With stressed-out students in challenging times, faculty must embrace caring practices

These days more professors take a more caring approach to teaching—a compassionate response to the collective trauma driven by the COVID pandemic and other challenges facing today’s college students That became clear to me a few months ago when I gave a talk on the benefits of active learning to more than 75 New York University faculty. In a poll addressed to attendees, I asked them to identify engaging teaching methods they use online and in person. What came back was a flood of responses with dozens of approaches, showing that this audience was putting plenty of thought and care on how to encourage students to participate and succeed online and on campus.