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ANN ARBOR – In this episode of Michigan Minds, Pamela Davis-Kean, professor of psychology at the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and research professor at the Institute for Social Research, explores some of the logistics that faculty are working through to prepare for a successful public health-informed semester this fall.

Davis-Kean is hopeful and excited about the plans for the fall semester, and discusses how she is working to make sure procedures are in place to educate and engage with students in the new hybrid format, preparing multiple ways to present content to students.

“I feel like we’re all going through a very big experiment on teaching and learning about what happens if you have to move between different modes, and the comfort you are used to when delivering your materials,” she says. She adds that there are likely to be challenges throughout the process, but faculty are diligently outlining plans to make the learning experience as smooth as possible and that impact the learning process as little as possible.
Davis-Kean also explores the connectivity issues some students will experience when not taking courses on campus, and how internet interruptions might cause distractions.

“From the perspective of someone who studies learning, any of these attention issues while you’re trying to learn something creates a problem for that learning,” she explains, emphasizing that U-M has a diverse student population and faculty can’t assume individuals can connect easily or in an affordable manner.

She asks for faculty and students to maintain open communications about how the semester is working for them, and encourages everyone to be kind to each other as the campus community learns together.

“We are doing everything we can to make this a positive experience for the students and we will be ready to do whatever we need to do.”

Hear more in this episode of Michigan Minds.