Thread by @DrJoannaT

I'm attending a session on teaching and curriculum design to support mental wellbeing at Deakin. There are over 80 people also in the session. It's great to see so many people interested in this.

1 in 4 students will experience a mental health condition in any given year. But this can even be higher in certain subgroups of higher education students. So it's really common. There are a wide variety of conditions - mild, moderate, severe.

These aren't necessarily diagnosed mental illness, but emotional wellbeing is impacted: impacts include disturbance in sleep, appetite, mood, condition, loss of motivation, worrying, forgetfulness, irritability.

within academic life: this includes difficult to start/complete tasks, difficult to participate & learn (including poor attendance), missing deadlines, loss of connections with others, and more sensitive to feedback.

Within the context of COVID-19 this could get worse.

So far, research in this pandemic has shown higher rates of anxiety, and the disconnection of people from services (e.g. counselling). Previous pandemics have demonstrated increased mental illness also.

At Deakin, fewer people accessed counselling service this year :(

Common feelings - anxiety, trapped, overwhelmed. Students are seeking to reduce study load or take intermission, they're worried about how they're going to keep on studying within the context of the pandemic and restrictions.

(I have to wonder at this point - how are staff doing?? We've been stuck at home for a looong time now and it's going to continue for some time yet.)

But, some good news. Deakin does have a Student Mental Health & Wellbeing Strategy. It was approved late last year and a taskforce are working on progressing its implementation.

The vision is to nurture/foster mental health and wellbeing for all students - not just 'fixing' illnesses. They are taking a whole of uni approach which is student centred, proactive, collaborative and evidence based. Social determinants of mental health conditions recognised.

This hits at many levels - org structure and systems, the way that policy works towards supporting mental health.

We can't just keep on doing more and more to support students at an individual level if there's systemic issues. So there'll be an action group to look at policy & procedure, and also looking at curriculum and teaching. So... where's assessment in this??

Here we go: common issues include: multiple, competing deadlines, unclear expectations, heavy content 'load', onerous assessments, timing of supp exams and academic performance hearings. Surprise.... it's mostly assessment.

Luckily @MelbCSHE has put together a website with resources to promote curriculum design to support student wellbeing: unistudentwellbeing.edu.au/curriculum-des…

Wellbeing impacted by student connectedness (with peers and staff) and curriculum offering appropriate level of challenge. They suggest standards based system, flexibility in approach to content including contact hours, support students to find meaning. Sounds sensible.

Yep... we've come round to mentioning that we need to take care of ourselves - staff - before we can support others. EAP mentioned - in the context of MWC and a new strategic direction being developed.

For students though - distress is likely to increase and continue. Short term coping/support will run out (including financial support!) so students will have to reevaluate what they do. While dropping out might be one option, continuing might provide a way to connect with others

(Just noticed there are 105 attendees now! wow!)

How we're hearing from Tiarnan Cleary, president of DUSA. He's describing how he (and many others) went from a familiar safe place at school with many friends, to 1st yr uni with few acquaintances, lecturer 'staring into the abyss', classes very different.

The only person he became friends with was the person he was asked to introduce himself to in a lecturer. Loss of belonging, confidence, enjoyment. So structured time to socialise and meet people is important.

He describes "brain fog" ... and intermitting didn't make it better - no purpose and no motivation :( also when previously strong and confident it's hard to admit that you're not doing so well.

While it might sound like a cliche, joining clubs and societies and getting involved as a volunteer was suggested - Tiarnan did so and he's now DUSA president. I feel like his experience could have happened to any of us.

(I was super involved with clubs & societies during uni - medical students and the orchestra mainly - and that's basically how I met most of my uni friends who I still hang out with now, albeit virtually at the moment)

Tiarnan now talks about the impact of COVID-19 - it was obviously from the start that universities had to take responsibility for their own students since the govt won't do it (esp intl students). DUSA had to do a very quick pivot from fun events to being a service union.

The work DUSA has done - including negotiating on the $25mil support fund for students at Deakin - has had fundamental impact for students. Super work. (He also comments that this 2nd lockdown feels like Vic is going it on its own... so true)

Sally Buchanan-Hagen, a lecturer now shares her experiences too, both as a student and now as a lecturer.

She talks about how it can be terrifying to have to study the same condition that a person also has themselves. Super tough.

And beyond that, if students are signalling they don't want to participate in classes, then it's important not to push them (they might find it too hard and won't come back).

She also talks about how sleep disruptions on shift work can make mental health conditions worse - and when employer refused to provide accommodations, she had to resign and reconsider how to progress her career. :(

But - lucky for us. Sally now works at Deakin and is an advocate for equity and mental health for students. We can accept our students for who they are now, and hope that they will learn, develop, flourish, and do good things out of their uni experiences whatever they are.

We only see a small proportion of students when we interact with them as lecturers. So we can't make judgements about the whole person. We are in an important position as educators to boost self esteem and self worth in our students.

Now we're hearing from Tegan Whitten, DUSA accessibilty rep, who also has lived experience. She acknowledges her privilege in being able to access health insurance so that she could keep on being a student. Ironically she had to keep on being a full-time student to access it.

But many students won't have access to optimal care - international students have a different model of health insurance, some counsellors aren't queer or disability friendly... intersectionality is definitely a thing.

Lots of advocacy and information work that Tegan is doing. E.g. students who didn't think their sensory/processing issue or a mental health condition warranted registration with the DRC. She argues more awareness is required - facilitated by lecturers.

Within the context of COVID-19, some students may also need to remain full-time students as intermitting/underloading is not possible for Centrelink or visa requirements.

While most of Deakin lecturers get it right, important to use supportive language and remember that we only know a small portion of student situation. Tegan's also keen to see the policy side of things keep on going.

Last speaker today is @susie_mac. She is sharing some curriculum strategies but also knows there are many people with expertise attending because they care about student mental health and wellbeing.

We need to consider what matters to our students - finances, separation from loved ones and isolation, not passing, and mental health issues. We also need to balance our own self-care in the teaching practices we engage in (they need to be sustainable)

Learning isn't always a fun, easy activity. So it's difficult by itself without all the added levels of complexity - socioeconomic circumstances, previous failure, mental health, the list goes on.

Susie talks about SDT being an underpinning principle but has reframed to be more student centred: "I can progress and succeed", "I belong, am included and connected", and "learning is relevant and meaningful to me". This is very helpful.

We should frame learning as development - achievement as progress - and also have some opportunities where it's safe to fail. Susie suggests assessment should include early low stakes assessment, similar elements that build over time, less focus on marks...

...and importantly, get students to consider what success means for them. Support working to their goals - feedback can reduce stress, increase motivation. Needs to be authentic, meaningful, timely (so they can integrate knowledge), a dialogue.

So - how do we support connection? Teamwork needs to be well considered with a clear purpose. Students need to be recognised as individuals and we should have positive and reasonable (high) expectations of them.

Learning needs to be meaning to individuals and should be relevant - not "breaking up rocks in the prison yard" as @susie_mac points out is busy work that has been done before and not useful.

We also have a responsibility to help students understand who they have become as a result of their university study - how do they move on into work and life.

We also need to consider how we can understand our students - online could be anonymous polling tools to get a sense of what students are dealing with. May also be built into reflections on assessment tasks.

Susie will be posting her slides up as a resource - will be very helpful!

So much gratitude for the speakers in the chat. It's been a great session.