• Date: Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020
• Time: 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
• Location: Online via Zoom (a link will be sent closer to event)

The outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the U.S. and the subsequent changes brought to the school system (i.e., school closure, distance learning, and transition to school re-opening) have caused increased stress and job-related demands among educators. They also pose new challenges for educators in how they perceive their roles and their relationships with the school community.

In this colloquium, Chunyan will discuss recent findings from a research-practice partnership (RPP) project conducted in a large, urban school district in Northern California in late Spring 2020. The session’s goal is to increase participants’ understanding of educators’ self-efficacy, compassion fatigue, and their connectedness with the school community in the distance learning context imposed by a global pandemic.

These findings highlight the differentiated influences of educators’ perception of school connectedness and their action of making connectivity with other school community members to their professional and mental health wellbeing; they also raise questions about the effectiveness and best practices of connecting with school community to reduce educators’ compassion fatigue and promote their self-efficacy during distance learning. Practical implications and future directions for this area of research will also be discussed.