Led by Cora Beth Fraser @drcorabeth

We all know that anxiety is a problem for students in higher education – and it probably won’t surprise anyone to hear that it’s getting worse. A 2023 survey by The Tab found that 61% of students are now living with anxiety, and categorised anxiety as the most prevalent mental health issue among students. It also found that many students were reluctant to disclose their problems to the university – so anxiety may be under-reported in official figures.

Neurodivergent students are particularly at risk from anxiety and its consequences. There’s an often-quoted figure of around 50% for rates of anxiety disorder amongst autistic and ADHD people – but again, this may be an underestimation. In my experience (both personal and professional) it’s pretty rare to meet a neurodivergent person who doesn’t suffer from a significant level of anxiety. 

So what can we do, in higher education and related areas, to address the problem of anxiety, and the ways in which anxiety disproportionately affects neurodivergent students? How can we improve the comfort levels of our students without taking away the motivating pressure to learn?

That’s what I’ve been working on at the Open University over the last few years. My focus has been on teaching environments – and because I work in distance learning, for me that means online teaching environments. 

The project I helped develop at the OU is called the Relaxed Tutorial Project. 

Relaxed Events

‘Relaxed’ here is being used in a very specific sense, to connect the project to ‘relaxed’ events which are common in Arts settings like theatres and cinemas, as well as museums and galleries. The original goal of relaxed theatre performances was ‘to make as few changes to the actual show as possible but rather to make adjustments to the organization of the front of house in order to reduce anxiety and stress’ (Kempe, 2015, p. 60). These adjustments were designed in the first instance for autistic people, but they were also found to benefit others too.

So in a ‘relaxed’ cinema showing, the volume in the cinema might be turned down a bit, and the lights might be turned up so that people aren’t in total darkness. Or in a theatre, the social rules might be relaxed so that it’s acceptable for audience members to talk or move around. During relaxed museum opening hours, sudden sounds from interactive exhibits are turned off, and a quiet area might be offered to anyone who needs a break.

The content remains the same; it’s just the environment that is modified.

Relaxed Teaching

In developing the Relaxed Tutorial Project, we thought about how these ‘relaxed’ adjustments might map onto the ‘front-of-house’ arrangements of an online synchronous teaching session. How could we modify the online social and sensory environment to make students more comfortable?

To reduce sensory input, we cut down on elements like break-out rooms, microphone and webcam use, and multiple windows. We also adjusted our expectations of social behaviour, assuming that students would need to leave and rejoin the session, and accepting that many attendees would not want to participate visibly. We planned our teaching to fit around these expectations (Fraser et al 2024).

The ‘relaxed’ sessions were a big hit with students who said that anxiety (around being put on the spot, in particular) had previously affected their learning. They were more willing to attend, took in more information and were (surprisingly) more willing to participate, with around 90% of attendees typing comments in the chat box. Students mentioned feeling comfortable – some for the first time in their higher education experience.

Why does anxiety matter?

We can argue that anxiety is sometimes productive: it can drive learning and push students to exceed their own expectations. This is true for many. But it can also drive our most vulnerable students away, and push them out of an environment which feels hostile to them. Anxiety matters because it disproportionately affects students who are already dealing with a range of challenges and accessibility needs.

Beyond that, anxiety connects two key practical issues in higher education: attendance and retention. Students suffering from anxiety will struggle to attend classes if they are concerned about having to take part in active or collaborative work (Macfarlane 2017 p. 76), or about being put on the spot. Students (particularly autistic students) are at risk of withdrawing from their course if their anxiety is not addressed (Beardon 2021 p.92). 

So by focusing on anxiety and its reduction we might be able to make real gains in access, retention and student success, as well as in equitable support for neurodivergent students.

References

Beardon, L. (2021). Avoiding Anxiety in Autistic Adults. Sheldon Press.

Fraser, C.B., Yamagata, N. and Mac Mahon, A. (2024). ‘The Relaxed Tutorial Project: distance learning and anxiety in Classical Studies’, Journal of Classics Teaching, pp. 1–5. doi:10.1017/S2058631024001004.

Kempe, A. (2015). Widening Participation in Theatre through ‘Relaxed Performances’. New Theatre Quarterly, 31(1), 59-69. 

Macfarlane, B. (2017). Freedom to Learn: The Threat to Student Academic Freedom and why it Needs to be Reclaimed. Routledge.

The Tab (2023). ‘‘They made me feel invalid’: Shocking new figures show scale of student mental health crisis’. Available online at https://thetab.com/2023/05/02/they-made-me-feel-invalid-shocking-new-figures-show-scale-of-student-mental-health-crisis (accessed 28/11/2024).

Author Biography

Dr Cora Beth Fraser (SFHEA NTF) is a part-time Associate Lecturer in Classical Studies at The Open University, working in a student-facing role with distance learners. With a Masters in Education and another in Online and Distance Education, she combines her work in Classics with research interests in online teaching and learning. Beyond the OU, she is passionate about widening access to Classics; she is a member of the Council of University Classics Departments EDI Committee and is Co-Chair of the Women’s Classical Committee, and she heads a neurodiversity organisation called Asterion. 

Cora Beth was diagnosed with autism five years ago, after a lifetime of struggling with social communication and sensory difficulties. Since her diagnosis she has been working to make neurodiversity an institutional priority in the planning of learning activities. She devised and conducted the Relaxed Tutorial Project at the OU, which is continuing to make an impact on teaching practices throughout the organisation, and is currently working on improving access to PhDs for autistic candidates.