Display empathy and understanding

Being empathetic to students and making the effort to understand their needs and frustrations is essential to good teaching and learning practice. Empathy builds awareness of individual and cultural perspectives and assists in developing teaching that is relevant and accessible for students.

This is of particular importance in the Library setting due to the unique type of teaching undertaken by the library staff, who often undertake single instance classes and workshops or consultations. An empathetic approach establishes trust and assists in building a spirit of collaboration between staff and student.

There are a lot of subtle ways where we can unintentionally 'other' people...by any kind of assumption that the students that are in our class have the same knowledge that we have, or came into being a student through the same pathway we did. – Library staff member


Guidelines

  • Be mindful of the expenses involved in university education and take opportunities to promote library copies of textbooks and other cost-free resources available to students. 

    Examples
    • Academic textbooks can be prohibitively expensive for low-SES students, so if a student mentions not having bought the textbook, try not to respond with, 'It's important to buy your textbooks,' but with, 'Let’s look at how to use Search to find library copies of the textbook,' or by informing students about The Campus Bookstore's textbook rental.
       
    • If a student is expressing serious concern about the cost of textbooks, it might be appropriate to encourage them to look at the university's equity scholarships. 

  • Strive to be empathetic and understanding of time-poor students, who may have difficulty making it to class or meeting assignment deadlines. 

    Examples
    • If a student mentions not having attended class, or not having time to do the required readings, try withholding judgement and understanding the challenges the student might be facing. Such a scenario might also provide an opportunity to discuss time management and efficient reading skills, and coming from a place of empathy, rather than judgement, will likely make the student much more receptive.

    Being time poor is a common aspect of the student experience today, but this can be an even greater issue for students from low-SES backgrounds or non-traditional pathways, who may have no choice but to juggle work or family commitments with their studies. 

  • Make an effort to listen empathetically to students when they tell you about their experiences. Consider the ways their experiences might differ from your own, and in the process you can gain some valuable insights and adjust your approach so that it’s more inclusive (Walton, 2015). 

  • Avoid being judgemental about students’ work. 

    Example
    • Avoid making assumptions about how much time a student has spent on a task or how much effort they’ve put in. A student’s work does not always reflect the time or effort involved in its creation, and it can be very discouraging to hear that they haven’t worked hard when they have.

  • Remember your own experiences of learning complex new things, and strive to be empathetic to students who are learning skills that are familiar to you, but may be unfamiliar or difficult for students.  

    Further information

    The research process can be broken down into the actions a student or researcher takes, but also by the emotions experienced (Kahlthau, 1993). The Research Skills Development (Willison and O'Regan, 2006, 2016) stage, 'Embark and Clarify', might evoke uncertainty, 'Find and Generate' might inspire optimism where 'Evaluate and Reflect' can involve feelings of doubt and frustration. If you convey that you understand the range of emotions people might experience during the research process, and that this is normal, it can make it easier for students to ask questions and admit to difficulties.