offered catharsis for students, as they bear witness to one another’s fears and anxieties and are able to offer one another support.
For instance, as we transitioned into discussing mood disorders during our live session this week, I introduced the class to very timely research from this summer identifying increases in reported rates of both anxiety and depression among people of color (POC). This was a starting off point for exploring how continued racial injustices are impacting communities of color, and potentially degrading the mental health and well-being of these vulnerable groups. Recognizing the role intersectionality plays in the onset of pathology has allowed students to think deeper regarding how identity interacts with our psychology, and the connections between systemic oppression and psychopathology.
More generally, scholarship suggests that symptoms of anxiety and depression have more than tripled since the pandemic, another jumping-off point for the class to explore how stressors and our environmental exposures day to day impact our mental health and well-being. Rather than taking away from the theories and diagnostic criteria that were part of the lecture for this unit, integration of such moment-to-moment statistics of what we know so far regarding the psychological fall out of this pandemic was a great way to make the material resonate for the class.
In these uncertain times, many of us are struggling to stay functional and relatively grounded from moment to moment. Rather than shying away from this “new normal,” directly addressing how each of us is faring during this unprecedented time and finding connections between what many of us are experiencing in our own lives and class material is a meaningful and resonant way to convey important information to students. It is also a reminder that the goal of higher education isn’t exclusively to transmit information to our students, but rather, to foster critical thinking skills and help them become better-rounded and more civic-minded contributors to the larger society. This includes offering them a safe space to vent their frustrations and anxieties, as well as help them recognize and cultivate better techniques for managing their stress and negative emotions. Psychology courses in particular are ripe for such lessons, as we are seeing in real time how our sense of self and relationships to others is being challenged by the unprecedented circumstances of the current moment.
While much of the dialogue surrounding the challenges of teaching during the pandemic has focused on safety concerns, budget cuts, and preparedness for both faculty and students, a key pedagogical challenge should also be addressed—namely, how to help students navigate this challenging time and make sense of what is going on in our culture at this moment. The academic environment within higher education is particularly conducive to such facilitation, as our students are adults better equipped to make connections between the current cultural moment and theory and scholarship integral to their coursework.
As my students vented their frustrations this week—from fears regarding the outcome of the upcoming election to sharing continued grief over the death of loved ones from this dreaded virus to the regular stressors that come with being a college student—I found that our class had become an invitation for them to share what they were feeling and thinking and enduring right now. Rather than taking us off track for the lecture I had planned for the unit, I found that their voices and experiences could be integrated very effectively into a deeper examination of mood disorders and psychopathology.
It never hurts to take the pulse of how students are feeling as they log in for remote instruction—in my case, it served as an effective catalyst to present them with content for the course in a meaningful and resonant way. And perhaps, as the lecture came to a close, some students were able to return to their private lives feeling a little less frazzled and connected to our college community—even from their remote locations.
Copyright Azadeh Aalai 2020.
