Mindful Minutes: Reigniting Students' Active Engagement Online Through Mindful Practices

Introduction

The pandemic took a toll on everyone in the world. People’s stress and anxiety levels rose, new fears emerged, and the isolation of quarantine impacted many individuals’ mental health (Vinkers et al., 2020). According to Vinkers and colleagues (2020), the pandemic’s uncertainty caused greater stress than normal since the stressor was not one we were prepared to deal with and its long-term effects are still largely unknown (p. 13). Despite the disruptions caused by COVID-19, life and learning had to continue. Many learning institutions were not prepared to move learning online and instruct students during a global health crisis (Boeren et al., 2020; Vallera & Harvey, 2021). Educators were forced to “repair the plane during flight,” or in some cases, build the plane from scratch while it was already off the ground.

The education field was particularly affected when students, staff, teachers, administrators, and families moved to remote instruction. Classes moved online, schools closed, and academic and career plans were delayed or canceled altogether (Onyema et al., 2020). New technologies were often challenging to learn or inaccessible to many audiences; many online learning infrastructures were subpar or designed poorly; and many disadvantaged populations suffered exponentially in relation to education and other areas of social life (Onyema et al., 2020; Waller et al., 2020). Students’ normal routines were disrupted and getting them interested and engaged in their learning was not prioritized in order for educators to focus on the immediate needs of transitioning learning to online formats (Bozkurt & Sharma, 2020; Singh et al., 2021; Waller et al., 2020).

For adult learners, that stress was amplified and included managing families, job uncertainties and unemployment, and fear of getting sick or spreading the virus to loved ones (James & Thériault, 2020; Singh et al., 2021). Access to upskilling and reskilling programs for adult learners also diminished during the pandemic, as social and economic inequalities were brought to the foreground of social life (Boeren et al., 2020; Waller et al., 2020). Learning formally from home brought with it an additional host of challenges related to access, technology, distractions, and balancing life with school and work (Onyema et al., 2020).

Adult learners’ motivations for returning to school are often different than younger students’, and they learn differently than younger students as well. Many adults return to school to upskill or reskill (Boeren et al., 2020). According to Knowles (1980) and Merriam and colleagues (2007), adult learners need environments that support their self-directedness, motivation, and readiness to learn. They need to know why they are being asked to learn what they are learning and hope to apply their newfound knowledge immediately (Knowles, 1980; Merriam et al., 2007). Learning environments are not always designed to meet the unique needs of adult learners, and the rapid movement to online and remote instruction at the beginning of the pandemic did not include design elements geared toward developing environments specifically for adults (Singh et al., 2021).