We all respond very differently to the demands placed upon us. In certain situations I am very laid back, but in others I demand unnecessary excellence, which leads to higher stress levels.
The video below is my reflection about the current stressors in my life:
Using technology to enhance my CHEM 1210 course content has been both rewarding and stressful. This semester I have been updating the pre-lecture assignments I deliver to my students by taking content from the textbook and embedding it into the on-line homework system. Whenever you are using a new on-line platform there is a learning curve to determine the best workflow. I’ve finally got into a groove and am generating content much better than before, but the time it takes to generate these assignments and get them to the students in time to prepare for lecture has caused some stress for me.
I also get stressed in the fact that I don’t see my family as often as I would like. I grew up in southeastern PA, which is about 7 hours away from Columbus. Not being able to see my dad, sister, niece, and nephew adds stress to my life as well.
In order to combat these stresses, I need to prepare ahead and set aside plenty of time to work on the pre-lecture assignments. In dealing with interactions with my family, using FaceTime to talk with the kids has been great.
In the second part of our stress discussion we watched the following TED talk by Kelly McGonigal titled “How to make stress your friend.”
The line from this talk that resonated with me was that stress is your body’s response to help rise to the challenge. Often times people view stress as a bad thing. If we look into the scientific reasoning for why stress happens, it’s not all bad and it’s the way we respond to stress that can make the difference.
Most students I talk to have stress related to exams or “test anxiety.” The student wellness center has several programs to handle test anxiety and Todd Gibbs has been highly recommended: http://swc.osu.edu/wellness-initiatives/staff-for-wellness-initiatives/
Dr. Fus Twitter