Studies have shown that trauma, stress, and anxiety can impact students’ cognitive load, which refers to the amount of resources in working memory that are used for processing, storing, and recalling new information. These conditions often lead to reduced student engagement and challenges with attention span and focus. Instructors can reduce cognitive load by emphasizing core concepts and underscoring key learning objectives through modifying course content and adjusting assignments.

Given that experiences of distress can negatively impact memory and focus, instructors can mitigate cognitive load by making adjustments to the amount of content covered in their courses. During remote teaching and learning at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, many faculty adjusted the amount of content they covered in direct response to student burnout and stress. Covering a less extensive breadth of content also meant that instructors could spend more time engaging students in active learning or facilitating deeper engagement and higher-order learning like synthesizing, analyzing and problem solving. In other words, prioritizing depth over breadth can help support realistic and sustainable student learning amidst times of stress and uncertainty.

In the process of reevaluating course content and making decisions about what aspects of content can be pared down or removed, instructors may consider reviewing teaching and study materials, including course readings, to determine what portions of course content are “must know, need to know, and nice to know.” “Must knows” are imperative knowledge, prerequisite, and foundational ideas. “Need to knows” are less urgent but likely to be important later, especially for advanced courses or further study. “Nice to knows” add depth or interest to a topic but can be deprioritized without compromising baseline knowledge. Prioritizing and amplifying “must knows” and “need to knows” over wide-ranging content acquisition can be particularly helpful in mitigating students’ cognitive load. These choices may be reflected in shortening the number of readings expected per class meeting, selecting specific excerpts of readings for students to focus on, and/or offering students the opportunity to choose how many of the assigned readings to complete. As an additional example, instructors might also consider extending the amount of class sessions on particular topics or readings in lieu of introducing a new topic every week.

If you decide to make changes to the amount of content covered in your course, be sure to provide explicit communications around these changes to students as well as update your syllabus, course schedule, and/or courseworks site accordingly. 

*Shay, Jackie E., and Cathy Pohan. "Resilient instructional strategies: helping students cope and thrive in crisis." Journal of microbiology & biology education 22.1 (2021): 10-1128.

Another approach faculty might consider is an adjustment to one or more assignments for the entire class to mitigate stress factors. It is possible to be flexible and accommodating without compromising expectations for student participation and student work. This approach offers uniform and equitable application across the student group enrolled in the course. Here are some examples: 

• granting leniency on assignment deadlines (e.g., giving all students a bank of days for turning assignments in late)
• dropping the lowest score of the semester
• changing an in-class exam to a take-home
• eliminating an assignment
• reformulating a higher-stakes exam or assignment into smaller low-stakes quizzes or assignments, including creative alternatives to traditional assignments
• paring down the number of texts on the syllabus or providing guidance on particular passages or pages that will be most relevant to class
• consulting with TAs or course assistants if you are unsure about the need for assignment adjustments or what level of adjustment is necessary

In addition to the above adjustments, some Barnard students have expressed appreciation for instructors who have updated assignment due dates with them in real time. This might involve first asking students if they might need an extension on an upcoming assignment, and then pulling up the syllabus as a group and live editing these due dates based on your conversation with students. However, any instructor who is considering updating due dates in real time may want to retain their original schedule for those students who signed up for the course expecting a particular rhythm to their assignments. In effect, what this means is that each assignment has the option of being turned in by the original date or the updated due date