This interactive workshop will cover areas for consideration when an online faculty member or student dies, and examples of how online social work programs have responded to deaths. The presenters will share their own experiences, and participants will have the chance to share, discuss, plan, and ask questions.
This interactive workshop will cover areas for consideration when an online faculty member or student dies, and examples of how online social work programs have responded to deaths. Presenters from three universities with fully online programs have all had the unfortunate experience of dealing with the death of online faculty and students. At one institution, a beloved online faculty member with 30 years of experience passed away. At the other two institutions several students at varying points in the MSW program and locations across the country passed away over the past several years.
On January 1, 2019, Professor Steven Schinke passed away after over 30 years at Columbia University’s School of Social Work. In his final years, he taught exclusively online, and he taught hundreds of students who lived across the United States. He was a beloved online instructor, and the School wanted to honor him with a memorial event that those who loved him could attend from anywhere. The solution was an interactive online memorial hosted via Adobe Connect web conferencing, the same platform he used to teach his online classes (McKenzie, 2019). About 100 people attended, and the event was emotional, cathartic, and intimate.
In this session, the presenters will share details of how faculty members and students have been remembered and honored. To memorialize the faculty member, the university set up an interactive online memorial, hosted via Adobe Connect web conferencing, which was the same platform he used to teach his online courses (McKenzie, 2019). Presenters will share details of the digital memorial event logistics, including the agenda, invitation, set-up, and online assets such as videos, graphics, slides, and layouts, so that other institutions that face this challenge can use Columbia’s resources as a template. Presenters from the programs where students died will share how information was shared with other students and faculty and students were honored, including awarding their families with a posthumous degree at graduation.
The presenters will also share responses and planning resources for student deaths. To be prepared and present a compassionate and coordinated institutional response, schools must consider that this unfortunate event may occur and have policies and procedures in place (Cusick, 2008). Postventions for student death may include coordinated communication plans, verification of death and communication with family, grief counseling and support for students and faculty, public recognition of death, review of policies and procedures within classrooms, financial management of deceased student debt, and recognition and honoring of the deceased student (Cusick, 2008; Streufert, 2004). Many universities may have death response teams (DRTs) at an institutional level, but ensuring that a coordinated response occurs at a program level, especially across large universities is crucial.
Special consideration needs to be made to the unique factors that an online program may bring, and how a response for those in an online program may differ from the universities response in a traditional on-ground program. An empty desk in an online program is considerably different from one on-campus. Program and faculty response to address the death of a student needs to be done in such a way that all parties are prepared to follow through in multiple ways with those impacted – especially when students and faculty may be dispersed across the country.
As this is an area that many may not have encountered or are developing as incidents occur, this workshop will look for participants to share their own experiences and discuss strategies for dealing with death or other traumatic events in higher ed institutions.
As an interactive workshop, presenters will look to participants to share ideas for developing resources to assist online programs in coping with student deaths. Participants will be invited to share their experiences, ask questions, discuss strategies, and add to their toolkits.
References:
Cusick, A. (2008). University student death response plans using a structural management approach provide effective coordinated institutional action. Death Studies, 32, 550-587.
McKenzie, L. (2019, February 26). Unique Memorial for Beloved Online Professor. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/02/26/columbia-university-hosts-digital-memorial-online-professor
Streufert, B. J. (2004). Death on campus: Common postvention strategies in higher education. Death Studies, 28, 151-172.