Online students don't tell you they are overwhelmed, but they'll post it on Reddit
By now, we’ve all experienced life under these restricted Covid-19 conditions 😷.
Our new normal.
It can be difficult to know how people are feeling when our main form of interaction is through technology. As an expat, I find it difficult to gauge what my family and friends are going through in Canada. Even with ample technology mediated contact (daily WhatsApp messages and weekly video calls) it is still hard to get a clear picture 📱💻. And this is even if we discount the pandemic.
Maybe it’s just me, maybe I am bad at it.
But I don’t think I am.
We know that our brains have to work harder during video calls to tune into what people are actually saying. Body language and subtle cues that we rely on in face-to-face contact are shrouded through the pixelated interaction online. That sustained focus is difficult. It’s not what we’re use to.
Many of us teaching online, maybe for the first time, are getting our heads around what this means. For us and our students. It can be difficult to know what your students are going through when we interact through technology. How can we know how our students are feeling if we never see them on camera? Or if they do not feel comfortable talking about what is going on?
This makes it hard to empathise.
We can only use our imagination and lived experience to project the overall feelings of our students. That is hard. That requires us as teachers to step back from our busyness to consciously think about the students on the other side of the laptop.
Students are like us. They are also having, all the emotions 😔😡😵🤞.
Tom Whitford of Curio, Australia’s fastest growing education consultancy, sent me a series of Reddit posts that captured how students are currently feeling.
It captured a window to what our students are going through and helps us frame what we actions we can take to improve student experience.
TLDR (too long, didn’t read); it’s a lot. Students are struggling and there are things we can do to help them.
Redditors Experiences
If you’ve never been on Reddit, it is a social website that allows users to have discussions and interactions with other users through posting, voting, and commenting. You can join communities based on topics, or sub-reddits, and chat with other who are also interested in the topic. Users of the site are called redditors.
Universities have sub-reddits, populated by future students, current students, alumni, and staff. I would highly recommend visiting your institutions sub-reddit to see what students are talking about.
In this public, yet somehow private, posts, I began to see that student across institutions experience similar struggles.
Students are feeling ‘burnt out’ and ‘overwhelmed’ by the current situation. They feel ‘bombarded by the workload’ and ‘feel trapped’ by their circumstances. And their supports may not be as strong as we imagine, with ‘nobody else I can really talk to about this’ or living abroad and ‘being away from my support system’.
Below is an example of one post from ‘Reaseykeo123’ with 116 upvotes (or likes) about burn out.
This post captures the struggle.
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Pressure.
Overwhelmed.
Scared.
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Pleading for others to validate their experience, of being alone. With 67 comments and 116 upvotes, this student is surely not alone. This is just one post on one sub-reddit.
This student is a brave one.
And the ones commenting on the post, are also brave ones.
Or maybe the ones that are desperate, without a strong support network, that need to reach out in public forums for help.
There are plenty more students that are largely invisible to us.
Not Alone Feeling This Way
Scrolling through these posts you’ll also find a number of students validating the experience. From deteriorating mental health, to tech issues, to low motivation. Student life is hard.
Not everyone has a strong support network. These public forums are a way for students to connect. Validation from peers go a long way to not feeling alone. These comments help students know that they are not in a unique position and that others are struggling.
Supporting each other
But it’s not all bleak!
In these Reddit posts you will also find heart-warming comments from other students supporting each other through this crisis. Students offering up their suggestions, their own transformation, and to ‘just hang in there’.
What we can do
I hope this article gave you a view of a what students in your online class may be experiencing. It can sometimes be difficult to imagine what is going on at the other end of the screen. Remember that your students are also finding these times difficult.
However, there are things that we can do in our classroom to help.
Be empathetic and check in with your students
In the physical space, we generally can see the emotion on someone’s face. However, in the online environment this can often be invisible.
Things you can try:
At the beginning of your webinar, check in by allowing your students to answer a poll about how they are feeling today
Share a personal story about your own struggle during this time
Open up more 1:1 timeslots to help you students cope with workload
Give them a bit of a break and redesign your lessons to boost interactivity
Your students are likely to be just as exhausted.
Try to spice up your webinar by not being the only one talking that can be ‘painful and boring’.
Look for ways to get students involved.
Things you can try:
Get your students participating early and keep that momentum going during the webinar
Use breakout rooms to get more intimate conversation going
Spend additional time breaking down assessment tasks and lowering anxiety about the work
Let them know that services exist
Lastly, we do not have the expertise to deal with mental health. Always refer out to services and let students know what is available to them through your institution.
Here is a list of resources:
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https://coronavirus.beyondblue.org.au/
https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/mental-health
Lifeline at 13 11 14
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This is just one view of the student experience. There are many things that happen online that are invisible to us, and it is just as easy for students to stay hidden. To hide their pain and struggle behind the screen.
There are many things that we can do to make the experience better, but it comes down to understanding that on the other side there is a human being. A person that needs help.
Approach it with empathy.
We’re all in this together 🤝.
Bill Simmalavong