Friends: I'm at a professional conference this week. Hearing a report that when presenters use breakout rooms, people are leaving sessions en masse.

Shall we discuss?

#HigherEd
#HowToZoom
#AcademicChatter
So y'all have feelings about breakout rooms I see. Here are some of my key takeaways from this conversation:
#1 Perhaps we should build community and connection before sending people into breakouts. Sending people into a small room with strangers is awkward-sauce.
#2 Let's have empathy for our students. Many of the things our students do that frustrate us are things we do too. We're all human.
#3 Folks don't like breakouts bc they are multitasking. Maybe your students are multitasking too.
#4 Always interesting to consider that we know active learning is more effective, but so many people (students, faculty, staff) seem to want to avoid it.
#5 Just because an edtech tool offers us a bell or whistle does not mean we need to use it. Pedagogy before tech. People before pedagogy.
#6 I put people into solo breakout rooms in a workshop this week. It went okay. Need to get more feedback, but I think they can serve as quiet spaces of reflection, potentially.
Oh! And related, my #1 tool for engaging learners in @zoom_us is to get folks active in the chat. Weave questions into your workshop and ask folks to respond in the chat. The chat is where the magic happens! I'm shocked at how few people use the chat effectively.

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More from @karenraycosta

12 Nov
This is worth taking a look at. Some very concerning findings about #MentalHealth impacts of COVID.

boston.com/news/coronavir…
Rates of suicidal ideation rose from a baseline of 3.4% in 2014 to 36.9% in October.

Historical norms for major depression were 7.7% pre-COVID, and rose to 27% during COVID.

Treatment: samhsa.gov/find-treatment
I'm mad about this, #HigherEd. I really am. We haven't named or faced this challenge. We have thrown faculty onto the front lines of what could be the worst mental health crisis of our lifetimes. Our counseling teams were woefully underfunded before this...
Read 4 tweets
6 Oct
What is everyone planning in their courses for election week? How will we take care of ourselves, each other, and our learners? Let's brainstorm and crowdsource ideas?

#HigherEd
#AcademicChatter
I'll share my two cents from the standpoint of #traumaaware teaching, diminished executive functions, and severe stress/overwhelm...
Reduce uncertainty. Create a simple plan for election week, and start gently communicating it as soon as you can. Let students know what they can expect.
Read 8 tweets
6 Oct
I just can't anymore, and I know a lot of you can't either. I am so done with these elite pockets of #HigherEd ignoring the work that the vast majority of us are doing every day.
"And some people would argue that those various services, as necessary and well intended as they might be, have a significant downside..."

#HigherEd
#AcademicChatter
Read 7 tweets
22 Sep
A thread on #MentalHealth, #ToxicStress, and #TraumaAwareness in #HigherEd...

With recognition that our leaders are also experiencing all of these challenges, are they acknowledging these realities?
What I'm hearing from faculty is no. People are drowning. Faculty, staff, and students are numb, traumatized, scared, and barely holding on by a thread. And they do not feel seen and supported by #highered leaders. There are, of course, exceptions. Those don't make rules.
I think sometimes our leaders feel like talking about these issues is not their job. It's the counseling office's job, right? No. Not right. Conversations about scope of practice can help move this conversation forward, perhaps. Image
Read 8 tweets
17 Sep
recently a lot of educators have been saying to me they've done everything they can to create awesome online learning spaces, and still students aren't engaging...and I say, our students are dealing with other challenges outside of our classes...

#highered
#academicchatter
i guess i have more to say on this...i think we have to be careful that our desire to engage students doesn't make it about US, you know?

#highered
#academicchatter
rely on sound pedagogy and create cultures of care, be a student yourself, outreach regularly, be kind. students might still choose not to engage in the ways we want them to. we are not the center of their universe.
Read 6 tweets
8 Sep
A thread on something that is really concerning me. The level of stress and overwhelm I'm seeing in educators is at an all-time high. We need to talk about emotions, vicarious trauma, and #highered leadership.

#AcademicChatter
#HigherEd
I want to start by saying that many professions, obviously, have a higher likelihood of vicarious trauma, and that needs attention, of course. I work with educators, so that's my focus. I'm not discounting any other field, just focusing here on mine.
I'm also going to try to come at this by discussing two levels of what I'm seeing in educators: 1-a more generalized experience of picking up other people's emotions and 2-a more specific and serious experience of vicarious trauma.
Read 14 tweets

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