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Abstract

In partnership with UBC Wellbeing and the SEEDS Sustainability Program, we were tasked with providing recommendations for the Teaching Practices that Promote Student Wellbeing: A Tool for Educators, a resource designed to help instructors support student wellbeing in the classroom. However, this resource (which includes reminders to “use inclusive language” and “engage in conversation not directly related to the course”) was designed in a pre- pandemic setting. Therefore, our guiding research question was: “In a post-pandemic classroom environment, what are the best practices that instructors and staff can implement in order to best support student wellbeing?”. To answer this question, we employed a thorough review of the existing literature, designed a survey which could be completed by students of any year and in any department, and conducted interviews for deeper qualitative analysis. We found that students, in general, wanted to take part in in-person learning as much as possible. This does not mean, however, that professors should not be accommodating cases such as unexcused absences or extenuating “life” circumstances. Participants clarified that the decision to attend class was not impacted by whether a professor posted their lecture slides or recorded their lectures. In other words, limiting the use of these methods neither encourages classroom participation or benefits student wellbeing. It was found that the most important factor influencing students’ attendance in class was the classroom environment which the professor had a hand in creating, and which was described as “friendly”, “warm”, or “supportive”. Participants noted that efforts on behalf of teaching staff to encourage classroom discussions, learn names, or talk to students about more than just their academic lives all contributed to the desire for students to come to class. Given the link in the literature between in-person attendance, motivation, engagement, and academic success (Delaney and Ashton, 2024), we believe the previously mentioned efforts by professors to be the best way to foster classroom wellbeing. Regarding the current resource available to educators, we found it to be reflective of students' current desires. Some key recommendations to inform best practices include encouraging professors to provide hybrid learning options for students who struggle to come to campus, are sick, or face other barriers, and not relying only on online if possible. Additionally, we recommend incorporating more group discussions, peer collaboration, and interactive classroom activities to foster a supportive and engaging learning environment. We recognised our positionality as students, or “insiders”, as beneficial to our research; we were able to design survey and interview questions with our own experiences in mind which contributed to a deeper analysis of student wellbeing in the classroom post-pandemic. Future methods we could employ to make our research more robust include interviewing professors and teaching staff themselves to determine their experience of dynamics in the classroom in the years following the pandemic. Potential avenues of future research include examining student wellbeing in the classroom and its relation to year standing, i.e. the way peer connections and community build over time. More specifically, asking students of varying years what they think professors of lower-level classes can do to promote student wellbeing amongst new students in large lecture halls where connection can be difficult to achieve. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”