Teaching with compassion in an age of remote learning

A message from Assistant Vice President for Graduate and Extended Learning Shala Mills:

I regret that I never got to know our New Paltz colleague, Peter Kaufman, but I’m glad to have read his book, Teaching with Compassion, as well as Brian Obach’s review of the book in the eJournal of Public Affairs. I thought of his book this morning as I read this Chronicle of Higher Education article and watched the accompanying video, ‘Do No Harm’: The Coronavirus Crisis Calls for Compassion, Say Faculty Members Sharing Advice. The article and video share advice from faculty across disciplines and campuses, and the “best advice” most of them offer is that we should approach this moment by teaching with compassion.

When I came to New Paltz three years ago, one of the things I was asked to do was share my more than 20 years of online teaching and learning experience with the campus community. In our Online Faculty Development materials, I share what my years of experience in online education have taught me, and one of the key things I emphasize is the importance of good communication. Open SUNY estimates that developing a high quality online course takes about 100 hours of time, and that’s because good communication in an online course requires a great deal of careful and creative planning and organization. We know that this exigent move to online learning has not afforded any of you with that sort of time. As we have shared in multiple messages, we know that what we are doing this semester is not “best practices” online education, but, rather, “triaged” online education.

So, what does good communication look like in a triage situation? I think “compassion” sums it up. If you communicate compassion to your students during this incredibly disrupted and stressful time, they will have a greater chance at being able to focus on their learning, and they will be more likely to look back on this moment as a time when their institution and its faculty taught them well by teaching them not only the content of their courses, but also how to be resilient and compassionate during the most trying of times. I suspect most of you are already taking this approach as you continue to deliver student-centered learning experiences under these difficult circumstances. Just know that the institution recognizes your effort at compassionate teaching as the best practice we should be focused on right now, and it is part of what makes New Paltz a terrific institution.

Sincerely,

Shala Mills
Assistant Vice President for Graduate and Extended Learning