Understanding Exam Stress

On October 29, 2015, in UWindsor, by gregorynpaziuk

Last week we shared a retweet to get the word out about an on-campus support service very near and dear to our hearts:

 


You might laugh, but apparently a lot of us were in need of some helping paws this October exam season. After gaining in popularity over the last few years, therapeutic animals are now widely used by universities and colleges across North America (and in the UK, too) to help students manage their stress levels throughout the academic year. The message is simple: students are susceptible to stress, and we as an academic community need to get better and more creative at combating that stress.

I’ve written here before about the difficult responsibilities that come with being a TA, both promoting mental health awareness and providing students with strategies for combatting stress. The stakes are raised, however, when we’re talking about exams. Stress is to exams as cats are to tuna – inseparable, that is. The panic that exams and midterms can create can often alter the entire learning environment, including the teacher-student relationship. What do we know about exam stress?

Exam Stress: The Nature of the Beast

No two people are likely to experience exam stress the same way, nor are they likely to experience only one kind. Traditionally, we tend to imagine exam stress as the realm of the under- and over-prepared. That’s not entirely accurate, however. The fear of tests – a.k.a. “testophobia” – is very real and very common among students at all levels. Other students obsess about the results regardless of how prepared they are. The reality is that any number of factors can contribute to the way exams might be a stressor to you or someone you know.

In an informative reflection on exam stress on the Advice and Support Centre’s webpage, the University of St. Andrews describes “Exam Anxiety” as being anything from “excessive worrying about upcoming exams” to a general “fear of being evaluated,” or “apprehension about the consequences.” They also identify the familiar culprits we blame for all of our stress in academia: lifestyle choices, information needs, study habits, and other psychological factors. But what I really like are their techniques for managing stress while writing exams, like this tension exercise:

“Total tension release (can be done lying down or sitting):-

  • tense your whole body one part at a time
  • lift your toes and tense both calves
  • tense your thighs and buttocks
  • tighten your abdomen
  • tense your chest and back
  • tighten your arms and clench your fists
  • tense your neck and clench your jaw
  • tightly close your eyes
  • take a deep breath and hold it for five seconds
  • let your breath and the tension in your body go all at once
  • feel the tension leave your body”

I used to joke with students that they should get angry at an exam, instead of stressed. I’d often quip, “Pretend that the exam insulted your loved one and it’s your duty to score as high as possible in order to avenge them.” Laura Bridgestock has also collected a sometimes comical list of what not to do when coping with exam stress, including faking your own kidnapping. Yes, humour can be a powerful anecdote to stress (see Moran and Hughes, 2006 for example), but it’s not effective for everyone. Some might even feel like your humour is belittling their anxiety. The fact is, exam stress, just like any prolonged period of stress, is a very serious and very dangerous thing.

This Is Your Brain On Stress

There are ways in which exam stress is just like any other stress you’ll experience in higher education. After all, many of the activities you might normally do to manage your everyday stress levels still apply to exams. For instance, building a study schedule, taking a walk, or listening to soothing music can all help manage exam stress. What you might not realize is just how dramatic of an effect these can have on your brain activity. In a collection of her own tips for combating exam stress, Andrea Leyden at Examtime shared an image from Dr. Chuck Hillman’s research at the University of Illinois, which studied brain activity in subjects  before and after a 20 minute walk. On average, participants who were physically active for a short period  saw increased brain activity. Keep that in mind for when your studying for hours on end, sedentary, locked away in your dorm room.

"The Stress-Brain Loop," copyright of the Women's Health Network.

“The Stress-Brain Loop,” copyright of the Women’s Health Network.

Perhaps what’s more affecting, though, is the research on what the brain looks like when suffering from stress. An article posted by Psychology Today in 2014 suggested that individuals who experience repeated and prolonged stress may actually suffer damage to their brain structure. This type of chronic stress forces the brain into a production loop that alters its own structure chemically and, as a result, physically. Sometimes dubbed “the stress-brain loop,” this  cycle can affect functions such as memory, attention, and even word selection. Without taking action to combat exam stress, then, many might actually be impacting their exam performance in exactly the way they fear.

Finding Support For Your Students

There is a growing awareness about mental health issues on campus at the University of Windsor. @UWinMentalHealth, the Twitter handle of the Mental Health Awareness club, is an excellent resource on and advocate for mental health issues on campus and in the community.

The Student Counseling Centre also continues to provide a range of services supporting students’ mental health. As this page explains, it’s really easy to make an appointment with them, too. Good2Talk, a free, bilingual, provincial-wide help hotline dedicated to post-secondary students, is also available 24hours a day, at 1-866-925-5454.

If you’re taking to proactive approach, you should also encourage your students to sign up for one of the exam preparation workshops with the S.T.E.P.S. team. Look for more sessions on how to prepare for exams, including those pesky multiple choice exams, in the Fall 2015 S.T.E.P.S. Schedule.

 

 

 

Work Study Position at the Centre for Teaching and Learning

On October 28, 2015, in UWindsor, by gregorynpaziuk

The Centre for Teaching and learning is hiring one Work Study student to assist in programming for 2015-2016. If you are currently receiving OSAP assistance, you could qualify for the Work Study program. This is a exciting opportunity for anyone interested in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Read the posting below, as introduced by Erika Kustra, Director of Teaching and Learning Development.


Hello everyone,

We have posted a position to help the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) with teaching and learning projects through the Work Study program.  In order to apply, you must have applied to, and been accepted into the Work Study program.  If you have, we would absolutely love to have your application to be involved in helping out with a variety of teaching and learning projects and reports.

You can find out information about the Work Study program here:  http://www1.uwindsor.ca/<wbr />awards/work-study-student-information

You can login to the University of Windsor mySuccess page https://success.uwindsor.ca/login.htm
(Good for your co-curricular transcript as well as for Work Study)

Work Study Job ID : 38287
Teaching and Learning Project Assistant
University of Windsor – Centre for Teaching and Learning
Term: 2015 – 2016
Term Posting For: Fall & Winter
Specific Duties: Work on a combination or selection of these duties:

  • Provide organizational and practical support for projects and events initiated by the Director, Teaching and Learning Development and other members of the Teaching and Learning Development Team in the Centre for Teaching and Learning
  • Work collaboratively with CTL staff members as well as faculty members, staff members and departments.
  • Coordinate communications, timelines, and document management so that the project development team functions efficiently and with clarity and focus
  • Establish communications including publicity, social networks and website information
  • Assist in application for funding for, and organization of events and projects
  • Help support event management
  • Enter data from projects and events
  • Engage in literature review of teaching and learning topics (literature research/environmental scan)
  • Contribute to writing formal reports, presentations and journal articles
Qualifications:
  1. 3rd or 4th year undergraduate or graduate student
  2. Good project-management, time management and organizational skills
  3. Excellent interpersonal skills, with ability to work effectively in a context of diversity
  4. Strong problem solving skills with ability to work independently and pro-actively
  5. Strong oral and written communication skills, including facility with academic writing and publication formats
  6. Good research and research design skills
  7. Computer skills in Microsoft Office, and web-based research
  8. Interest in, issues in teaching and learning in higher education
What equipment or computer programs will be used?: Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Twitter/facebook
# of hours per week (minimum 5, maximum 24): 10
Any weekend or evening hours?: Flexible

Dr. Erika Kustra
Acting Director, Centre for Teaching and Learning
Director, Teaching and Learning Development
Centre for Teaching and Learning
Faculty of Education and Academic Development (FEAD)
University of Windsor
kustraed@uwindsor.ca
(519) 253-3000 ext. 4842

 

A Guide For Online TAs

On October 20, 2015, in GA/TA Resources, Teaching Tips, by gregorynpaziuk

Is it just us, or does teaching with technology sometimes feel like this? ———————–>

If movies like The MatrixTron, and War Games have taught us anything, it’s that working with computers in the internet age can be so complicated that it often threatens world peace and/or the space-time continuum. Navigating learning online can be especially difficult,  but it doesn’t have to be.

Last year we partnered up with the Odette School of Business, the Office of Open Learning, and the Centre for Teaching and Learning to develop “A Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Online and Hybrid Learning.” The result was a beginner’s guide to online learning that focused specifically on the type of issues TAs usually face as student instructors.

Click the image to view a PDF copy now.

Click the image to view a PDF copy of the Fall 2015 Online TA Guide.

What You Can Find Inside…
  • What to expect when TAing for an online course, including some of the quirks of online learning and resources on the new UWindsor learning management system, Blackboard Learn.
  • Strategies for driving student engagement online and translating active learning practices into all elements of your online teaching.
  • Guidelines on approaching assignments and assessment in ways that leverage online tools and support students.
  • Tips for dealing with emails and communications.
  • An overview of places you can find support for your teaching across campus.

You can download the Fall 2015 Online TA Guide here.

 

 

Reading week is the perfect time to brush up on your Blackboard knowledge. Join the Centre for Teaching and Learning on Tuesday, October 13th, 1pm-3pm, for a free introductory workshop.

There are still spaces available in the Centre for Teaching and Learning’s latest Blackboard training session for GAs/TAs. “Do You Need Blackboard for What You’ll Do? An Introduction for TAs & GAs” is a beginner-level crash course for all things Blackboard. This is your opportunity to get acquainted with the University of Windsor’s new learning management system.

The Blackboard team will be covering a number of topics, including:

  • deciphering CLEW to Blackboard jargon,
  • finding help when using Blackboard,
  • uploading course material to your site,
  • creating an announcement and sending an email to all students,
  • customizing your site by managing your site tools,
  • inline grading of an assignment (with SafeAssign),
  • posting and grading of a discussion thread,
  • posting grades into the Grade Centre, and
  • tips and tricks for using Blackboard.

This is also your chance to bring questions. Instructors will be discussing your areas of concern (time permitting).

Spaces in these sessions are limited, and judging by the way they filled up at GATAcademy, they won’t stay open for long. Register today at http://cleo.uwindsor.ca/workshops/80/#wkshp-1202.

 

 

It’s right around this time – about a month into my first semester – that I began to wonder whether I was at all sure about how to be a student, a teacher, and a student teacher all at once. Certain events had tested my confidence – namely, certain things going wrong.

I tend to agree with Mark Pijl Zieber that mistakes, if taken as opportunities for reflection and improvement, are often the best learning experiences. As we’ve written about here before, just about every teacher makes mistakes. Even so, there’s nothing worse for a new GA/TA than a crisis of confidence. Student teachers and researchers already feel the need to work harder to gain respect and credibility in their field, and when a setback occurs, feelings of inadequacy tend to creep in quickly.

What Is Impostor Syndrome?

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that there are some days that, in your private moments, you question whether you’re really GA/TA material. If you’re like me, there are likely days you question whether you’re really cut out for higher education at all. The University of Waterloo’s Centre for Teaching Excellence summarizes these feelings through Joan Harvey’s work on the impostor syndrome (IP).

It’s pretty easy to feel like an impostor when you’re just learning the ins and outs of your area of specialization. The same goes for your first time teaching or working in a lab. Sometimes the wealth of knowledge and criticism that came before us makes it seem impossible to ever be a fully informed scholar in the field. Other times the thought of dealing with 20 or more strong personalities in leading a tutorial or lab or holding office hours is paralyzing. Most often, the two feelings run together, as in “I barely know anything about my field, so how can I lead others in their learning?” Feeling like an impostor as a GA or TA is very much about feeling unprepared, ill-suited, and/or lost in your role, and how you see yourself in that role can be influenced by any number of things.

A Portrait of a Teaching Assistant As A Young Scholar
Sandi-Urena, S., & Gatlin, T. (2013). Factors contributing to the development of graduate teaching assistant self-image. Journal of Chemical Education 90 (10), 1303-1309. DOI: 10.1021/ed200859e

Sandi-Urena, S., & Gatlin, T. (2013). Factors contributing to the development of graduate teaching assistant self-image. Journal of Chemical Education 90 (10), 1303-1309.
DOI: 10.1021/ed200859e

A teaching assistant’s self-image is a complex thing. While studying graduate teaching assistants in chemistry, Santiago Sandi-Urena and Todd Gatlin found that a nexus of factors including training, student experiences, ideology, beliefs about academic work, and the conditions of the learning environment influence a teaching assistant’s self-image. The question then becomes, how many of these factors can we control in ourselves? Maybe “control” is the wrong idea altogether, but we have to ask ourselves what role we as GAs/TAs play in determining how the factors affecting our development influence us at all. For instance, how deeply do we delve into our own student experience? How often do we actively question our own assumptions about the inner workings of our places of work – the lab, the archive, the community, etc.? What role do we play in shaping the learning environment around us? As the diagram above suggests, the way these factors influence each other is pretty complicated, with a whole lot of reflexivity and counter-influencing and cyclical relations transpiring. What we can take away from this is to be mindful of the fact that who we are as GAs/TAs – and who we see ourselves as, specifically – is influenced by a great number of factors that each need careful, critical reflection.

Seizing Control Of Your Role

No one’s saying it’s easy to get over a crisis of confidence. First and foremost, reach out for help: discuss your concerns with a colleague, or your supervisor, or a councillor at the Student Counseling Centre. Take advantage of opportunities within the GATA Network and the CTL for personal and professional development. You might also try these suggestions when trying to reassert yourself as a GA/TA:

  • Read ahead of the class. Far be it for me to tell you to do more work on top of all of the work you already do, but there really is something to be said for knowing what comes next. You don’t have to know everything about the class you’re supporting, but you should have an idea of where it’s going. Try to stay a few weeks ahead on class readings, and make sure you’re clear about the overall structure of the course timeline. This should keep you prepared for general questions from students and help show how knowledgeable you are.
  • Embrace the role of facilitator. There’s a big difference between lecturing and facilitating. It’s very rare that a GA/TA is asked to lecture – stand up in front of the class for long periods of time and explain/describe the material at length. Chances are that your role really requires you to facilitate learning by getting students engaged in the course material. This means leading productive discussions, planning interesting activities, and directing students to the proper resources. There are plenty of ideas on how to facilitate learning in the “Active Learning” section of the GATAcademy 2015 Program. Take some pressure off of yourself by forgetting the big, sage-like displays of everything you know about the topic, and start approaching each meeting with your students as a way to get them talking about what they know.
  • Maintaining the boundaries. Of course we never want to limit students in their learning, but we can all agree that there need to be limits in a course. That means limits to student behaviour, limits to your availability, limits to how you interact with students, limits within the course structure. Being firm and maintaining professional boundaries with your students is definitely important, but so is sticking to the course and assignment parameters. I’m not saying flexibility is a bad thing – indeed, it’s necessary, as your best lesson plans will often go awry – but other boundaries like deadlines and rules of conduct need to be treated consistently in an effective learning environment. Rick Sheridan has his own tips for regaining control in the classroom, including the private intervention and the power of non-verbal communication.
Tell Us Your Worries

What are some of the barriers you’ve encountered in your early days of GA/TA experience? Share your challenges below in the comment section.