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As we contemplate the horrifying and saddening news out of Virginia Tech, we might also be wondering whether or not to reflect our responses within our classes and with our own students. A posting from the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) listserv addresses this issue, and it is included below in case it would be helpful for anyone. The posting is by Therese Huston, one of the co-authors of the recent student survey that is referenced here.
-Wayne Hall, Vice Provost for Faculty Development
Michele DiPietro and I published an article in the most recent edition of To Improve the Academy (2007) that reported on a study examining a) what students said their faculty did following the attacks of September 11, 2001, and b) which faculty actions students found helpful following the attacks.
Of course, the terrorist attacks of 2001 are very different from what happened yesterday - it's hard to know what the events at Virginia Tech might compare to - but the survey results still might shed some insight into what students found more or less helpful in the classroom following an unexpected, horrific, and collective tragedy. DiPietro (2003) has published an earlier study looking at faculty reporting of what they did following the 9/11 attacks, which does a great job explaining what faculty found confusing.
Quick summary of Huston & DiPietro's (2007) results (complete reference follows):
- On one campus, in the days immediately following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, students reported that only 62% of their professors mentioned the attacks at all; the remaining 38% went on with the course material as though nothing had happened.
- Many students typically found an instructor's complete lack of response frustrating or disappointing. A few students did not care whether their instructors did or said anything, and a few said "doing nothing" was appropriate. But most students wanted their instructors to show some acknowledgement.
- In most cases, students found it *helpful* whenever faculty tried to acknowledge the tragedy in some way (one minute of silence, a short or long discussion, offer to review the material again later, read an inspirational passage, mention counseling services, etc.)
- The only response that was truly *unhelpful* was when faculty "acknowledged that the attacks had occurred but said the class had to go on, with no mention of extra help." Students were often frustrated when faculty said "there is nothing we can do."
The following excerpt is taken directly from the TIA article (Huston & DiPietro, 2007, pp.218-220).
Implications for Faculty
The results indicate that from the students’ perspective, it is best to do something. Students often complained when faculty did not mention the attacks at all, and they expressed gratitude when faculty acknowledged that something awful had occurred. Beyond acknowledging a tragic event, faculty would be well-advised to take the extra step of recognizing that students are distressed and to show some extra support, such as offering to grant extensions for students who request them. Cognitive research informs us that working memory capacity is reduced in times of enhanced stress so students are less capable of learning new material (e.g. Arnsten, 1998). Offering extensions or the opportunity to review the material later is one way to accommodate students’ decreased capacity.
It is perhaps a surprising relief to learn that an instructor’s response need not be complicated, time-intensive, or even personalized. Responses that require relatively little effort, such as taking a minute of silence or offering to review material later in the course are likely to be viewed as very helpful by most students, so faculty should not feel pressed into redesigning their course. Faculty responses that required high levels of effort were also viewed as helpful, so those who wish to use the lens of their discipline to examine the events surrounding a tragedy are encouraged to do so. A repeated issue that appeared in students’ comments was that they appreciated when an instructor responded in a unique and humane way, so faculty should not feel pressured to homogenize their responses.
Complete references:
Huston, T. A., & DiPietro, M. (2007). In the eye of the storm: Student perceptions of helpful faculty actions following a collective tragedy. In D. R. Robertson & L. B. Nilson (Eds.) To Improve the Academy: Vol 25. Resources for faculty, instructional, and organizational development (pp. 207-224). Bolton, MA: Anker.
DiPietro. M. (2003). The day after: Faculty behavior in post-September 11, 2001, classes. In C. M. Wehlburg. and S. Chadwick-Blossey (Eds.) To Improve the Academy: Vol 21. Resources for faculty, instructional, and organizational development (pp. 21-39). Bolton, MA: Anker.
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