Pandemic

Leading through Compassion, Connection, and Hope

The last three years have presented extraordinarily complex challenges in higher education, as we navigated pivots and experienced ongoing disruptions in our teaching and learning spaces, environments, and communities. We became more aware of the systemic inequities that exist across our organizations. We’ve questioned and leaned into the opportunities and challenges our organizational infrastructure presents (e.g., our technologies, spaces, governance, decision-making, and planning). We’ve also worked to navigate challenges with our individual and collective well-being, anxiety, burnout and exhaustion. Throughout the pandemic, I heard strong leaders described by words such as: systems-level thinkers, networked, self-aware, mindful, equitable, inclusive, empathetic, compassionate, courageous, hopeful, and relational.

Perhaps we’ve experienced some foundational shifts in leadership practices, which will continue to carry us forward in higher education? I’ve conceptualized these shifts as three foundational leadership practices: 1) a leadership of compassion; 2) a leadership of connection; and 3) a leadership of hope.

A leadership of compassion

Throughout the pandemic we experienced challenges that were difficult to comprehend. We felt the anxiety, isolation, and overwhelming complexities of uncertainty. Building upon Worline and Dutton (2017), Waddington (2021) describes compassion as noticing and making meaning of suffering, feeling empathy for those experiencing suffering, and taking action to alleviate suffering. Throughout the pandemic, leaders across higher education demonstrated compassion by reaching out to their teams, checking in with their colleagues to see how they were doing, demonstrating empathy and vulnerability in the face of ongoing uncertainty, providing reassurance, embracing dialogue, listening deeply to those around them, and demonstrating support through relational action (e.g., Lawton-Misra and Pretorius, 2021). They asked about other’s feelings and well-being, and took action to alleviate barriers and reduce suffering where they could have influence. They suffered themselves. They made mistakes and experienced failure. They learned and unlearned. Their emotions fluctuated, and often, were relentlessly raw and challenging. It became harder to respond, rather than react in the face of ongoing challenge and uncertainty. They demonstrated resilience and vulnerability by sharing their experiences, connecting with peers, normalizing help-seeking, and cultivating a deeper sense of self-awareness, self-compassion, and mindfulness.

What does a leadership of compassion look like moving forward?

Hougaard et al. (2021) share practical strategies for demonstrating wise compassion through self-compassion, intention, transparency, and mindfulness. The Conscious Leadership Group’s Above the Line/Below the Line Framework is a fantastic tool for fostering ongoing self-awareness and reflection. Dr. Kristin Neff’s work on developing self-compassion through self-kindness, a recognition of common humanity and mindfulness is transformative.

A leadership of connection

There were no simple answers to the challenges we faced during the pandemic. Decision-making was forced by situations beyond our control and the need for action was accelerated at relentlessly unsustainable rates. There were no right answers. The disruptions were constant. The impacts of the pandemic were complex and disproportionately affected equity-deserving groups (Abdrasheva et al., 2022; Bassa, 2022; Jehi et al., 2021). Throughout the pandemic, many leaders embraced the power of shared leadership, relationships, and collaborative decision-making. They brought together informal and formal networks to surface and grapple with challenges, and to share knowledge across once-siloed institutional, faculty, departmental and unit-level boundaries. They identified and connected core networks of problem-solvers, instilled confidence, fostered trust, built relationships, facilitated consensus, listened deeply, and leveraged the strengths of local-level leaders, influencers, and change-catalysts (Bleich and Bowles, 2021; Bassa, 2022; Mehrotra, 2021). They looked across multiple organizational levels to influence systems-level awareness and change. They created peer, cross-institutional, national, and international networks of knowledge and resource sharing, breaking through past barriers of competition and scarcity. They leaned into the realities of the systemic and structural inequities that became increasingly visible across our university structures.

The work of fostering connection and developing relationships takes time and intentional effort. Research suggests that one of the most important factors associated with student confidence in their learning during the pandemic was their sense of connection with their peers and their professors (Guppy et al., 2022). This finding speaks volumes to the importance of developing and sustaining meaningful relationships bounded by belonging and connection across higher education.

How can we continue to foster connection moving forward?

We can continue to bring networks together to grapple with important teaching and learning issues. A few topics that continue to surface: student assessment, academic integrity, artificial intelligence, experiential and work-integrated learning, learning spaces and technologies, equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, truth, reconciliation and Indigenous engagement, the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), mental health and well-being, student learning skills, engagement and metacognition, sustainability and climate change, blended and online learning, learning pathways, stackable and personalized learning, and micro-credentialing. We can listen deeply to one another – with an intention to understand and heal, rather than to respond, judge, debate, criticize, or problem solve. We can trust and provide resources and support to pedagogical catalysts, influencers and local educational leaders who care deeply about teaching and make an effort to develop local teaching and learning networks and communities (Myllykoski-Laine et al., 2022). We can create accessible spaces, events, and initiatives for open knowledge sharing about teaching and learning, within our academic units, institutions, nationally and globally. A fantastic exemplar is Dr. Maha Bali’s and colleagues’ work on Equity Unbound – an open, and freely available resource that is filled with strategies to inspire online community-building, through the principles of equity and care.

A leadership of hope

It was easy to feel overwhelmed and consumed during the pandemic. The challenges we faced felt enormous, and it was often difficult to see where and how we could have influence. We learned the importance of establishing a leadership of hope. It was a hope that acknowledged that what we were living through was challenging and hard. We were experiencing a world that had become increasingly uncertain, volatile, and unpredictable.

Despite the challenges and inequities which surround us, critical hope requires us to come together in community to connect in meaningful ways, to envision a better and more inclusive future, and to take incremental action to create positive change (Riddell, 2020). Critical hope is a “…hope that is neither naïve nor idealistic;” it is both critical and emotional, and it works to dismantle injustice and despair in our systems and structures (Grain & Lund, 2016, p.51). It accepts that through connection and collective action, we can help to reduce suffering and move towards healing.

During the pandemic, leaders sustained a sense of critical hope by naming and leaning into the systemic inequities that continued to emerge, by acknowledging the ongoing uncertainty and suffering that occurred, by creating a sense of purpose and meaning in the face of uncertainty, by demonstrating a continuous perseverance to take action, by maintaining honest communication, by accepting and moving beyond mistakes, by establishing open feedback channels, and by creating an organizational culture of continuous learning and growth (Beilstein et al., 2021; Bassa, 2022). Leaning into uncertainty, systemic inequities, failure and ongoing learning took courage. It was an intensely vulnerable time for leaders – many of whom drew focussed attention to the power of emotion and humanity to help us through it all.

How do we continue to move forward through a leadership of hope?

McGowan and Felten (2021) highlight that deep inequities persist in higher education. They present a wonderful equation for continued reflection that I believe provides a foundation for leading through hope (p. 474):

Agency

‘I can change in meaningful ways despite the systems and structures constraining me’

Pathways

‘I see specific and purposeful steps I can take’

Hope

When feeling overwhelmed, this framework provides me pause to stop and ask:

1) What is one meaningful change that I can contribute to despite the systems and structures that constrain me?

2) What are some specific and purposeful steps I can take to move towards that change?

3) Who/what are the support networks I can draw upon for support and accountability?

There is always something I can do to help move towards the positive changes we most aspire to in higher education.

I am curious how these three shifts in leadership (i.e., a leadership of compassion; a leadership of connection; a leadership of hope) resonate with you? What would you change or add? What shifts have you observed? What can we learn moving forward?

References

Abdrasheva, D. Escribens, M., Sazalieva, E., do Nascimento, D. V., & Yerovi, C. (2022). Resuming or reforming? Tracking the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education after two years of disruption. UNESCO. https://www.iesalc.unesco.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IESALC_COVID-19_Report_ENG.pdf

Beilstein et al. (2021) Leadership in a time of crisis: Lessons learned from a pandemic. Best Practice & Research Clinical Anaesthesiology 35 (2021) 405e414

Bassa, B. (2022). Leading Into a New Higher Education as It Emerges in the Present Moment. In International Perspectives on Leadership in Higher Education (Vol. 15, pp. 271-290). Emerald Publishing Limited.

Bleich, M. R., & Bowles, J. (2021). A model for holistic leadership in post-pandemic recovery. Nurse Leader, 19(5), 479-482.

Guppy, N., Matzat, U., Agapito, J., Archibald, A., De Jaeger, A., Heap, T., … & Bartolic, S. (2023). Student confidence in learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: what helped and what hindered?. Higher Education Research & Development, 42(4), 845-859.

Grain, K. M., & Lund, D. E. (2017). The social justice turn: Cultivating’critical hope’in an age of despair. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 23(1).

Jehi, T., Khan, R., Dos Santos, H., & Majzoub, N. (2022). Effect of COVID-19 outbreak on anxiety among students of higher education; A review of literature. Current Psychology, 1-15.

Lawton-Misra, N., & Pretorius, T. (2021). Leading with heart: academic leadership during the COVID-19 crisis. South African Journal of Psychology, 51(2), 205-214.

McGowan, S., & Felten, P. (2021). On the necessity of hope in academic development. International Journal for Academic Development, 26(4), 473-476.

Mehrotra, G. R. (2021). Centering a pedagogy of care in the pandemic. Qualitative Social Work, 20(1-2), 537-543.

Myllykoski-Laine, S., Postareff, L., Murtonen, M., & Vilppu, H. (2022). Building a framework of a supportive pedagogical culture for teaching and pedagogical development in higher education. Higher Education, 1-19.

Riddell, J. (2020) Combatting toxic positivity with critical hope. University Affairs. https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/adventures-in-academe/combatting-toxic-positivity-with-critical-hope/

Worline, M. C. & Dutton, J. E. (2017). Awakening compassion at work: The quiet power that elevates people and organizations. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler

Waddington, K. (2021). Introduction: Why compassion? why now?. In Towards the Compassionate University (pp. 5-22). Routledge.

Guiding Principles for Student Assessment in Higher Education

As institutions rapidly transformed the delivery of student learning, the pandemic drew attention to the importance of student assessment in higher education. Postsecondary institutions continue to grapple with the opportunities and challenges that assessment practices present across multiple organizational levels, whether in individual courses, across academic programs, or as it relates to institutional structures, policies, and processes.

Gibbs (2006) affirmed that assessment is key to student learning, often driving what, when and how students learn. Boud (2000) challenged us to rethink all components of assessment to create more sustainable and meaningful assessment practices to support student learning. More recently, authors such as Jones et al. (2021) have highlighted that wellbeing must be a key consideration for assessment practices in higher education. Technological developments such as artificial intelligence (AI) have become more prevalent in supporting practices related to assessment design and delivery, e-proctoring, grading and feedback, and learning analytics – while also presenting numerous ethical dilemmas and risks (Zawacki-Richter, et al., 2019; Eaton and Turner, 2020). Attention has also been focussed on how assessment practices can further support (or hinder) equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and social justice in higher education (Tai et al., 2023).

There is no doubt that student assessment in higher education is complex and important. When addressing complexity, I tend towards using principles as a guide. Building upon the excellent work of Boud (2000), Gibbs and Simpson (2005), Gibbs (2006), Jones et al. (2021), Lindstrom et al. (2017) and recent work done at McGill University (2022), I’ve curated the following principles as a starting point for conversation and decision-making related to student assessment in higher education:

Meaningful assessment practices shift the focus of assessment from evaluating, ranking, or judging student performance to ensuring assessment is an integral and intentional component of student learning experiences.
Assessment practices should foster on-going learning and growth. Assessment tasks should be structured and scaffolded progressively, to ensure the development of expertise and confidence overtime, with appropriate challenge, feedback, and practice. Assessment should recognize and validate multiple disciplinary, scholarly, and culturally-relevant approaches and ways of knowing.
Assessment practices should be equitable, fair, accessible, and inclusive. A variety of assessment methods should be utilized and provide some level of flexibility and choice to maximize student engagement, foster accessibility, and encourage student involvement in the assessment process. Assessment practices should draw upon the principles and practices of universal design for learning. Grading practices should be based on transparent standards and criteria, rather than norms, ranks, or distributions.
Assessment practices should be developmental and provide opportunities for feedback, self-regulated learning, and metacognition. There should be a balance between summative and formative assessment processes, with multiple opportunities for students to reflect on, receive, respond to, and use feedback on their learning. Feedback opportunities should be encouraged from multiple perspectives (e.g., self-reflection, peers, course instructors, and/or teaching assistants).
Assessment practices should foster academic integrity. Assessment design should uphold the values of integrity and be relevant to learning goals. Expectations related to assessments, and the policies and procedures related to academic integrity should be clearly communicated.
Assessment should be recognized as a core element in the planning and design of course and program learning experiences. Assessment practices should be transparent, providing students with clear expectations on their assessments, and how they align with the teaching and learning goals, and approaches for the course/program/discipline. Institutional and unit-level supports should be available to ensure course instructors and teaching assistants have opportunities to develop expertise in developing and supporting scholarly, relevant, and meaningful assessment practices.
Assessment practices should be sustainable and align with a commitment to supporting well-being for students, faculty, and staff. Expectations related to assessment practices should be transparent and clearly communicated to students. The design and scheduling of assessment tasks should consider a reasonable time to complete the assessment, be appropriate to the credit-weighting, recognize the cumulative distribution of assessment tasks throughout the semester, and support sustainable workloads for students, course instructors and teaching assistants.

What’s missing from these principles ? What would you change or add? How could you imagine using and building upon these principles within your own local context?

References

Boud, D. (2000). Sustainable assessment: rethinking assessment for the learning society. Studies in Continuing Education, 22, 2, 151-167

Eaton, S. E., & Turner, K. L. (2020). Exploring academic integrity and mental health during COVID-19: Rapid review. Journal of Contemporary Education Theory & Research (JCETR), 4(2), 35-41.

Gibbs, G., & Simpson, C. (2005). Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning. Learning and teaching in higher education, (1), 3-31.

Gibbs, G. (2006). How assessment frames student learning. In Innovative assessment in higher education (pp. 43-56). Routledge.

Jones, E., Priestley, M., Brewster, L., Wilbraham, S. J., Hughes, G., & Spanner, L. (2021). Student wellbeing and assessment in higher education: the balancing act. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 46(3), 438-450.

Lindstrom, G., Taylor, L., Weleschuk, A. (2017) Guiding Principles for Assessment of Student Learning. Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning Guide Series. Calgary, AB: Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning at the University of Calgary, June 2017. https://taylorinstitute.ucalgary.ca/sites/default/files/Guiding_Principles_for_Assessment_of_Student_Learning_FINAL.pdf

McGill University (Office of the Provost and Vice-Principal Academic) (2022) Policy on Assessment of Student Learning (pp. 3-11) in 512th REPORT OF THE ACADEMIC POLICY COMMITTEE TO SENATE on the APC meetings held on April 14th and May 2nd, 2022 McGill University. https://www.mcgill.ca/senate/files/senate/03_d21-58_512th_apc_report_0.pdf

Tai, J., Ajjawi, R., Boud, D., Jorre de St. Jorre, T. (2023) Promoting equity and social justice through assessment for inclusion. In pp 9-18. Ajjawi et al. (Eds). Assessment for Inclusion in Higher Eduation: Promoting Equity and Social Justice in Assessment. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003293101/assessment-inclusion-higher-education-rola-ajjawi-joanna-tai-david-boud-trina-jorre-de-st-jorre

Zawacki-Richter, O., Marín, V. I., Bond, M., & Gouverneur, F. (2019). Systematic review of research on artificial intelligence applications in higher education–where are the educators?. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 16(1), 1-27.

Supporting wellbeing for students and educators

By: Natasha Kenny (Senior Director, Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning)

and

Patti Dyjur (Educational Development Consultant, Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning)

It’s been a tough couple of years for students and educators (Brazeau et al., 2020; Morgan and Simmons, 2021). Over the past few weeks, we’ve increasingly heard from our academic community that students and educators are struggling. There is an acknowledgement that we have not taken the time to intentionally reflect upon and heal from what we have experienced from the global pandemic. Our individual and collective wellbeing has and continues to suffer and students are experiencing a “skills gap” in their approaches to time management, organization, independence and commitment, and communication (Napierala et al., 2022). Without a doubt, we need more conversation and shared leadership to address our experiences moving forward (Abdrasheva et al., 2022; Garcia-Morales et al., 2021).

We’ve been thinking a lot about how to address some of the challenges students and educators are currently facing in their courses. Acknowledging that this work is complex and will have to be addressed across multiple organizational levels, we were drawn back to some of our earlier work on how the PERMA flourishing framework (Seligman, 2012) might be used to help? For example, Morgan and Simmons (2021) have used this framework to develop a wellbeing program in universities in the UK.

In a previous post we shared how the PERMA framework could be used to support student and educator wellbeing in the classroom. We share an adaptation of that post here:

Seligman’s (2012) PERMA model: Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment

Positive Emotions: feeling joy, hope and contentment; reducing stressors; promoting positive coping and resilience

For instructors: schedule daily, weekly and monthly time to replenish and recharge; get up from the keyboard and take a microbreak; implement gratitude practices; ask for help from a trusted colleague or ask if you can help them; practice self-compassion; keep a ‘happy day’ email folder to store and revisit thank you messages and notes of appreciation from colleagues and students.

For students: Implement incremental learning tasks; create low-stakes assignments; incorporate student voice in and flexibility in setting deadlines (we love the concept of late banks); incorporate class time to check-in with students; incorporate mindfulness/contemplative pedagogies; promote a positive learning environment for all by establishing community and presence and cultivating equity, diversity and inclusion; connect with students through strategies such as learning their names and checking in with them to see how things are going.

Engagement: feeling attached, involved and an ability to concentrate on activities; creating meaningful opportunities to draw upon strengths and interests

For instructors: talk to your colleagues/department head about your strengths and interests; bring your strengths and interests into the classroom; engage in your workspace where students and colleagues can see and connect with you (e.g., studio, office, lab); leverage zoom or other virtual spaces to connect one-one with students, colleagues, and small groups; rest, recharge and detach from work during vacation time (we know this one is tough!).

For students: provide choice in course activities and assignments; help students identify their strengths and interests through self-assessment activities and classroom discussion; encourage learning activities that relate to and encourage students to share their interests (e.g., discovering and sharing relevant readings and resources); bring relevant connections and “real-world” examples into the course to help students make meaning; incorporate collaborative activities in online courses such as jigsaws or world cafes; include online discussions to promote engagement; incorporate principles of Universal Design for Learning; incorporate variety in teaching and learning activities.

Relationships: feeling connected, supported, and cared about; promoting opportunities for collaboration and interaction within and amongst teams

For instructors: connect with a community of practice or learning community related to something that interests you; invite people for coffee; recognize your colleagues (e.g., write a letter of support or send a brief email of acknowledgement); ask for feedback from a trusted colleague; seek and/or offer peer mentorship; invite students to lead class discussions; intentionally connect with a colleague or community off-campus for fresh ideas and connections.

For students: Facilitate peer and active learning, problem-solving and discussion activities; encourage students to get up and move – change seats and connect with a “new neighbour”; encourage learners to talk to elbow partners (students next to them); encourage study groups and/or collaborative note-taking; set up informal study groups; foster an inclusive learning environment; build in supports to facilitate positive team dynamics if assigning group work.

Meaning: feeling valued and connected to something greater than self; connecting to purpose; promoting reflection

For instructors: seek opportunities to mentor and provide positive feedback to colleagues; participate in a teaching square/triangle; prepare and/or revise a philosophy statement that speaks to your core values and purpose as a teacher – share this with students and/or a colleague; reflect on your teaching goals and impact (where are you making a difference? where would you like to further make a difference?)

For students: Model reflection (sharing what you learned from your mistakes); promote co-op programs and experiential learning opportunities; provide context around how student learning in the course is connected to students’ academic, personal and professional development; have students set their own goals for learning; collect and respond to mid-semester student feedback – stop, start, continue; encourage metacognitive activities (e.g. exam wrappers); relate course concepts and topics to current events; have students create their own materials such as graphic organizers/ notes, concept maps, and summary notes.

Accomplishment: progressing towards goals; feeling capable and a sense of accomplishment; providing autonomy; celebrate success

For instructors: Keep notes of your successes (e.g. after class, at end of the week); celebrate small wins and achievements along the way (e.g. have coffee with a colleague; keep a stack of sticky notes to document what’s working on the corner of your desk; acknowledge that accomplishments come in many shapes and forms; share goals with a mentor/supportive colleague; connect with colleagues you trust to help each other with accountability and perspective; provide space to share key teaching successes and learnings at department meetings.

For students: Share positive and balanced feedback; encourage students to recognize their successes in a final course reflection; allow students to select from a series of questions to respond to in their assignments; design open-ended projects to give students choice in a topic that interests them; allow students to demonstrate their learning and reflect on it with online portfolios.

We continue to wonder:

How could these approaches and this framework be used to further support educator and student wellbeing as we continue to learn and heal from our teaching and learning experiences during the pandemic?
Overall, how might we design courses to promote a sense of wellness, for both students and instructors?
How might we more broadly foster well being through our assessment practices across higher education?

References:

Abdrasheva, D., Escribens, M., Sabzalieva, E., Vieira do Nascimento, D., & Yerovi, C. (2022). Resuming or reforming? Tracking the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education after two years of disruption. Instituto Internacional de la UNESCO para la Educación Superior en América Latina y el Caribe. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000381749

Brazeau, G. A., Frenzel, J. E., & Prescott, W. A. (2020). Facilitating wellbeing in a turbulent time. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 84(6). https://www.ajpe.org/content/84/6/ajpe8154.short

García-Morales, V. J., Garrido-Moreno, A., & Martín-Rojas, R. (2021). The transformation of higher education after the COVID disruption: Emerging challenges in an online learning scenario. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 616059. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.616059/full

Morgan, B., & Simmons, L. (2021, May). A ‘PERMA’response to the pandemic: an online positive education programme to promote wellbeing in university students. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 6, p. 642632). Frontiers Media SA. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2021.642632/full

Napierala, J., Pilla, N., Pichette, J., & Colyar, J. (2022) Ontario Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences of Ontario First-year Postsecondary Students in 2020–21. Toronto: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario. https://heqco.ca/pub/ontario-learning-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-experiences-of-ontario-first-year-postsecondary-students-in-2020-21/

Seligman, M. (2012). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. Atria books.