Spotlights
The COVID-19 Student Survival Guide
In mid-March 2020, GVSU moved its face-to-face classes online, closed most of its residential housing, and limited access to campus in response to the COVID-19 crisis. These necessary changes significantly disrupted students’ everyday lives: a shift to online classes, with changes in schedules and assignments; employment changes (lost jobs, reduced responsibilities, or increased hours for essential workers); and residential changes (moving in with friends or back home).
Grand Valley faculty stayed in close contact with their students to make sure that they were getting the academic and emotional support they needed.
Dr. Christine Yalda (School of Criminal Justice) kept in constant communication to support her students during this time but, at the end of the semester, still wondered whether she had done enough.
To gain some insights into how to help future students should the crisis continue, Dr. Yalda asked students in two of her classes the following question: “You are completing this semester at a unique time in history. If you could offer some ‘survival advice’ to future students, what would you want them to know?” These classes included students from 25 different disciplines; 80% of the students (n=56) responded.
Dr. Yalda identified five main themes in the students’ answers: Do the Work, Ask for Help, Be Kind to Yourself and Others, Be Balanced, and Be Adaptable. “What struck me,” she said, “is that the students’ answers echo the strengths of a Grand Valley (liberal) education: engaged learning, personal and professional development, commitment to community, honest self-reflection, and the willingness to face whatever comes next. Through their answers, these students showed remarkable wisdom, strength, and perseverance in the face of the unknown.”
Dr. Yalda’s findings have been shared with college faculty and students to support future teaching and learning.
For additional questions about this project, please contact Dr. Christine Yalda, [email protected], (616) 331-7135.
COVID-19 Student Survival Guide - PPT version
COVID-19 Student Survival Guide - PDF version
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