Monday Morning Mentor: How Can I Intentionally Create a Course that Boosts Learning and Decreases Student Stress?

This 20-Minute Mentor highlights how faculty can craft courses that simultaneously decrease student stress (especially for those with high anxiety) and boost learning for all our students. Several concrete examples will help faculty realize that with evidence-backed course design approaches, they can boost learning and improve wellness for all their students.

After viewing this Magna 20-Minute Mentor, participants will be able to:

• Understand how mental health challenges can interfere with learning
• Gain strategies for designing courses in ways that reduce unnecessary stress and discouragement for students with mental health challenges, while boosting learning for all students
• Take away an analytical framework to use to examine any aspect of course design or classroom teaching—a cost-benefit analysis that will lead to a more inclusive teaching approach for students with mental health challenges

• Mental health challenges
• Intentionality
• High-stakes tests
• Timed tests
• Spaced and mastery learning
• Simplicity, clarity, and flexibility in assignment structures