……While all around you are not!

I’m reluctant to suggest this might be my last Coronavirus blog on the subject – it is likely to be for 2020 at least! I never anticipated a series when I posted the first one back in March this year [1]. But Covid-19 continues to dominate the headlines – with the recent end of a second lockdown, new tiered levels of restrictions, the start of the first vaccinations, Christmas holidays and maybe a third lockdown after that (seems quite likely!)? How are you supposed to navigate the deluge of information, different restrictions and competing claims? How is this continuing to impact on your own mental health and well-being - as a student or as a member of staff?

When it comes to mental health, as with public health more generally, we should not view Covid-19 in isolation. It is not the only game in town. It is happening on top of the existing mental health experiences that students and staff at university have been experiencing for many years. And while a focus on the specific issues that Covid-19 raises is important, we should not forget the usual challenges we all face with work-related and financial stress, anxiety, depression, personal and family challenges, career choices etc. Covid-19 exacerbates these and impacts on all aspects of what’s important to us – our values.

For students, university life this Autumn has probably seemed weird. If you've returned to university it’s not like it was a year ago. If you have only arrived this academic year then one day is probably blending into another as you do endless Zoom/Teams online meetings, or plough through more video lectures. Is this what you signed up for? And that's before you find yourself self-isolating or quarantined for 14 days, at least. And now what will you do over the Christmas holidays – get a test before travelling away and before coming back in January/February; who travels when and what will the New Year look like – more of the same?

Lots of unknowns, and at the root of anxiety is uncertainty, and an intolerance of uncertainty. We want to know what is happening, what to expect and we want to feel as though we are in control. But this is something over which we have limited control – only over our own actions, in the present. If you can accept that is all you have control over, then you can begin to let go of all the other things over which you have no control. Worry is fruitless because, of course, it changes nothing.

But, is it so bad?

As a student, you will have had a vast wealth of material at your fingertips, like never before. That may, of course, have just seemed overwhelming. The challenge is to adapt your way of learning. Good note taking skills that you might have used in a large lecture theatre are just as vital - more so - now to filter out what is important and what is not. As you go through video recorded lecture material it is too easy to take 2, 3, 4 times the amount of time it actually lasts as you try to craft beautifully comprehensive (perfect!) notes on that lecture. But why, for what purpose? And how sustainable is that if you are turning a one-hour lecture into half a day's work? Answer: it isn't. That won't work.

The purpose of your notes is to filter the material delivered. Look at the learning outcomes for the module/lecture - they set out what you are expected to be able to do/understand. Your notes should be the means by which you sieve the lecturer's delivery - in person or on video - for the important key principles, concepts and real gems of information or points of interest. Producing comprehensive notes serves little purpose other than to make you feel as if you've achieved something. But have you understood the material? Kolb's experiential learning cycle (see figure) can be helpful here in developing your learning approach – Observe (the material/lecture); Reflect (what did/didn’t you understand? What interests me?); Plan (plan what you are going to do about it); Act (do it!). You will have the slides and videos to go back to as and when you need them for revision. But your notes will guide you, signposting what is important.

Staff have had it tough too…..

Much has been said in the media about the negative impact of Covid-19 on students and their studies – it has been tough, and continues to be. But staff have also had to work extraordinary hours over the summer months and during term to prepare for mixed-mode and remote learning – it doesn’t just happen. The universities had to make decisions on which software platforms remote learning was to be based, sometimes with little flexibility in being able to use the ‘best’ because of locked-in contracts with major software companies. So, staff have had to find work-arounds and find their way through a whole new set of technological and pedagogical challenges. And spare a thought for staff trying to teach sometimes to blank screens. Students, please put your camera on and visually connect with the rest of the class and the staff. It really helps engender a group identity when you are scattered across the globe, and makes exchange of questions and comments so much more fluid. And it helps you engage in the session, in the present moment.

All of this has impacted on staff mental health – across the whole sector: academic, teaching and support staff, administrative staff, catering and security etc. And then having to timetable to try to accommodate multiple time-zones that may be 12 or 16 hours apart. Covid-19 has accelerated this shift to the use of online technology probably by at least five or more years. And it happened in a crazy timetable of under six months. That’s quite a feat; but not a lot of recognition in the wider media. Just as Covid-19 has impacted student mental health, so it has also taken its toll on staff mental health. And don’t forget, university staff will still be planning and preparing for delivery of courses in the New Year over the Christmas holidays – remote, mixed-mode, in-person amidst continuing uncertainty. And then there’s research, admin etc…….

Science and policy……and us

At times, during this pandemic, the UK Government has seemingly been in awe of modelling, though some important lessons may have been learned more recently perhaps on how not to present scenarios! To some extent this might be seen as Government’s own coping strategy, an intolerance of uncertainty and a constant desire to seek safety. Why safety? Because modelling appears to ‘predict’ the future - the numbers imply a certainty that doesn't exist (despite the error bars), and often belies the huge assumptions underlying the models.

For politicians, certainty is what they want if they are to take responsibility for a decision, like lockdown. They want to believe they are on firm ground, even though sometimes decisions are needed in the absence of evidence, or there are other equally important considerations (e.g. livelihoods). And the nature of science is that there is no single view – to make decisions ‘led by the science’ is rather meaningless. Which science, which scientific perspective(s), since there are many? Science, in any case, cannot be the sole arbiter of inherently political decisions. ‘Informed by science’ may be more meaningful.

Finally, don’t assume a vaccine will change anything quickly – we will still need to practice all the mitigation measures we’ve got used to for some months - maybe many months - to come. And that means building routine into our daily work or study, so we can tell one day from the next – and give ourselves time and space to connect with others, even if that is still remotely. As gyms and sports facilities open up again, that at least allows some welcome respite from being shut in a room all day long, staring at a screen. The novelty of remote working that seemed to offer, early in the first lockdown, such great flexibility and a ‘new normal’ of no more offices and working from home has evaporated for many as the downsides have begun to overtake the benefits. For many, the office is now the bedroom/living room; there is no separation, one blends into the other, so work and work pressures dominate - there is, seemingly, no escape.

A New Year’s resolution – should you even bother with such things – may be to create a workable routine that involves exercise, recreation and connecting with others (Covid-securely) that can see you through to the other side of this pandemic, hopefully in a few more months. And if we get through it, we’ll know how better to deal with the next one!

Bill Sheate, 8 December 2020

[1] Previous Coronavirus blogs:

https://www.imaginationtherapy.co.uk/blog/2020/9/18/coronavirus-5-re-opening-of-the-universities 25 September 2020

https://www.imaginationtherapy.co.uk/blog/2020/8/5/coronavirus-4-real-people-meeting-again 7 August 2020

https://www.imaginationtherapy.co.uk/blog/2020/6/23/coronavirus-3-a-new-look-academic-year-2020-21 2 July 2020

https://www.imaginationtherapy.co.uk/blog/2020/5/23/coronavirus-2-emerging-from-lock-down 23 May 2020

https://www.imaginationtherapy.co.uk/blog/2020/3/24/coronavirus-taking-one-day-at-a-time 25 March 2020