WHAT A RIDE!

Three and a half years! Looking back to that first blog so much has happened since then! It seems like a lifetime ago! How did we get through? We got through by being creative when we couldn’t have what we wanted the way we wanted it.

For the first time, students, professors, institutions, offices, and services were thrown into online meetings, lockdowns, masks, and social distancing. We couldn’t visit our grandparents. We had to teach our children at home. People were getting sick. People were dying.

We had no idea when or if this would end. The people who know health and the people who decide policy had no clear answers and no clear direction–or answers and direction that changed as events and science unfolded. 

It was grim. On our campuses, neither students nor instructors were sure what the rules were or how to follow them. Or what the rules would be the next week. The technology was new to many, professors and students alike. Professors had to adapt their courses, exams, and grading on short notice at the end of a term. 

So, I started Blog Number One on April 2, 2020. That was Learning in a Dangerous Time: Succeeding With Online Learning During COVID-19. I certainly didn’t do it because I had all the answers. I did it to bring optimism, realistic optimism for both myself and my students. What could we do? How could we get through? Exams under lockdown loomed. Nobody had definitive answers, but there were some immediate questions to address as best we could. 

What were the biggest challenges my students faced? Anxiety was understandably high. What did instructors really want? The instructors didn’t all know, and that didn’t ease student anxiety. Moving into ZOOM classes, how would we come across on camera? Could we get the technology to work? How would we get access to resources? How would we keep up with our friends and make new connections with classmates?

The biggest challenge that my students had was the lack of structure. It was scary that even the profs weren’t certain exactly what they wanted and how and by when. Requirements were unclear, differed from week to week and differed from course to course. This uncertainty was on top of the changing uncertainties about masking, social distancing, vaccination, travel, and life outside academia.

Decisions were tough, with no clear best answers. To defer studies or continue? To reschedule so that labs come after COVID is over, but labs can be prerequisites? There was often a sense of defeat. Students weren’t feeling educational motivation and sometimes experienced huge setbacks and reduced grades.

There was a sense of limbo. Of what’s the use of trying.

How to deal with this was to get creative. Maybe creativity was needed to get space to be alone, or maybe to use virtual space to not be alone. I often found myself leading students to take the long view, to avoid comparing the world now with the world before COVID, and to get creative about what would move them toward their long-term goals. And to make a project of what could be done.

What do I mean by getting creative? I was getting married. We had the plans, the big wedding, extended family. We were ready. Suddenly, the world wasn’t. Nope. But my fiancee put together a stag party for me that was a blast. A virtual blast! We could have deferred our wedding, but we went with what we could do, and it was great!

Students got creative about their work environments. A home gym in the garage took the place of on-campus workouts. Small rewards for meeting the challenges of sticking to new structures built motivation and reinforced goal-directed behaviour. Making a project of each course, of physical, mental and social wellbeing helped push limbo aside. Not all of the time, and there was constant review and readjustment.

Being creative sometimes meant doing what you could in terms of adventure. Lockdown could mean it was time for biking new trails. Music groups could push the technology to create videos that spanned the world. The key to positivity and long-view creativity meant asking “What do I want to get done this year? With this course? What does the project look like when it’s complete? How do I get it done? What are some obstacles? What are the alternatives to the old ways that no longer work? How do I schedule it?”

Students made it. Alternatives were evaluated. Sometimes goals were adjusted. Most of all, taking the long view and being creative about what could be done when Plan A was no longer possible was essential. My clients who did the work were able to meet the challenge and largely stay on track. More importantly, when they fell off track, they were able to make it back on. 

Now that we’ve put in our first full year post-lockdown, we can see that there are continuing effects, especially in the areas of motivation and our social psyches. [If you are interested in my four-campus summary report on the longer-term effects of those lockdown years, drop me a line.] There are continuing challenges, as we face new variants, another wave, with the possibility of another lockdown, overstressed healthcare resources, and uncertain policy leadership.

But the strengths we built that saw us through will continue to see us through, if we apply them: Creativity. Adaptability. Taking the perspective of the long view. Defining projects. And managing them.

Earlier generations had the Wars. The Depression. This one is ours, and I believe we’ve got it.

Share your stories, your ongoing challenges. And let’s connect to build those strengths and get creative as the academic year unfolds [email protected] 

The information in this blog cannot take the place of support from your own mental health professional or community health resources. Reach out to them. And IF YOU ARE IN CRISIS PLEASE DIAL 911.