Originally found at The Chronicle of Higher Education

Supporting students through setbacks

Struggle and failure can be powerful learning experiences; but because they’re unpleasant, students who experience them may instead disengage. How can instructors support students through challenges and setbacks so that they’re better able to learn and less likely to give up?

I recently spoke with Eliana Crosina, lead co-author of a new paper presenting the results of a longitudinal study of students in a yearlong, experiential entrepreneurship course — a setting where the need to make sense of setbacks is especially acute.

The paper, published in Academy of Management Learning and Education, examines “critical incidents” — problems with projects or challenges with teammates that spark a negative emotion — students faced and how students’ engagement with elements of the course helped them process those feelings and keep going.

While the entrepreneurship course her team studied differs from a conventional college course, Crosina, an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College, shared some insights that could apply to instructors in other settings.

Continue reading the original article at The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Read the original research in Academy of Management Learning & Education.

Learn more about the AOM Scholars and explore their work:

• Eliana Crosina, Babson College
• Erin Frey, University of Southern California
• Andrew Corbett, Babson College
• Danna Greenberg, Babson College