Embedding Wellbeing into a Blended Learning Approach
Blended learning is increasingly becoming the norm among higher education providers. As the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, online modes of teaching and learning have stuck, with 45% of students reporting that they would prefer to have some of their course content delivered online.
Yet, as the pandemic revealed, online learning can contribute to a greater sense of loneliness and isolation among student populations. So, while providing a digital teaching and learning option can be a more accessible approach, it also presents its own challenges to mental wellbeing.
To support student wellbeing in a blended learning approach, it’s vital to cultivate a sense of belonging among students in your digital teaching provision.
In this blog article, we present four practical solutions to building a sense of belonging and fortifying wellbeing in a hybrid learning environment. We explore examples of best practice from throughout the sector that can be adapted to suit different learning environments and diverse student bodies.
Provide Digital Wellbeing Support
Making sure students have access to useful wellbeing resources when learning remotely is crucial.
This is especially true for students who don’t take a traditional route into university studying, such as part-time, commuter and distance learning students. It may also provide necessary support to postgraduate students and those on research-intensive programmes, who are less likely to spend time on-campus and more likely study independently.
Providing online wellbeing resources may also have benefits for students anxious about seeking support. A 2022 report by the Office for Students (OfS) found that first-in-family students, who were more likely to experience acute anxiety in the university context, were more likely to engage with university mental health services on co-creation projects if sessions were delivered online.
There is a wealth of examples from across the sector of universities providing online wellbeing resources:
The University of Manchester’s Counselling Service have a suite of recorded workshops and interactive resources available on their website, as well as handouts for dealing with stress, perfectionism and exam preparation
The University of Exeter signpost their students to a range of free mobile phone apps designed to help you manage a variety of mental health issues
The Open University is developing resources and initiatives in collaboration with their students – all of whom study remotely – to cultivate positive learner identities, digital communities and pedagogies
Many institutions, like King’s College London, offer online counselling sessions to their students as an alternative to face-to-face meetings. KCL also enable their students and staff to access free and confidential mental health support 24/7 from Togetherall.
The provision of resources encourages students to be proactive about their wellbeing and manage their symptoms of poor mental health. This can result in less strain on resources and ensure that services such as counselling can be allocated to students who need it most.
Use Engagement Data
There has been debate across the sector about the usefulness of data when it comes to supporting student mental health. Some argue that a focus on statistics removes the human element from the mental health agenda.
While data alone cannot solve mental health issues among students, it can assist university support services in taking proactive steps. Combined with student feedback and a strong evidence-base of interventions that work, it can be a powerful tool for identifying at-risk students early on.
The University of Manchester developed StudentCRT, a data dashboard accessible to teaching and support staff, which helps them to identify at-risk students. The data on the platform includes non-attendance, a drop in grades or failure to submit work. Each student is then given a score based on these outcomes.
By bringing together this data, staff are able to access a holistic picture of students’ wellbeing and provide early interventions for those who may be suffering.
For further guidance, see Jisc’s Wellbeing Toolkit, which outlines how to use data responsibly to enhance mental wellbeing.
Use Feedback and Engage in Student Co-Production
Working in partnership with students to develop mental health-related strategy and policy is one of the key recommendations in the University Mental Health Charter.
This is no different in an online learning approach.
A new OfS report into funded projects co-designed with students provides insightful examples of innovation across the sector. Some of these projects are digitally focused, including:
Newcastle College University Centre’s Mental Health & Wellbeing Digital programme, which uses their Student Fellows programme to co-design wellbeing interventions with and for commuter students from low socioeconomic backgrounds.
The University of Westminster’s UniVRse programme, which works with student collaborators and co-developers to deliver mental health support through VR experience to first-generation students suffering with anxiety.
Your co-production should also include gathering sufficient feedback from students, which can be done digitally to reach those off-campus. For example, you might conduct online consultations with students or offer the opportunity to feedback on documents and plans. Make sure to gather ideas from students about what works in terms of digital teaching provisions, so that their learning is also supported, which can have beneficial outcomes for wellbeing.
Conducting this work online has the added benefit of making the process more accessible. So, you can further mental wellbeing and widening participation agendas simultaneously.
Embed Mental Health into Curriculum Design
In the past, embedding mental health in curriculum design only seemed possible on clinical programmes of study. There are many innovative examples from across the sector of all kinds of programmes embedding mental health into the curriculum, such as the University of Sheffield’s ‘Storying Sheffield’ programme in the School of English, or the University of Central Lancashire’s One in Four Film Festival.
It’s equally important to ensure that mental health is embedded into teaching delivered online, especially for students who are not regularly on campus.
“Navigating Challenging Times” was an initiative pioneered during the COVID-19 pandemic by London South Bank University. The institution ran hour-long sessions on Microsoft Teams designed to give students an opportunity to talk about some of the challenges they were facing and learn ways to cope. It included a Mentimeter activity that allowed students to ask anonymous questions in addition to slides that outlined strategies to combat unhelpful thinking patterns.
These sessions were, significantly, embedded into curriculum design. Directors of courses were invited to include the sessions into course timetables and sign-up students using an Excel spreadsheet.
LSBU’s approach is one way of ensuring mental health is covered on the curriculum, but some smaller interventions might include:
Providing resource hubs that are specific to different subjects or levels of study.
Monitoring distressing content in course materials and providing trigger warnings where appropriate.
Including study skills modules that can help to build academic confidence, in addition to problem-based and collaborative activities such as group work that can help to build resilience and networks.
For further guidance, you may wish to explore the Open University’s online course on embedding mental health into online teaching delivery.
Supporting Wellbeing Online
This article has explored four practical solutions for supporting student wellbeing in online learning approaches. By providing digital resources, using data and feedback, collaborating with students and embedding mental wellbeing into the curriculum, service providers can ensure they are supporting the wellbeing of a diverse student body with complex needs.
Yet online delivery is not the only area of concern for practitioners. Other factors, such as upcoming challenges like the cost-of-living crisis, working in partnership to produce services and designing targeted interventions for specific groups are also dominating the conversation about mental health in higher education.
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