Trauma Informed Educational Practice

Trust is personal; psychological safety is a group phenomenon (Hirsch, 2017).

From Rovai, 2002, p. 198: "... the most essential elements of community are spirit, trust, mutual interdependence among members, interactivity, shared values and beliefs, and common expectations."

From Marquart and Báez, 2021, p. 65: "Building trust entails developing community via a welcoming environment and connecting through vulnerability including via check-in rituals, which leads to freedom and empowerment for learning."

• Relationship building by teachers has been found to earn student trust by feeling they are fairly treated, which makes them more likely to cooperate in the learning experience.

• Social and school connectedness is important in affecting students’ mood and academic self-efficacy, as well as their academic achievement and school success.

• Aspects of social interaction linked to engagement including teaching presence, teacher and student support, and emotion-related interactions must be incorporated into online classes in a highly intentional way.

(Stanford Graduate School of Education, n.d.)

• Be intentional about including time for check-ins inside and outside class to build rapport and well-being
• Create a collaborative class playlist for engagement inside and outside of class
• Use "stokes" -- warm-up activities designed to boost energy, foster collaboration, or ignite creativity -- to build in moments of levity and get brains, bodies, and creativity moving. See for example The Stoke Deck.
• Use analog activities for off-screen community building and group reflection
• Build opportunities for student choice and voice into class time
• Be flexible in adapting to student needs

(Stanford Graduate School of Education, n.d.)

Coursera: Mood Meter Overview

Appreciative Close (Vecellio, 2021)

Classroom Community Scale -- Development (Rovai, 2002) and Application (Parrish et al., 2023). See APA PsycTESTS for a summary of this instrument.

The Who’s in Class? Form -- Development (Addy et al., 2021)

• YouTube: The Trust Equation by David Maister Explained: How to Build Trust
• From Archer-Kuhn & MacKinnon (2020): (1) Creating an environment of negotiated mutuality; (2) Emerging relationship/community building; and, (3) Internalizing and applying a mindset shift.

• Predictability and consistency in decision making
• Prepare for difficult conversations
• Listen effectively and ask good questions
• Cultivate emotional regulation and self-awareness
• Create and maintain a climate in which the members of the unit trust each other
• Understand the impact of trust on issues of confidentiality and transparency

(Bray et al., 2019)

Trust and Psychological Safety may be created concurrently:

• Learn the strengths and individual passions of your students
• Teach on day one
• Start with smaller assignments that allow you to gauge learners’ confidence with the material
• Offer assignment completion options that give students agency over their work

(Burns, 2022)