Understanding Student Learning of Emotive and Sensitive Content

This ongoing project investigates how diverse distance students learn about sensitive and emotive topics in an undergraduate introductory criminology module. This project has been prompted by common issues faced by students, tutors, and curriculum creators across multiple subjects and disciplines. This includes: 

• students experiencing content in learning materials as distressing and/or triggering

• student disclosing violence and trauma to tutors in assessments

• uncertainty in deciding whether to include or exclude difficult topics in the curriculum 

• current lack of a consistent approach to support students to engage with sensitive topics  

This project aims to work in partnership with students to develop evidence-based recommendations, tools, and strategies to remove barriers to learning and support the emotional aspects of study.  

Criminology at the Open University puts real-world case studies of crime and justice at the centre of student learning. This involves engaging with emotive and sensitive content (that can include things like violence, death, inequalities, and harm) which often come up in the study of social science subjects. Learning materials include written and audio-visual materials that aim to bring such case studies to life for our students; however, little is known about how distance students experience studying these topics in their everyday lives as well as what strengths, skills, and capacities diverse students bring to their learning from their lived experience. Existing research on student perspectives of learning of sensitive topics has predominantly looked at classroom contexts (Lowe, 2015; Carello & Butler, 2015; Bryan, 2016; Connelly & Joseph-Salisbury, 2019). This leaves a gap in what is currently known about how distance learners experience emotive and sensitive topics in their learning.  

The methods used in this project aim to provide space for students to name what they experience and need in their study, assess the use of content warnings and practice-based guidance, and co-produce interventions. Students were invited to complete an online survey two weeks after they studied a topic that was identified as potentially sensitive. This included the study weeks: What is Crime? (Grenfell Tower Fire case study), Dangerous States (The Khan Shaykhun chemical attack case study), Gendered Violence (‘Nadia’ a domestic violence survivor case study), and ‘Deconstructing the Victim’ (Trayvon Martin case study). Students were invited to take part in an online follow-up interview to talk in more detail about their experiences of learning. Survey responses were received from 372 students and 16 students took part in a follow-up interview. Our initial findings suggest that instead of being discouraged, emotional responses need to be better acknowledged and emotional resilience skills need to be affirmed and strengthened. The final phase of our project includes collaborative workshops. One for students in June 2021 and one for stakeholders in September 2021. We aim to publish our final report, framework, and toolkit on 31 October 2021 and present our findings inside and outside the university.  

This project was featured in OU News, which you can read on the following link: Sensitive topics? why studying them at a distance needs extra care