Teaching Through 10,000 Earthquakes: Constructive Practice for Instructors in a Post-disaster Environment

The authors describe their experiences of teaching through a series of major earthquakes and the lessons learned regarding sustaining teaching and learning through an ongoing natural disaster. Student feedback data from across the university is analyzed to generate a model of constructive practice for instructors responding to a crisis. The article challenges instructors to reflect on student and instructor needs before, during, and after a crisis in terms of preparedness for immediate disruption, programmatic and pedagogical changes, communication, and response to psychological needs. The authors’ experiences with teaching through the earthquakes reinforce the message that even the most well-intentioned and self-aware instructor will, at some stage, falter during an ongoing crisis. Psychological preparedness and classroom emergency management planning are vital to the continuity of teaching and learning in a crisis situation